US global entry programme. Has anyone used this?

[AdmiralJack]

Has anyone ever bothered with this?

On the face of it, for someone like me who has a pathological hatred of queues, it's ideal. Have an interview, do a CRB check, pay a fee and no queues at US airports for 5 years.

Except you have to do the interview in a US airport, which rather defeats the purpose.

Unless I'm missing something and you can do all the interviews in the UK, say at the embassy?

[Claudette]

I haven’t done it but I have looked into it. I think you have got it right, there is a bit of work to do up front but from then on it will be easier. I think Mr Tom Morrow may have had it in the past and a couple of other dibbers so hopefully they will be along soon.

[miked1e]

We are looking to do this. We will be going through the process this year with the view of doing the interview next May.

We are staying 1st night at Hyatt MCO so hoping we can either do interview on arrival or appointment for next morning.

Whilst we are not regular business travellers we will still likely travel to the US 6-8 times over a 5 year period. Can’t remember exact costs but I think it worked out about 15 pound per person per visit for speedier access into US and the TSA pre check Q out. I would pay this per trip if it was available like a fast track…

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

Yeah, we have GE. Current wait times for conditional approval is around 5-6 weeks. This is 10-14 days to obtain your UK application reference (£42) then about 4-5 weeks for US approval ($100) . I expect this to lengthen when borders fully open - it reached a peak of 10 months at one point before covid. Once you have conditional approval you then need an interview for final acceptance into the program.

There are hints of a zoom interview eventually being available but beyond a test for renewals only it's not appeared yet - probably due to covid staffing issues.

[Fastpassfamily]

We have got GE, we actually did the application during lockdown and had everything passed within a few months. The when we went to Bahamas in august we did enrolment on entry whilst flying to Orlando. This took 15 minutes to pass everything off. So next time we go to Orlando we go to the global entry area to get through immigration. You also get TSA pre check which is a fast pass for the security lines at the airport. We used it at Miami on our way home and it was brilliant. Took 2 minutes to get through, no need to take your shoes or belt off just walk through

[Miss AliJS]

We got it 3 years ago and were able to do our interview on entry to Orlando. It is definitely worth it, although obviously we haven't been able to use it over past 2 years. When you get to MCO, you turn left instead of right with the rest of the crowds and there are some machines that you can use. Last time took us about 10 minutes to get from the plane to baggage reclaim. Being able to use the tsa precheck line is great too. I thought it just took a lot of the stress out of travelling.

[unixgirl]

yep - I've also got GE - and it's great for TSA pre-check. Only had 1 bad experience with it and that was when the machine printing out the receipt decided it would chew it up. The TSA immigration person was not helpful at all. Other than that it's been fine, I got it because I travel to the US several times a year, or at least I did pre-Covid.

[popsiwinkle]

We arranged for our global entry earlier this year, figured we might as well do it while we couldn't get in before it started getting busier again. It took a couple of months in total for the application/approvals and it was very easy. We've booked an interview for a couple of days after arrival in November but hoping to just interview when we get there on the day as that's offered in MCO. Very much looking forward to having it with all the piled up holidays we have in Florida!

[miked1e]

Originally Posted by Miss AliJS

We got it 3 years ago and were able to do our interview on entry to Orlando. It is definitely worth it, although obviously we haven't been able to use it over past 2 years. When you get to MCO, you turn left instead of right with the rest of the crowds and there are some machines that you can use. Last time took us about 10 minutes to get from the plane to baggage reclaim. Being able to use the tsa precheck line is great too. I thought it just took a lot of the stress out of travelling.

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If hoping to do enrolment on arrival, do you still go right or is there another way that you go which may speed up that initial entry?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by miked1e

If hoping to do enrolment on arrival, do you still go right or is there another way that you go which may speed up that initial entry?

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We were in the first wave of people who had the advantage of an interview at the desk on arrival as opposed to scheduling one for a later date. I had an E Mail a week before we flew saying that they were commencing that process.

So we spoke to the Guy who tells you where to line up and he took us to another desk where we did the interview then and there. That was maybe 4 years ago if my memory serves me right.

If we hadn't done that I had a back up appointment booked for a few days later and would have driven to MCO and sorted it then. That appointment got automatically cancelled once our GE was approved.

Good system I must say. We literally take minutes to get through. Hopefully will be the same when we go next February.

Edit. Checked my account. That approval was in March 2018