US citizen, currently have and like TSA Pre, but I don’t fly a lot especially internationally. My wife & I have a vacation to the Bahamas coming up next year and our travel agent suggested we enroll in Global Entry, which according to the State Dept’s website makes customs & immigration a breeze accompanied by feelings of euphoria.
Cost is minor compared to the cost of the trip, so I can more or less set that aside. The return through the border can be daunting sometimes, so I can see this as maybe a good idea, even if not as good as State makes it sound. Plus we’d be effectively renewing our TSA Pre early, so I can say we’d be spending some of the GE fee anyway.
So, experienced international travelers, is Global Entry worth the cost? Does it make a significant improvement when crossing back in? Worth doing? How annoying is the interview - pretty vanilla retired couple so I’d expect a non-event?
In return, I can tell you that I just used the new online renewal process to update my passport, which took just 9 days from clicking SUBMIT to opening the envelope with the new passport. Wife did hers a couple of weeks earlier - hers took 12 days.
It does make a difference. I’ve had it since they started the program. It includes pre-check so it is worth it. Depending on your credit card, you might also be eligible for a credit for the fee.
Reagan said:
It does make a difference. I’ve had it since they started the program. It includes pre-check so it is worth it. Depending on your credit card, you might also be eligible for a credit for the fee.
Thanks. Someone else suggested the credit card idea, but my card doesn’t do that.
Honestly if you’re not traveling much and now going to the Bahamas, I wouldn’t bother. They do immigration there and I don’t remember it taking more than a few minutes. If you are changing your travel habits and will be traveling internationally a lot moving forward, then sure that would change the calculation. But of all places, the Bahamas… It seems odd to me.
Zephyr said: @Jules
Can you explain how the Bahamas influences your thinking?
Have you been to the Bahamas before? You do the US customs/immigration before you depart the Bahamas, not after you land. Multiple people have responded to you with this info.
Zephyr said: @Jules
Can you explain how the Bahamas influences your thinking?
Because when I personally visited the Bahamas, what I experienced was a very efficient customs system in the Bahamas airport, and so I don’t see how having Global Entry would have made any significant difference in my experience. I don’t know how much the fee costs, but if I assume it costs $150, I would prefer to spend those dollars on… Good meals, fun snacks, maybe a small souvenir, maybe an extra backpack (I like backpacks), fancy goat cheese (yes, I like food too haha). So actually going back to your original question, I don’t see it as a good ‘investment’ in your case especially.
Download Mobile Passport Control app and be done with it. If you start traveling overseas more, you will probably decide to apply for GE, and the effort will be worth it then.
Harley said:
Download Mobile Passport Control app and be done with it. If you start traveling overseas more, you will probably decide to apply for GE, and the effort will be worth it then.
Harley said:
Download Mobile Passport Control app and be done with it. If you start traveling overseas more, you will probably decide to apply for GE, and the effort will be worth it then.
This! I have GE and coming back from the EU, the line was long so I used the MPC app and line and I was thru customs in 3 minutes. It’s great if it’s available at your airport.
I’ve only used it once so far but it was well worth it. It’s what, $20 more than precheck? We didn’t even have to type anything into the kiosk, just got a photo taken and a guy behind a desk welcomed me back home by name. I was floored lol.
@Shan
Agreed - global is only about $20 more but you can skip the line at customs when you are coming back to the US.
The only thing is the extra hassle of scheduling the interview and fingerprinting. But you can do that when you are returning from an international trip.
@Chandler
Yeah scheduling the interview was a huge pain. It took me nearly a year to get an interview appointment, if you have international travel scheduled that’s definitely the way to go.
I have GE and coming back from the EU, the line was long so I used the MPC app and line and I was thru customs in 3 minutes. It’s great if it’s available at your airport.