Today’s post will be about our efforts to obtain Global Entry capabilities. For those not familiar with Global Entry, it streamlines the Customs and Immigration process when you return to the US from abroad. It also includes TSA Pre-check, which shortens the timeframe for going through security at the airports here in the US. Both are included with the Global Entry program, but the TSA Pre-check can also be applied for on its own for persons mainly doing domestic travel in the US. Both require an application and in-person interviews before approval, but the TSA program is a little simpler.
We had thought about getting Global Entry a few times before in the past but had not thought it was worth the cost at $100 per person. We had really reduced our international travel trips when we last looked at it right before COVID, and we did not do enough international during COVID to justify the cost and the effort to apply. The “effort” mostly involves the mandatory in-person interview at an Enrollment Center, these centers generally being located only at the larger International Airports.
That changed when I reviewed the benefits we have been getting with our CapitalOne Ventrue credit card. I had forgotten that it would give us a statement credit for $100 toward the multi-year Global Entry cost, basically paying for one of our two applications, so we decided to use that benefit and apply. The other incentive was that we thought we might just get TSA Pre-check since we do more domestic travel instead of the Global Entry. The Capital One Credit card would also reimburse us for one of those costs, which for the TAS Pre-check is $78.00 per person. However, after looking into both programs and seeing that the Global Entry also included the benefits of the TSA Pre-check, we opted to apply for the Global Entry since it was just $22.00 per person more. We also saw that there was a Global Entry Enrollment Center at the Charlotte Airport, only about 100 miles away. Wow, we thought we could do a long weekend in Charlotte to get away and get our interview done at the same time, or so that was the plan.
A few days ago, we went ahead and started the Global Entry Application process. First, we both had to obtain a Trusted Traveller Program login, which is the Homeland Security Portal for these types of travel program applications.
Getting the login was not hard. Next, we each had to fill out the Global Entry Application, which was a little tedious, and somewhat redundant, how many times do I need to enter my birth date……. We both had to enter our Passport information, driver’s license information, some history about our employment since 2019, and a history of where we lived since 2019. The history part was relatively straightforward especially since I was retired, and Stephanie has worked at the same location for much longer, and we have lived at the same location since 2012.
Then, we needed to put in all of the foreign countries we had visited since 2019. We had to consult this travel site to see when our last few trips were, and it was relatively easy once we saw which trips had started in 2019 and afterward. Luckily, we did not need to put in countries where we were there for less than 24 hours, which eliminated several countries from our recent cruises since we were only there for a few hours for port stops.
We each put in the information for our separate applications and paid the $100 non-refundable fee, mine first, and then Stephanie’s. There was not a lot of information on how long it would take to approve this first portion of the application, but overall, the timeframe for Global Entry approval was listed as 90 days, good enough for it to be available when we go on this trip, mainly for arrival back into the US from Iceland.
We did read some internet information about making appointments for the In-Person Interview, but could not do anything to schedule the appointment until we received the conditional approvals on our applications.
We were pleasantly surprised when we both got emails about our conditional approvals only two days after applying. Wow, that was quick. We had seen that interviews in Charlotte were full until March 29, so we thought we would try and make our weekend getaway sometime around one of our birthdays in April. Our plan was to get an interview on a Friday, and then just spend at least the night afterward in Charlotte as a mini-vacation.
This is when the wheels fell off. I logged into the Trusted Traveller website and chose the now available “Make An Appointment” online selection. I started out with selecting the Fridays in April around our birthdays but without any luck finding any available appointments in Charlotte The system does not allow you to choose an Enrollment Center and then see what dates are available for appointments. Someone devised a much worse system than that. You either pick an “On” date or a “Before” date, and the system shows you which centers in the entire USA that have available interview times. That did not work at all, only a few of the largest airports were showing up to select for appointments, and none were anywhere near home. I tried everything, mainly settling for opting to use the “Before” date option and choosing the end of July just to see what would show up at all before our trip. Of course, since we needed two interview slots, that even further hampered our success in finding a location. What a mess.
OK, my next plan was to actually try and call the Charlotte location, and I used the phone number listed on the site where you could select any of the locations available for Global Entry interviews. Well, that did not work, the phone number listed for Charlotte was just the general number for the Customs and Immigration hotline, and after listening to some very extended messages and options, it clearly stated that no representatives had access to appointment information any differently than the general public using the website. I hung up without even trying to talk to anyone in person.
Then I did some more online research on walk-ins, how to make appointments, etc., and that did not tell me anything other than walk-ins were really not an option for Charlotte TI found a few “for a fee” websites that will monitor locations for cancellations, but they do not make any appointments, they just send an email when slots open up. That did not sound very appealing, there was too much potential for delay between the time they find out, the time they send an email and you read it, and then the time when you can log into the Trusted Traveller website and book your own appointment. It did not seem feasible to monitor email all day long anyway. It was interesting and discouraging to see that for many airport locations, the fee-based appointment sites showed these locations as not having any available interview slots for over 365 days, and that list included both Atlanta and Charlotte airports, the nearest airports to us. But, if I selected Charlott on the Trusted Traveller website, it only stated that all appointments were fully booked through March, 2024. Which was correct, it did not really matter, I could not schedule interviews in Charlotte anyway
In just playing around with different locations for selecting appointments, some said they were full to a certain date, but you could also select some of these locations and see a calendar showing when they had available dates. Not so for Charlotte, it just listed the March date showing all appointments were until then, but did not give any option to select that location to look for any alternative dates on a calendar. Just a poorly designed system, but it is the government after all.
I was able to find that there are special events that are occasionally set up for interviews, and one of those was being scheduled for Jacksonville, Fl. That sounded good until I saw the dates, March 4th and 5th ONLY. It was not apparent at first that these were Global Entry special events, and nowhere was I able to find a list of any scheduled special approval Global Entry events that were being held in 2024 on any government website. It was looking like going to Jacksonville, FL was going to be our only option to get our interviews scheduled anytime soon. The dates for Jacksonville were not the only issue. We have older cars and we are not sure about taking them on a trip that long. Ironically, we have put a deposit down on a new vehicle, but it will not be delivered by then. It is still an option to travel to Florida, but we will have to give it some thought.
Our only other option for the interview is to do what is called Enrollment On Arrival. This means that when you arrive back from an international destination, you do the approval interview as part of the normal Customs & Immigration process, there is no appointment necessary. This may be the least involved way for us to get approval, and since we return from Iceland through the Detroit Airport, and they have that Enrollment On Arrival capability, that may be the best solution. The only drawback is that we won’t have access to TSA Pre-check when we leave to fly to Iceland. This would not be that big of an issue if we were leaving from here in Columbia, the airport here is small. However, for this trip, we are leaving from the Charlotte Airport later in the afternoon, so the airport will be much more crowded, and TSA Pre-check would be nice to have to avoid some time spent in the security lines.
We will need to figure out what we want to do, but it is a lot harder than we thought it would be to set up the interview, which ironically, was one of the hurdles that discouraged us from doing this before. Now it is too late, we can’t just change back to the TSA Pre-check program. It seems a little odd to us that for the Pre-check approval. there are two approved contracted companies to provide interview locations for that program, and these are located in over 600 cities in the USA, one of which is here in Columbia, go figure. Both programs require in-person verification of identity and fingerprinting, so what is the difference?
I am not sure why the Global Entry is so limited, we let people across our borders illegally every day, and even give them free benefits, so why can’t I just get approved at a local center like the TSA program, I guess security is not as important on identity verification as immigration is.
UPDATE: The Global Entry Application System must have been designed with terribly insufficient technology. I had read that you need to constantly check, and today, Saturday, February 17, I found that to be true. It had just been two days since the information I posted above. At around 7:15 AM, I did another check on available reservations, and lo and behold, but what should appear, not Santa and tiny reindeer, but the Charlotte Airport with available appointments, even better. There were several dates in February now showing as available, even some on a Friday and on a Monday. I also looked at March, but everything in March was blocked out but for two Wednesdays in the very middle of the month.
Before this morning, we had just about decided we would go to Jacksonville, FL, and use one of the available appointments showing up for the Port Authority Office location on Monday, March 4. Going to Jacksonville would also allow us to visit friends in Ponte Vedra Beach if we went for the weekend. Now, we will have to make a decision, go to Charlotte this month, which is much closer to us, or go to Jacksonville on March 4.
After discussing the options, we opted to go to Charlotte, which is only about 100 miles from Columbia. We made two consecutive interview appointments on Monday, February 26, one at 10:10 AM and the other at 10:20 AM. That was tricky since we each had to log in separately to make our respective appointments We also made a hotel reservation near downtown Charlotte for the Sunday night before the interviews. We have not been to Charlotte just to visit for a few years, so it will be a short getaway for us in addition to completing our Global Entry interviews.
We did some research on how to get to the office inside the Charlotte Airport for the interviews and were not able to find detailed information from our Google Search, specifically on where we needed to go for the interviews.
However, when we were printing our interview confirmation from the Trusted Traveller website, there was a section at the bottom of the confirmation explaining exactly where to go, as well as a couple of photos showing the office location near the International Flight Baggage Claim, If only we had seen that first!
So, we are all set for our interviews and are glad we are not trying to do it as part of our travels home from Iceland back to the US, that can add stress if there are flight delays or other problems. We will also have the benefit of the TSA Pre-check for our flight from Charlotte to Iceland and that will be a benefit.
One last note, we have already received our $100 credit from our CapitalOne Credit Card for one of the $100 Global Entry application fees, which is the extent of the benefit from the credit card, but that certainly helps with the overall cost, now it is really onlycosting us $50 per person for our two four-year Global Entry cards.
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