Global Entry Pass and TSA Travel Pre-check

DW and I signed up for GOES two years ago and love it. We had a trip scheduled through Houston with a four hour layover so we scheduled our appointment for there at the airport. Easy, in and out in 40 minutes for both of us. It makes traveling so much easier. And we do bet the Pre-Chek most of the time but not always. I asked a TSA agent about it and they said they will randomly not assign it just as a check on you and the system.
 
I have never applied for Pre Check or Global Entry, but I am Pre-Check virtually all the time when I fly, and have had no unusual delays at customs. I am a somewhat frequent business traveller. Maybe that is enough.
 
DrRoy said:
I have never applied for Pre Check or Global Entry, but I am Pre-Check virtually all the time when I fly, and have had no unusual delays at customs. I am a somewhat frequent business traveller. Maybe that is enough.
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TSA is telling airlines to tell their customers to get the TSA pre-check status, so you may see less of this privilege.

No "unusual" delays at customs - you've been lucky. Although I'm sure it depends on your arrival airport.
 
DW and I completed our interviews today in Seattle. We live on the other side of state so scheduled the interview to match up our return from a trip to Australia. Had to wait a bit pass our appointment but they took us together. Not sure it was a real time saver as each of us had to answer the same questions and get fingerprinted. Turns out DW career in paper handling has scrubbed her prints so their low tech print reader could not get a good read. Agent said it "happens all the time" so she will get an X on her printout and will still have to have a GOES entry person verify it is her(but suppose to be a short line - :) )
Regarding earlier discussions about NEXUS and GOES. learned you can use the NEXUS lanes to US as long as everyone in car has GOES card. Also, you can only use on rentry to USA (Nexus includes a Canadian govt clearance), but mot going to Canada.
Nwsteve
 
We applied yesterday. Any idea how long it takes to get through the initial background check? Did you get an email asking to schedule the interview? Tx.
 
nwsteve said:
Turns out DW career in paper handling has scrubbed her prints so their low tech print reader could not get a good read. Agent said it "happens all the time" so she will get an X on her printout and will still have to have a GOES entry person verify it is her(but suppose to be a short line - :) )
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If she ever has to do the electronic fingerprints again, have her put lotion on her hands about 5 minutes before. Supposedly this plumps them up enough for the machine to read them.
 
walkinwood said:
We applied yesterday. Any idea how long it takes to get through the initial background check? Did you get an email asking to schedule the interview? Tx.
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I guess it depends. When we did it, we each had the initial approval within 24 hours. Homeland Security had previously done a background check on me for a federal security clearance though, so that might have helped.
 
I did it on Saturday, and haven't gotten the Conditional Approval yet. I've read 3 to 5 days from posts late 2015 and 2016. Some though take weeks. Very hard to predict.
 
They ask that we check status regularly. How hard would it be for them to send an email?
 
walkinwood said:
They ask that we check status regularly. How hard would it be for them to send an email?
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There's a very good reason to check frequently. People cancel and you can see new appointments when they open up, so you can change yours to an earlier, more convenient day/time.
 
braumeister said:
There's a very good reason to check frequently. People cancel and you can see new appointments when they open up, so you can change yours to an earlier, more convenient day/time.
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I know that's the theory, but I did check several times during the two month wait for an appointment - there was never an available spot. Maybe in busier airports - we're not a mega-airport in San Antonio!
 
braumeister said:
There's a very good reason to check frequently. People cancel and you can see new appointments when they open up, so you can change yours to an earlier, more convenient day/time.
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He's talking about being notified of the conditional approval. I'm still waiting.

Hey, hey! I just checked! I'm conditionally approved!

That makes it the end of the 3rd business day after signing up over the weekend. Didn't get an email (yet).
 
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OMG - I was able to make an appointment at the closest office for tomorrow morning!!!!!
 
audreyh1 said:
OMG - I was able to make an appointment at the closest office for tomorrow morning!!!!!
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Audrey
You definitely live right ;-) We got our conditional approval within a week but could not get scheduled for at least 45 days for an interview at SeaTac--our closest and the only one in WA state. Once I went out 60+ days pretty much my choice.
I did noticed they took a fair number of walk-ups for administrative stuff like name changes and follow-ups.
If you and your partner sign the check-in sheet in sequence they will do a joint interview. Might save a bit of time if there is a small number of interviewing officers.
Nwsteve
 
I really had no idea how busy the offices would be here. The bridges are very busy, and I imagined a hoard of people trying to get SENTRI passes for their vehicles since there is a high border traffic area.

They didn't have anybody at all scheduled for tomorrow. We are scheduled back to back.

I wonder if we'll be training anybody? :D

Brownsville was also available tomorrow.

Hey - anyone waiting for their interview: come down and enjoy South Padre Island, and swing by the Brownsville office for your pass interview. ;)
 
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We had to drive to Charlotte (4 hours away) for our interview.

We've always gotten PreCheck since then, except DH didn't on our last trip to Vermont. I told him it was because his central Asian visas had finally caught up with him!

Love breezing through the lines when entering the US for sure!
 
audreyh1 said:
I read various things about getting an appointment - that it can get really delayed. Apparently you should go ahead and make the first available appointment, and then just keep checking to look for openings and reschedule.
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That's reason #1 we haven't done this yet. We're never anywhere long enough to wait for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn.

Reason #2 is that there just aren't that many airports that take it. Out of the six international flights we know we're going to take this year, only one has Global Entry kiosks.
 
Gone4Good said:
That's reason #1 we haven't done this yet. We're never anywhere long enough to wait for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn.

Reason #2 is that there just aren't that many airports that take it. Out of the six international flights we know we're going to take this year, only one has Global Entry kiosks.
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What about TSA Precheck? That's a significant side benefit.
 
Gone4Good said:
...

Reason #2 is that there just aren't that many airports that take it. Out of the six international flights we know we're going to take this year, only one has Global Entry kiosks.
Click to expand...

Are you referring to six international flights that involve US landings or departures? I ask because of my understanding that you are globetrotters and our own, unfortunately limited to date, experience finding global entry available everywhere when landing in US.

Maybe it is because we haven't really come through small US airports, which is where you'd expect to run into problems....
 
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