when answering the questions at the kiosk and one declares "food" which in my case would be only candy I would assume that the card that comes out will be "xed" when I proceed to the exit I am sure the customs officer will ask me what I am declaring and I will tell him/her, has anyone experienced this and was that all there was to it or were you shunted to a secondary screening area and if so how long did it take?

The last time I declared candy as food was well before GE. An agent at IAD rolled his eyes up and write a note on the card saying "candy." Didn't get stopped at Customs.

I would suggest that you ask one of those CBP folks about "candy" being "food" prior to your trip. I'm willing to bet they will say 'no,' as I asked several agents several times whether chocolate is considered food, and they all said 'no.'

I usually take food as food items that are not allowed to be brought in and will be confiscated (fruits, meat etc.). I just came back via ORD with chocolate and did say 'no' on the kiosk (as I used to do on the paper form).
Its one of those things were the customs definition of food is different from what you consider food. E.g. I never marked baby formula either as being food.

If you get an X, you have to go to an immigration line - not proceed to customs. Talk about it at your interview, I was told not to check food for my sport bars I told them I carry with me.

I did ask at my interview and I was told that if it is eatable it is food, when I asked about being stopped at the exit, they said food comes under the department of agriculture so they could not answer whether I would need second screening. I have always declared candy on my declaration, and when exiting have been asked what I am declaring by way of food, candy I say and they say go ahead. I think under this GE program one must be very careful what they do or do not declare, one miss and you could be out.

I asked the exact same question at my interview, and the officer said "if you can eat it, you must declare it as food."

I said, "even a bag of chips or a candy bar I bought at the origin airport?"

He said, "yes, even those things. Anything you are carrying that you can put in your mouth and eat must be declared as food, unless you consume or discard it before you arrive at Customs."

anyone use GE at Sea? Is it up and running?

Glad to see that someone else has gotten the same answer as I. I believe that if you don't declare and you get an officer that is in a bad mood, you could lose your EG privilege, all it takes is one time. And, if you tell him that another officer said that you did not have to declare certain types of food, you will get nowhere, food is food, period, no exceptions.

Yes, that's correct. I got a very stern lecture about smuggling. Even one instance where they catch us with undeclared items and our trusted traveler status is forfeited immediately.

That was my perception, as well, and I was surprised by what the guy told me - guess I'll do the stop at immigration by cutting the line to get the X okayed then. Still a saving, just not as much.

Use of rented cars in Nexus lane?
 

Do they allow rented cars in Nexus lanes, either way of the crossing? If not, can you show Nexus card at regular lane and get waved in without asking lots of questions? Does the rented car a problem if you have other regsitered vehicle or no registered vehicle at all. I will be mostly using renetd car, but may use my own car about 10% of the time. Can I use Nexus lane when I am in either car. Any one who crossed nexus with rented car? can i accompany some one who has nexus in their car while i also have a registered vehicle

OK, I have now gotten the big X from the machine four times in a row since I got approved for Global Entry and did my interview in August. After the second time, I stopped by the Global Entry office at T4 JFK to ask if there was any problem and the best they could suggest was to let several passengers from the flight clear in front of me so that download of the flight list to the kiosks would be triggered. They suggested my next step should be to ask to see a supervisor to find out why I didn't clear, but I'm sure that will take at least half an hour when I just want to get home.

In my case the machine picks up my passport and my fingerprints, and I answer the first four questions but it X's me before it ever lists arrival flight info. Has anyone else had this problem?

Is it a disadvantage of flying up front in a plane so that you're one of the first ten or so passengers from the flight to hit the entry point?

Does anybody know what the interview entails? I am not looking for specifics (I am guessing they swear people to not telling about the interview) but I am wondering how long it takes and if they decide to approve you, do you find out immediately, or does it take another few weeks?

If you are informed to make an appointment for the interview, you are already conditionally approved. My interview was just to verify the information they had on file and I was shown how to use the machine. All very quick and easy and it was over in less than 15 minutes. They put the CBP sticker on your passport and you're good to go. No warning and no "swearing to secrecy". That was on the first day they started interviews at LAX so I don't know if the procedure has changed. Unless some major discrepancy shows up at the interview, you're approved immediately after the process.

Only fifteen minutes? Alright, I guess I will have a good amount of time to kill... How long did it take for CBP to notify you that you were conditionally approved?