Well said. I agree completely. I did it this way and it was seamless. It was worth making a special trip up to YYZ (of course, that was before the CATSA craziness with carry-ons).

I applied for Global Entry on 1/22, got my approval last night, and went in for my interview this morning at BOS. Now I'm good to go for my return trip from YTZ on Friday! So excited to be able to use this service.

I used Global Entry for the first time today arriving into LAX TBIT on a full trans-pacific flight. I was in economy class. Being so conditioned in the past to queue up and wait my turn with US immigration, it felt weird when I walked right by the mass of people towards the three available GE kiosks.

I did the photo, fingerprint scan and yes/no touchscreen questions in less than 45 seconds. It spit out the receipt with no x mark and out I went to join a small number of people from our flight waiting for the carousel to start. I was not in First or Business Class but had priority baggage handling with alliance status. I took my bag, gave the receipt to the customs agent, he thanked me and off I went.

No questioning from agents and no customs form to fill out by hand - a very easy experience.

I sat in the back of the plane and was among the last to get off yet among the first to leave the airport! I'm totally on board. :)

Global Entry is worth the fee and application process for any frequent low risk international traveller.

Glad to hear that your experience with GE went well! I look forward to using it for the first time in the next few weeks, so I will only hope I have the same results! By the way, did you get the "stare-down" from your fellow passengers when you walked past them to a kiosk with no line, and disappeared moments later?:cool:

I did my interview in Niagara Falls. Just fly into BUF. Cheaper anyway and you can always drive up to Toronto.

Yes, a few stares from people in line, but once I got to the kiosk, I wasn't paying attention to anyone. I was fascinated with my first use of the technology (the machine in the interview center was broke so I didn't get the chance to practice). I'm sure it looked like a disappearing act!

Applied on the 28th. Still pending.

Remember that if you want your NEXUS membership to allow you the use of the kiosks to enter/exit Canada at the major international airports, you need to go to a CBSA enrollment centre that is equipped with the iris scanning equipment.

The iris scan is not required for NEXUS land/sea membership, and also not required for cross-membership in GlobalEntry. But, IMHO, you might as well get your money's worth and activate the "air" portion of the NEXUS membership if you EVER plan to travel to/from/through Canada.

Existing Global Entry Member Wanting Nexus as Well
 

Looking back, I travel to Canada once or twice a year and should have applied for Nexus first before Global entry to save in enrollment fees. But I only have Global Entry and am good for five years.

Do I just go back to GOES and apply separately for Nexus and pay the extra fee? Would I need to schedule another interview to get an iris scan and wait for the Nexus card to be mailed to me? Is it a little faster approval process since they already did a background check for Global Entry and already have my photo and prints?

Actually, you are right. Have your interview at Ft. Erie (ON side of the Peace Bridge) or at YYZ. I did my in Niagara Falls (NY side of the Whirlpool Bridge) and did not get my IRIS scan done. Now I have to go to YYZ or Ft. Erie to get that done.

You would have to get another full interview done, because CBSA will want to interview you and get a crack at your background check (make sure you have never had a DUI). Also, as I noted above, check ahead if your location has the IRIS scan. I doubt it would be faster approval, because the Canadians haven't done the check on you. That said, it appears that NEXUS approval is getting done faster than GE, even though 2 agencies are checking instead of one.

Thru ORD yesterday, system didnt work. That's 0/2 for me. First lax and now ord.

How did the sticker-driven backup plan work for you?

It has been two full weeks, and I have not heard back from GOES and status has not changed on the GOES website.

I wonder if the following areas in my profile cause longer approval/assessment process:

1. Recently relocate to a different state.
2. Change of driver's license
3. Traveled on three different passports (all US) based on nature of travels in the past five years.
4. Traveled to more than a dozen countries/jurisdictions in the past two years.

I had heard the process shouldn't take more than 10 days. Not that I am in a hurry, but I am a task-driven guy and don't like to see things dragging on....

Yes, address history is one of the things that they investigate.

Not likely, unless you are applying for NEXUS or SENTRI, both of which include a vehicle component, so they might run your driver history.

Definitely could slow things down while they review all the records.

YMMV. I travel a ton, to many countries, and my application was given conditional approval within a week or so.


Basically, the more complicated your profile is, the longer it could take for you to receive conditional approval. Have you ever been given a Customs secondary? Have you ever been arrested for anything, anytime, anywhere? Have you ever been confused (in the computer) with somebody else who had immigration/customs violations and/or outstanding warrants? All of these things could slow down the approval process.

Note that if you have ever been found in violation of any customs/immigration laws anywhere in the world, especially a country with systems linked together with US CBP through INTERPOL, you could be denied membership in a trusted traveler program.

Thanks. My records are quite clean. It is probably the change of addresses and nature of travels and types of travel documents are taking longer to review.