Yes, that's correct. You will (ultimately) get a card when you renew your GE membership, but in the meantime, you dont really need to spend the fee.
Dave

I'm now over a week waiting for approval of the card. I already have GE.

Mine also took over a week. Since my card was mailed from the LAX office, I wonder if they are doing the processing locally in which case it would depend on how busy your GE station is.

I have known about Global Entry for a while now but never traveled internationaly enough to make me want to go through the process. However now with the TSA Precheck benefits and a new job that will take me out of the country at least once a month I decided it was a good idea to sign up and take advantage of all the nice benefits I have been reading about. I can't wait to take advantage of the system as the last two times I returned home via ATL or ORD I always manage to get to Passport Control about the same time as 2-3 other flights.

Just in case anyone is wondering, YYZ T3 pre-clearance has one GE kiosk, nestled between the two Nexus ones. The rent-a-cop moat dragons do check the customs declaration cards before going in to the CBP area. Not sure if telling him I'm a Nexus member would help or not.

It took me about 2 minutes to get through customs. My coworker took about 45 minutes. Totally worth it, IMO.

Still 'pending review'....

It was 5 days for me from filing my application to getting the email to schedule an appointment. I now have to find 2 days where I can fly to get the interview done. And, I can't do that until I find out what my new days off are at my new job...

Perhaps a bit OT.
Has anyone successfully changed their last name on the Global Entry system? My wife renewed her passport and updated her last name (due to marriage - yes to me). As such she updated her GE profile with the new passport #, but was not able to change her name in the profile. Is linking the new passport sufficient, or is another interview required? We cannot seem to reach anyone at CBP to confirm. I plan on stopping by the CBP office on my next int'l return in a few weeks, but thought I'd see if anyone has dealt with this.

I used GE at ORD around 1pm that day, and handed the CBP officer on the customs check point my receipt. He insisted on seeing my passport (I gave him my green card instead) because he said he needed to see the CBP sticker. Because of course with the sticker one can coax a kiosk into providing a receipt.

Note that I had just replaced my passport (the old one had my sticker, per, of course, the demand of an ORD CBP officer), and luckily before I left the country at SFO, I had plenty of time to go to the Global Entry office to get a CBP sticker. Unlike the first time, the CBP officer at SFO dictated that the sticker go on the green card and not my passport. Which is vastly more sensible since my green card is the sole document I use to enter the USA and use with GE.

If you do not have a sticker, always depart from a GE airport and get your sticker unless you want a secondary. If your passport will expire well before your GE status, consider requesting an extra sticker.

I would just stop by a GE office and see if the CBP would be willing to update her last name, being sure to bring an original of the marriage certificate.

Last time I picked up a new sticker, the CBP officer gave me an extra one with a smile, saying "just in case."

Obviously, the physical sticker is not what matters; rather, what matters is whether your new passport has been swiped into the system and associated with your GlobalEntry account. Hence, I think, why the CBP officer was willing to give me an extra.

At ORD yesterday, the CBP agents at the exit were announcing they only wanted the customs forms and didn't need to see our passports.

I just handed the agent my receipt. He just nodded at me and I was on my way.

To get the receipt, you had to answer (almost) the same questions on the customs form--so there was no need for you to give one to the CBP agent.
PS: I always fill one out, just in case (per suggestion by CBP agent when I when for my interview.)

At IAD in April 2011, I knew I would get an X because I was over the $800 exemption. I had a customs form filled out. The CBP officers at the passport check booth and at customs kept asking me why I did that.

OK. So I kept hearing from a few of you that the GE card is good to use at an airport that does not have kiosk to get you into the crew lane instead of the general lanes with the masses. I decided to send the CBP an email, asking for clarification.

Below is my question:
"I am in the process of getting my Global Entry card. I have heard that I will be able to use the "crew" lanes at US airports without the GE kiosks instead of having to wait in the regular "US Citizen" lanes. Is this true?"

The response:
"No, the card is for land border crossings and will not work at the airport kiosks."

What the ?????

Need to clarify here. The Global Entry CARD does you no good for immigration at airports. As the email you got said, it's just for land border crossings. Global Entry, in general, however, does work at airports, either with kiosks, or, if without, via the crew line.

I'm not 100% sure if the crew line benefit for non-kiosk airports is official or not. I think your email confused them, because you mentioned the card. I'd email again, just asking "if I have Global Entry, and come into an airport without kiosks, am I able to use the crew line?" Don't even bring up the card, it's confusing the issue.