scdreamer

I applied for Global Entry about a week ago. I have printed out the page that says "Your payment was accepted and your application has been submitted."

At the bottom of that page it also says - "Please remember to revisit our website for your application status updates. Notifications of when you may schedule an interview appointment (if one is needed) will only be posted here."

Then - on the second page, in the list that shows the process it shows check marks next to:
Select program
Fill out application
Pay fee

Then an hourglass icon next to "Wait for conditional approval."

After that it lists the steps in the interview process.

So - Am I waiting for an email notification from them regarding conditional approval - or do I need to go online and keep checking at their website? I did look at the website and can't find a link to getting to an application status update.

Any of you who have been through this process - can you tell me what I should expect next?

RoamsAround

You’ll get an email notification when your application is approved. My recollection is it takes about 7 to 10 business days for your application to be processed. Once you get the email notification you can go to the GE website to set up your appointment for the interview.

scdreamer

Thanks!

jacketwatch

Ditto. Got outs a few mos. ago. They let you know via email for the conditional approval and then you go to an interview. Ours was done in matter of minutes really. They take pics and scan your prints.

I was astounded to see that we could have gone for the interview the following day after we got the email notice. However that did not work out for us but it was easy really. Then in a week or so you get the card but you do have the GE number before hand.

scdreamer

So - My husband and I both received our conditional approval emails and when we looked at appointments there were two available (single slots) in December - not on the same day, but we figured we could make it work by going to our airport on separate days (SFO).

I made my appointment, and just a minute later when my husband logged on, the next available appointment isn't until March 2018!

He's going to wait and keep checking to see if there will be any earlier openings - due to cancellations. I was told by a friend to keep checking every day, so that's what he's going to do.

I wonder if he comes along with me - would they let him have an interview too? From what I've heard it's very hit or miss that people sometimes drop in if they happen to be at the airport, and sometimes they let them have the interview. Not sure if that's true - ( do they have info queued up for the actual appointment?) - seems like it would be easy enough to access on a computer.

We have an international trip planned in February - so it would be nice to have the GE by then.

Cali

I am sure if he goes along with you they will get him in that day. We had our Global Entry interviews at LAX and there were people who came in without appointments and got in for interviews that day. Friends of ours went down to LAX months before their appointments were scheduled (they had an upcoming trip to Europe) and they got in the day they went down with no appointment.

jacketwatch

Is there an alternate location(s) with better times for him?

I called our location for parking (O'Hare) and spoke to someone so what if you called and asked about him coming and explained the situation in that you would like to get it for him before your trip in Feb.

Our took just minutes really. I think you should all first however. We did have to produce the appt. record.

scdreamer

jacket - our location is SFO, so the nearest alternate location for us would entail flying to LAX. Definitely not worth it.

Here's our plan: Husband will keep checking in on the website - even just since yesterday a few earlier appointments have come up in Feb (while we're gone, of course lol)and one for 5:45 p.m. on Christmas Eve, which is not good for us.

If nothing shows up in the next week, he'll go ahead and book an appointment in March. We travel internationally at least three or four times a year, so we'll still be able to us the GE on the next trip after Feb, which is in summer 2018.

He's going to come along with me to my Dec 1 appointment, see if they'll take pity on us, but no big deal if they won't.

They sure don't make this process convenient or simple, so they? But then again, they have no competition, being the only game in town so to speak.

jacketwatch

Hmmm. I am a bit surprised as there were several locations in Chicago besides O'Hare. Also surprised at the logjam too.

Well as long as you are ok with it thats all that matters and hopefully they will let you both get it done Dec. 1.

Best of luck, Larry. .

janisj

SFO is the only location for all of Northern California so while a walk-in appt might work I wouldn't count on it.

I'm near Sacramento and when I was approved the soonest SFO appt was 5+ months in the future.

There are six locations in SoCal so walk ins might be much easier. At the time I could get an appt at LAX or Long Beach in less than 2 or 3 weeks. So I booked a mileage run flight SMF > LAX in the morning and back the same afternoon. Not only got GE MUCH sooner -- the few miles was enough to put me over Platinum on AAdvantage.

scdreamer

janis - that's the situation - only game in town in NoCal is SFO. I think people cancel appointments all the time, though, so my husband will just keep an eye out. If there's nothing sooner than March in the 30 days he has to set up an appointment, he'll just go ahead and book one of those dates. So interesting that my first time looking, I was able to choose between Dec 1 and Dec 18, so I am assuming people were canceling those dates. Less than two minutes later, when husband tried - nada for months.

Our next international trip is in Feb/Mar, but our return airport is OAK, which in my experience is pretty easy to navigate through immigration, so GE is not crucial for us by then.

Still in planning stages for a trip to Europe in the late summer/early fall, and it would be nice to have GE for that trip - gives me more options for flights. After suffering there way too many times after long haul flights, I refuse to ever again go through LAX without GE.

I have read online about walk-ins at SFO - says they take six a day, but you have to get there at dark-thirty o'clock in the morning in order to wait - possibly for hours. Other people have said they just walked in any time and some were turned away and others were taken. Doesn't seem as if there are hard and fast parameters, so we can try. He's coming with me anyway, as my appointment time is early evening on a Friday, so we're going to book a hotel in the city for two nights and make a weekend out of it. (That's called making lemonade out of lemons - lol)

jacketwatch

I believe you but still can’t grasp why the availability in Chicago is so much more vs. SF as both are major cities with large populations.

I could have literally went for my interview the day after my email notice came but we chose to go about a week later when it was convenient for both of us and there were several times before then too.

Now that I recall there was a walk in the day we went and he had no trouble.

janisj

jacketwatch: >>still can’t grasp why the availability in Chicago is so much more vs. SF as both are major cities with large populations. <<<<

SFO is the only location between LAX and PDX and the nearest to the east is Salt Lake City. Covers hundreds of thousands of square miles and many population centers. If one is in Reno or Sacramento or the entire Central Valley, or most of the coast, SFO is the only game in town. People in the midwest do have options -- Cincy and Detroit and Milwaukee and Chicago

jacketwatch

Chicago has several locations however not just at ORD.

jacketwatch

Interesting as when you go to the GE website and click Illinois the only office listed is at ORD. However when you search for the interview you also get downtown locations as well.

Any OP good luck!

janisj

>>Interesting as when you go to the GE website and click Illinois the only office listed is at ORD.<<

Same for CA -- the main site only lists SFO and LAX -- but when you dial down to other pages you find the others including Long Beach, Otay Mesa etc. . . .

jacketwatch

When you click on Illinois the only site is ORD vs. the several you see when you click on CA.

However after you are approved for an interview then you get a menu with numerous locations to go that interview besides ORD including downtown.

jacketwatch

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-t...nters/illinois

scdreamer

>>Same for CA -- the main site only lists SFO and LAX -- but when you dial down to other pages you find the others including Long Beach, Otay Mesa etc. . . .<<

Yeah - all in SoCal. That's not fair.

jacketwatch

True. Do you know that if when you are pre approved for the interview and pick say SFO do you get other options like say downtown SF or is it strictly the airport?