Global Entry Process Time????

[teacherman]

Do any of you have information on how long the application approval process is taking?  My wife and I both applied.  I find it "interesting" that, even though they are given our e-mail address, it seems to indicate that it is our responsibility to keep checking back on the web site to see when our applications have been approved so that we can then schedule an interview, rather than they just sending us an e-mail saying we are approved.  It also says that "due to the RECENT extended government shutdown"  (6 months ago-?) the whole process is delayed.  There is no indication of how long this is expected to take.  I don't even know if they have very many people assigned to review the applications.  Any information available on the time frame for this?  I was hoping we would have it by the time we travel in July.

[DogLover]

There is a thread on Flyertalk Forum (it's currently on page 411) entitled "Global Entry - processing timelines of first time applicants" you might want to take a look at. Honestly, it appears as though processing times are all over the maps. The FAQ on the Trusted Traveler website says about 11 weeks, but I'd say that's a pretty loose estimate. Unfortunately, the government shutdown created a huge backlog for approvals and interviews, although one would expect them to be catching up by now. How long ago did you apply?

 

Here's a link to the thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trusted-travelers/1066899-global-entry-processing-timelines-first-time-applications-us-citizens-lpr-s-411.html

 

Even though you provide an email, don't expect any communication. I've had GE since 2014 due to expire December 2019. I filled out the renewal application on May 6th, was approved for renewal May 14 and received my new card today in the mail (May 17!) I did not receive any emails with updates, just signed in to check.

 

Fingers crossed you hear soon and are able to schedule an interview prior to your travels!

[GeezerCouple]

Once you get the approval, note that the different interview locations (airports?) in the past had *very* different appointment times available.  So if time is tight, and you really want it, see if there is another location.

 

GC

[jollyjones]

14 hours ago, DogLover said:

I filled out the renewal application on May 6th, was approved for renewal May 14 and received my new card today in the mail (May 17!) I did not receive any emails with updates, just signed in to check.

 

 

Just out of interest since I will need to renew my GE in due course, if you renew well in advance of your GE expiry date (can do it up to a year in advance according to the website), do you get five years from the date of your new approval or five years from the date of expiry of the old GE? Not a big deal, just wondering how early to do it - when I renewed my (UK) passport early, I got ten years from the date of expiry of the old passport so I didn't 'lose' the time from renewing early.

And what's the GE renewal fee?

Thanks.

[DogLover]

6 hours ago, jollyjones said:

 

Just out of interest since I will need to renew my GE in due course, if you renew well in advance of your GE expiry date (can do it up to a year in advance according to the website), do you get five years from the date of your new approval or five years from the date of expiry of the old GE? Not a big deal, just wondering how early to do it - when I renewed my (UK) passport early, I got ten years from the date of expiry of the old passport so I didn't 'lose' the time from renewing early.

And what's the GE renewal fee?

Thanks.

You get 5 years from the original date of expiration, so my GE is now valid until December 2024. No loss of time for renewing early. Renewal fee is the same as an original application, $100.

[slidergirl]

If you get your approval to visit a GE center for the interview, be very flexible in where you can go.  Look at EVERY location within a weekend trip for you and see who has the best time for you.  Some places are months out with appointments, some are within a few days.  

 

As far as getting emails - I don't remember any notifications, either.  I just kept checking my account in the GOES database for when I was accepted for each step.   

[Tony O]

On 5/17/2019 at 12:30 PM, teacherman said:

Do any of you have information on how long the application approval process is taking?  My wife and I both applied.  I find it "interesting" that, even though they are given our e-mail address, it seems to indicate that it is our responsibility to keep checking back on the web site to see when our applications have been approved so that we can then schedule an interview, rather than they just sending us an e-mail saying we are approved.  It also says that "due to the RECENT extended government shutdown"  (6 months ago-?) the whole process is delayed.  There is no indication of how long this is expected to take.  I don't even know if they have very many people assigned to review the applications.  Any information available on the time frame for this?  I was hoping we would have it by the time we travel in July.

Wife was approved in 7 days mine took 2 months

[GeezerCouple]

Has anyone here who applied for a renewal needed to come in for another interview?

Or does anyone know in general how often that needs to be done?

 

GC

[Hlitner]

7 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Has anyone here who applied for a renewal needed to come in for another interview?

Or does anyone know in general how often that needs to be done?

 

GC

From what we have read elsewhere (not on CC) it is all hit and miss with nobody having an explanation.  Some get called back for an interview and others are able to do it online.  We do know one person who got called back for an interview and really stressed that he did something wrong.  His Interview lasted 5 minutes and was no big deal.  He asked the Officer why he had been flagged for another interview and was simply told it was random.

 

Hank

[slidergirl]

24 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

Has anyone here who applied for a renewal needed to come in for another interview?

Or does anyone know in general how often that needs to be done?

 

GC

Hank's anecdote is the only case I've heard of for a second interview on renewal.  I  didn't have to one - it was just fill out the form on line.   The only problem is that I was stuck with the same bad photo for this period!  (the agent didn't quite have the computer camera in the right spot).    My next renewal will be in 4 years, so I guess I'll see what happens then!  What is kind of funny is that my drivers license is renewable online in my state, so I did that last year.  It also reuses the same photo for the next 10 years.  Turns out I have the same shirt on in BOTH photos!  So I can always show them together if someone thinks I'm not me (I still have that shirt - a good, sturdy North Face shirt)!!! 

Edited May 19, 2019 by slidergirl

[josumello]

15 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

From what we have read elsewhere (not on CC) it is all hit and miss with nobody having an explanation.  Some get called back for an interview and others are able to do it online.  We do know one person who got called back for an interview and really stressed that he did something wrong.  His Interview lasted 5 minutes and was no big deal.  He asked the Officer why he had been flagged for another interview and was simply told it was random.

 

Hank

 That is exactly what happened to DH. I was approved immediately for renewal and had new card in mail in about 10 days.  The officer did say it was random also. 

[teacherman]

Silly me.  I just "imagined" there was a list of applicants and that once we applied, our names would be placed "next in line" to be approved and interviewed.  Also, with the backup due to the "recent" government shut down (probably not a good idea) and maybe more officers being moved to the southern border, who knows how it all works.  Just keep waiting and checking.

[slidergirl]

18 minutes ago, teacherman said:

Silly me.  I just "imagined" there was a list of applicants and that once we applied, our names would be placed "next in line" to be approved and interviewed.  Also, with the backup due to the "recent" government shut down (probably not a good idea) and maybe more officers being moved to the southern border, who knows how it all works.  Just keep waiting and checking.

Just remember - once you are "approved" and get permission for the interview, that could take weeks, maybe months to find a location that has an opening to do your interview.  That's why I say be flexible and look at who has the earliest opening for an interview that is within a weekend trip.   The interviews only take 5-15 minutes, so have some other fun things to do!!!

[teacherman]

We live about 20 minute drive from DTW.  That is probably where we will go when the time comes.

[jollyjones]

On 5/18/2019 at 1:02 PM, DogLover said:

You get 5 years from the original date of expiration, so my GE is now valid until December 2024. No loss of time for renewing early. Renewal fee is the same as an original application, $100.

 

Thanks, that's just what I needed to know. Now I can renew as early as is convenient without feeling I'm losing months, especially since I don't live in the US and I'd need a good lead time if I were to be picked for an interview. Although the website now shows an option of 'interview on arrival' (or some such phrase) meaning you just walk into their office at a major airport when you arrive from an international flight and are seen without an appointment - they seem to be encouraging one to do that which would suit me fine. MIA even has (supposedly) a 24 hr office!

[terry&mike]

18 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

Has anyone here who applied for a renewal needed to come in for another interview?

Or does anyone know in general how often that needs to be done?

 

GC

DH and I filed for a renewal at the same time. He was approved almost immediately, I was notified that I had to come in for a new interview. The appointments were quite full online, and I happened to be flying out of New Orleans in the next couple of weeks, so I just popped over to the Global Entry area and signed in, and asked "any chance you can work me in, as I happen to be at the airport today, if not, no big deal." The guy said, "we usually don't do this, but we are slow today, so come on in". My re-interview was a total non-issue, and took maybe 5 minutes.

I had some clients who were getting ready to travel in a month and had applied for their initial Global Entry, but no interview appointments were available for several months out. I suggested they might try just showing up, and see if it worked for them, and recounted my experience. The tried this and were told the same thing, "we usually don't do it this way, but come on in" and received their interview and approval. 

[GeezerCouple]

17 minutes ago, terry&mike said:

DH and I filed for a renewal at the same time. He was approved almost immediately, I was notified that I had to come in for a new interview. The appointments were quite full online, and I happened to be flying out of New Orleans in the next couple of weeks, so I just popped over to the Global Entry area and signed in, and asked "any chance you can work me in, as I happen to be at the airport today, if not, no big deal." The guy said, "we usually don't do this, but we are slow today, so come on in". My re-interview was a total non-issue, and took maybe 5 minutes.

I had some clients who were getting ready to travel in a month and had applied for their initial Global Entry, but no interview appointments were available for several months out. I suggested they might try just showing up, and see if it worked for them, and recounted my experience. The tried this and were told the same thing, "we usually don't do it this way, but come on in" and received their interview and approval. 

 

 

This reminds me of when we went for our interviews for our first Global Entry.  There was a closed door at the end of a short hallway (with no other doors), with some sort of "Do Not Disturb" sign.  We weren't even sure we were at the right place, and we double checked the "instructions", etc.  But we were early, and there were a few empty seats, so we sat down to wait.

 

At just about our first appointment time (we had immediately sequential appt times), someone opened the door and peered out, so we asked if this was the right place.  It was, and they asked us to come in.

They then said that we should have knocked on the door.  Uh... "Do Not Disturb"/etc.... and these are "serious authorities" about to "judge us" for Global Entry... or not.  It also turned out that we could have "just knocked" if we had not had any appointment at all.

 

This was about 4 years ago, when there were incredibly long waits at many locations, including our several month wait, yet there was no one else being processed inside when we arrived or while we were there.  There was no one waiting when we left.  There was more than one officer/interview room; it turned out that although our appointments were "sequential", we were seen at the same time by different officers in different interview rooms.

 

So that fits with the above comment, aside from the non-inviting nature of that door...

 

GC

 

[buggins0402]

14 hours ago, teacherman said:

We live about 20 minute drive from DTW.  That is probably where we will go when the time comes.

You can also look for appointment times for the office near the Ambassador Bridge and tie it in with something downtown. 

[Voelfgar]

Right now wife and I are at 75+ days and still waiting for conditional approval.

[PaulMCO]

I have done the renewal cycle twice.  Yes over 10 years of Global Entry.... First time -- had to do another interview.   Did not have to watch the video, they just redid my prints on the machine.   Second time (last year) did it 6 months ahead of time.  Took two months, but no interview.

 

At IAD (Dulles) they used to have a wait list for walk-ins, if someone did not show up.

At Orlando, I had to update my Drivers license and they did that on a walk up basis.

[Hlitner]

On ‎5‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 1:20 PM, PaulMCO said:

I have done the renewal cycle twice.  Yes over 10 years of Global Entry.... First time -- had to do another interview.   Did not have to watch the video, they just redid my prints on the machine.   Second time (last year) did it 6 months ahead of time.  Took two months, but no interview.

 

At IAD (Dulles) they used to have a wait list for walk-ins, if someone did not show up.

At Orlando, I had to update my Drivers license and they did that on a walk up basis.

We had no problem updating our drivers licenses online.   Just log in to your account and change the info.

 

Hank

[PaulMCO]

8 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We had no problem updating our drivers licenses online.   Just log in to your account and change the info.

 

Hank

At the time you could not do this.  You are correct -- can be done now.

[GeezerCouple]

On 5/19/2019 at 1:49 PM, GeezerCouple said:

Has anyone here who applied for a renewal needed to come in for another interview?

Or does anyone know in general how often that needs to be done?

 

GC

 

UPDATE:  We applied for our renewal approximately when I wrote this post.  (I don't remember how many days earlier it might have been, but it might have been right about then.)

We each received our new Global Entry cards yesterday.
Quite a surprise, as we hadn't heard anything, and didn't realize the new cards would "just show up", and especially not this quickly.

 

Nice!

 

GC

[boerneDQ]

Did your status update online prior to receiving your cards?  My sister applied for renewal in April and her status online is still in processing....

[GeezerCouple]

6 minutes ago, boerneDQ said:

Did your status update online prior to receiving your cards?  My sister applied for renewal in April and her status online is still in processing....

We hadn't even checked.  It never occurred to us that anything at all would happen so fast, never mind actually *receiving* the cards.

So, alas, I can't help out about whether there were any online clues, etc.

 

Are the online renewals handled regionally or at a national/federal level?  If the former, there could be different timing, just as there were with those early crazy waits for interviews!

 

GC