Amid an unprecedented year for travel complications, one aspect has been particularly confounding for anyone planning future international travel: What is the status of Global Entry applications?
As the pandemic took hold in the U.S. in mid-March, Customs and Border Protection, which runs Global Entry, shut down all the program’s enrollment centers. That meant that no one could get an in-person interview to complete their application, effectively halting new memberships. After nearly six months, CBP announced in early September that “most” enrollment centers would be reopening for interviews.
But just because some centers have reopened, it doesn’t mean it’s been easy to snag an interview or complete the renewal process. The agency is still working through a backlog of requests that bottlenecked during the shutdown—add in the fact that New Yorkers were banned for six months for political reasons unconnected with the virus, and it’s not hard to see why the program remains in chaos. Conditionally approved applicants have recently reported months-long waiting lists for interviews, while still others' submissions have been stuck in "pending review" mode for a program that is meant to offer faster processing times through airport customs and immigration.
Here’s what to know if you’re applying for a new Global Entry membership or if you need to renew this year.
How to handle the backlog
After months of delays due to COVID-19 concerns, the majority of Global Entry enrollment centers began reopening for in-person interviews on September 8. These include those in airports in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, among numerous others.
Conditionally approved applicants can schedule an appointment at their nearest enrollment center online through their trusted traveler account. “Interview availability will vary by location,” a release from CBP states. The scarcity of appointment slots isn't just due to the six-month pandemic backlog, though. All centers currently have “staggered or reduced appointment availability” to maintain social distancing.
If airports near you are showing limited or zero appointment availability, it could be worth checking continually. CBP told The Wall Street Journal in mid-September that each enrollment center is managed locally and teams are adding more interview time slots slowly each month. (At that time, the agency's backlog consisted of more that 700,000 conditionally approved applicants.)
Still other applicants are stuck in the "pending review" phase of the process, unable to attempt scheduling an interview. Some travelers have complained of waiting for approval for nearly a year. “Because we process each application individually, there are no normal or specific wait times,” an agency spokesperson told the Seattle Times last month. Applicants can check the status of their membership by logging into the trusted traveler website.
If you’ve already applied for a membership and are getting frustrated, there's really no turning back: CBP says the $100 Global Entry fee is non-refundable. Adding another layer of urgency for new applicants is the fact that the agency has announced it will soon be raising the cost of the five-year membership to $120.
Travelers whose memberships are up for renewal might have an easier time. Due to the pandemic-related delays, the agency instituted an 18-month extension in April for members who have reapplied but have not yet been approved. That is still the case: Members who apply for renewal before their expiration date are supposed to receive an 18-month grace period.
Furthermore CBP’s site says that for some renewals, an in-person interview may not be necessary. A face-to-face renewal appointment is usually still required for adults who first joined the programs as minors, an agency spokesperson told the Journal, because new photos and fingerprints will need to be captured. Traveler has heard reports of some renewal applications recently being approved without an interview.
Enrollment on Arrival, in which members returning from an international trip can complete their interview at 62 U.S. airports without an appointment, has remained operational throughout the pandemic. CBP says that the “program remains the best option for conditionally approved Global Entry applicants to complete the enrollment process without pre-scheduling an interview.” But given how few travelers are flying internationally these days—North American airlines' international traffic was still down more than 90 percent in August, according to the latest numbers from industry group IATA—it doesn't seem too realistic.
We're reporting on how COVID-19 impacts travel on a daily basis. Find all of our coronavirus coverage and travel resources here.
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What to Know if You've Applied for Global Entry Recently - Condé Nast Traveler
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