Applied for Global Entry services. Is the interview easy?
 

One of the perks of United Platinum status is that they'll pay for your Global Entry application. I was clearing up my desk today and realized the "credit card" that United gave me back in January is going to expire on 7/31/13.

So, I filled out all the details from my passport and driver's license and figured out all the countries I've visited in the last five years. Now I wait to be assigned an interview.

For those of you who have done this, is the interview pretty standard -- who are you, where and why do you travel, are you a criminal? -- or does it get deep into psychology and such?

I once brought in a piece of fruit from Japan, but turned it over to the immigration officer before they caught me...Hope I will not be blacklisted for that. ;-)

It's been a couple of years since my interview, but I recall it being very easy. The officer basically just read over my application and asked me a few of questions to confirm things I'd put on the application--e.g., about places I'd traveled in the past few years. Mr_go did his interview at the same time with a different officer, and the only weird question he was asked was about the domain on his e-mail address (it's tied to a personal site and not a standard gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc., type of address).

Yep, it is pretty easy. It was a fairly lightweight background investigation interview He probed a bit about my job but they were the kind of questions that would only help. No questions in a fake chit chatty way, just straight questions. Not trying to trip you up or anything. It was pretty well done, no games.

Just did the interview last week - me, DH, and college-age son. We had different, but consecutive time slots, with me first. When the officer called me, he asked whether the 2 other guys next to me were family, and I said yes. So he said, come on over, all of you. He asked me just 1 question - what I do; my husband another 1 question - what he does, and my son, none. The 3 of us were done - photographed, fingerprinted and explained about GE - in 20 minutes. He was really nice, quite laid-back and even joked around us.

Interview is straightforward and is mostly for taking your photo and biometric data (fingerprints & eye photo), and showing you how to use system. The background check that they do is the key part of the security side of it. If you've ever run afoul of the law, it's very possible that will come up in the interview. (Though that's not necessarily disqualifying, despite the suggestion to the contrary on the GE site.)

Couple of things


Unless it has changed drastically you choose the time/place for interview rather than wait to be called.

If you have had ANY official run ins with the law, and I mean ANY- that you did not reveal on the application , they WILL know it. Same with any countries you forgot to mention. Volunteering the piece of fruit without a fine or other penalties wouldn't count. However, having something confiscated and paying a fine would.

The interview itself varies in length but doesn't get into any personal psychology or why you want GE or whatnot.

Good luck! GE also qualifies you for domestic precheck if you don't already have it.

My GE interview was not much of an interview at all. Mostly, it was a tutorial on how to use the machine and a chance to take my fingerprints.

Very easy. No trick questions.

thanks!

<<< Now I wait to be assigned an interview.>>>

<<<Unless it has changed drastically you choose the time/place for interview rather than wait to be called.>>>

That response that might confuse people who haven't started the process. You fill out the documents with name, travel history, etc and submit that and your payment. After a short time (I think mine took a couple weeks) you'll get an update on their site that will say you've essentially been pre-approved. Once you get that *then* you can schedule the interview.

So yes, you do schedule the time/place at your convenience but you have to wait to be contacted to be allowed to do that.

How do they determine where you go for the interview I live in rather boondock area that does have an airport about an hour away but it is smaller not a major one. I would like to do this but its a day off work to drive to the major airport nearest to me.

<i>How do they determine where you go for the interview I live in rather boondock area that does have an airport about an hour away but it is smaller not a major one. I would like to do this but its a day off work to drive to the major airport nearest to me.</i>

You choose where you go for the interview from among the handful of enrollment centers out there. Here is a list:

http://www.globalentry.gov/enrollmentcenters2.html

Joanne, if you have a trip coming up you can try to schedule your travel through one of those airports that tg linked to with a long enough layover to attend the interview.

I'm in a similar situation... Chicago is the closest location for me and that's about a 4 hour drive. I was planning to drive or maybe fly there but they didn't have any openings until September or October. I ended up going through the list of locations that have weekend hours (quite a few do), looking at their available schedules (I wanted to get GE before the middle of August for an upcoming trip so that really limited my options) and then looking at flight costs to get there.

Saturday I'm flying to Newark simply to get GE. That was the cheapest flight that would fit my schedule and ended up barely more expensive than flying to Chicago would have been.

<i>Joanne, if you have a trip coming up you can try to schedule your travel through one of those airports that tg linked to with a long enough layover to attend the interview. </i>

We did something similar. We enrolled while living overseas and simply scheduled our interviews to coincide with one of our trips back. We picked up our bags and walked over to the office to do the interview before getting in a cab.

After your conditional approval, you have 30 days to schedule your interview online and the interview date must be within 90 days so plan accordingly.

The interview slots get booked up quickly. We ended up walking in during one of our trips and they were able to take us due to cancellations/no shows.

Were you interviwed at an airport or some or a federal facility?

most of the interview locations are at airports.

Update: I had my interview on Thursday and got my approval email that evening.

Luckily, I went early. For some reason, I had assumed the appt was at the Federal Building. Realized my mistake as I got out of my car, but didn't have a clue where 300 Rodgers Ave Was. On GPS it showed up as beyond the east end of HNL Airport, but in reality it was on the other end, by International arrivals.

The officers laughed when I apologized and again when I called their dept the "TSA". They said they are all much more handsome and get to carry guns.

I was asked four or five short questions, "Have you ever been deported, arrested, etc " kind of stuff, then asked to watch a video on how to use Global entry. At the end I was digitally fingerprinted and photographed. (He let me see the photo and re-take it, too)

It was all over in about 10 minutes, and I got another big laugh when I said I had expected a thorough grilling. The agent said he could arrange one; could even have them use the latex gloves. I thanked him and declined his kind offer.

So it was brief and a lot of fun!

In addition to IAD the DC area has a new location in the Reagan bldg at 1300 Penn Ave. I was also interviewed on Thursday, but did not get an approval yet. My husband went on Monday and had not heard anything by Thursday when I went for my interview. I took his GOES number and passport and the Customs Agent looked him up. He apologized and said he would forward to his supervisor and he should get it by that afternoon which he did.

combining airport visit:
That's what I am trying to do, sent in the paper work I have to go to San Francisco 5 hours but I have a meeting there the first of October so hopefully I can join up the two and just take the hotel meeting place shuttle to airport and get it done.