About two months before I left on my trip to New Zealand, I applied for Global Entry. According to the website, Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. Members enter the United States through automatic kiosks at select airports.
At airports, program members proceed to Global Entry kiosks, present their machine-readable passport or U.S. permanent resident card, place their fingerprints on the scanner for fingerprint verification and complete a customs declaration. The kiosk issues the traveler a transaction receipt and directs the traveler to baggage claim and the exit.
Unfortunately, because of the government shut down leading up to my trip, I wasn’t able to complete the interview (my application was approved but you need to come in for a formal interview) before I left.
I rescheduled my appointment and drove down to Chicago O’Hare yesterday to complete the interview. The office of US Customs and Border Protection is situated right next door to the arrival gate at Terminal 5 of the airport (which I came through on my return home from New Zealand).
This is the second time I’ve had an interview with a federal agent. The first was 10 years ago when I had my US Citizenship interview. Although it was somewhat intimidating to be interview by a “federal agent” armed with a service weapon and an assortment of menacing looking accessories on his person, the interview went fine. I was asked about my country of birthday, whether I had been arrested or if I had ever been in the USA illegally. There was other small talk (about my business, life, etc.) although I think the purpose of the such small talk is part of the interview process. It took only 5 minutes or so and I was on my way; the card is supposed to arrive in a couple of weeks.
The cost of Global Entry is $100. It also INCLUDES TSA-Pre and lasts 5 years from the date of my next birthday (never heard of this before) so in essence I get almost six years of “membership”. It’s slightly more expensive than TSA-Pre Check but obviously offers international travel benefits.
I’m looking forward to skipping the lines on my next journey.
