Interesting twist at DFW on Sunday.....

The kiosk printed a normal receipt. When I got to the special crew/GE/diplomat line at the Customs exit (with several of my flight's FAMs in line in front of me, incidentally), the officer wanted to check my passport, "just to make sure you didn't find this receipt somewhere on the floor."

Never had that happen before! But no big deal. He was good-natured about it, and I was on my way in 15 seconds. The other Customs lanes seemed to be moving very slowly, with the officers being very chatty (though again, good-natured) with the pax. GE pays for itself once again!

(The only time I've ever had significant delays since joining GE was once at JFK T7 arriving from the EU. The officer sent me to secondary and there they spent about 10 minutes typing something into a computer, then let me go. I asked if I had been flagged, and what I might have done to get flagged, and they said "nope, no worries; the computer randomly selects a couple of GE members each day for us to check more carefully, and today was your lucky day.")

Applied 10/8 while sitting in the Admirals Club after enduring 1.5 hours getting through Immigration and Customs.

Conditional Approval came through today (10/13). No interview slots at DFW until November, so I picked up a slot at LAX Tuesday 10/19 when I fly in for some meetings.

Smooth sailing so far.

Sounds like the guy I went through (I was there on Sunday at about 10 AM - the lane to the left?). He was checking everyone's passport. The person before me was questioned about the length and purpose of their trip...and I think in a bit more detail than me. I just said "six days, business" and the guy just let me through.

Nope, non-immigrants file 1040-NRs -- Non-Resident.

I don't think so. Whether a non-immigrant file a 1040 or 1040NR depends on the IRS Substantial Presence Test. In any case, the IRS is a poor example as it has different standards on residency from other government departments.

Interview for GE?
 

Maybe I missed something somewhere but I have just started to look into this program and since OKC is not a GE location does that mean that I need to go to a GE location for an interview? Seems like paying $100 for the card isn't worth my time at this point. Being recently retired military the government has everything from my dental records to DNA on file plus all the clearance documentation and I still need to go interview with someone for the ability of skipping a 10 minute wait? Until they increase the number of GE locations and make it more user friendly I think I'll wait. Unless, of course, the company I work for starts paying for it.:cool:

Welcome to Flyertalk.

As with many things, it is a cost benefit thing. I travel internationally something like 8-12 times a year, maybe more. Ive seen waits of 30 minutes or more. Then there is connections that might be missed. So it's worth it to me and so far, one time using it only, I love it. Im going to PVG week after next and then again to HKG in early November so a couple more times this year to try it out.

Your military and clearance histories should help speed the approval process along.

In my case, it led to what the CBP officer said was the "abbreviated" interview: [list]
Validate some of the facts from the application and background investigation (took about five minutes)
Complete the orientation briefing for how to properly use the kiosks and what happens when the kiosk is not working or issues you an X receipt.

All told, it took about 15 minutes. In addition, the closest airport, at the time that I did the interview, was IAD (a 1.5 hour drive from the house, but near my office). I was able to call them up and ask if they had any slots for a walk-in without an appointment, and they ushered me right through the process. Several people in this thread have noted that they have made appointments or walk-ins at an approved office during travels through a connecting airport.

Every time I deplane at T5 in ORD with only checked bags, walk around the corner and see a mass of humanity bursting beyond the bounds of the lines and then walk over to the Kiosks, enter my information get the receipt and then hand it to the Customs person, and wind up outside the terminal literally 30 seconds after I hit the immigration hall I say to myself "this trip was worth the price of GE alone." I'm really surprised I don't see more people using it, I've never had to wait in line.

The only place it failed was at LAX, where the customs person still thoroughly quizzed me. At ORD I've never been anything other than waved through.

Applied for Global Entry, was tentatively approved in 6 days, went for my interview. He verified all the info on my app, and asked me questions about current and former work and travel. I didn't feel like he was trying to trip me up on anything, but he was thorough in checking each and every part of my application.

He stressed that even one time that customs found an irregularity with my declaration (like declaring no food and the dog sniffs food), that I could be removed from the program. I asked him about random searches and he said that it is the same as if I am not in the program, that every x number of passengers are checked in a secondary search area and global entry participants are not exempt. (I've been secondary searched just a couple of times in the last 7 years).

I am looking forward to using it next month.

Not so lucky. 1st time using GE and I received the big X. They said it was random and I doubt it. I spent the next 30 minutes having every pocket and fold in my luggage checked. For being one of the most background-checked peoiple on the planet it seemed totally silly. Meanwhile, the group I was traveling with went through the normal line and beat me to the connecting gate. I am not sure GE is worth it yet. I have 8-9 long intl trips a year. Never been stopped like this before. I am disappointed since it was supposed to be easy and became a hassle.

Why do you doubt that it was random? Do you think they picked you *because* you used GE?

When I had my interview, as others have mentioned on this thread, the CBP officer clearly advised that I would receive an X periodically, for no other reason than the random selection algorithms in place to ensure that a certain percentage of kiosk users are included in the random secondary screening process. It has not happened to me in the 8 times I have traversed the inbound border control area with GE, and it sucks that your first experience resulted in a secondary. Personally, I would not use this first experience as an indictment to the speed gains proposed by the overall program. Give it another couple of shots - if you get X's on the next couple of entries, I would start asking what was causing the issue.

Your point is well taken as the kiosk doesn't know me from Adam. Another agent thought it was the country I was returning from (Botswana). Of course I go there twice a year and it is a well developed and independent country, so I hope this doesn't happen every time. I will try it again in December when I leave the country again. Maybe I will have better luck then. Thanks.

I had the most positive experience with GE today, since I signed up for the program. Flying back to SFO from SYD, it was nice to bypass the lines of people waiting to be processed. I stuck my passport in the kiosk, and was done in 20 seconds Walked to the outer CBP officer that told me "welcome home, sir"! (friendlies remark a CBP agent has ever made to me)... Overall, I was off the plane, and to the domestic checkpoint in less than 10 minutes ^

FriendlySkies-Mom was also on the trip, and she had to use the general line. She mentioned that the officer processing was a bit rude when trying to figure out why somebody would only go to SYD for two days, and then started asking things such as the name of the hospital she was born at, etc.. Glad that I was able to avoid that! If I did not have GE, I wonder what they would say to me when I return from my one-night trip to LHR..