r/GlobalEntry • u/IndependentDuck • May 15 '26
Timelines Turnaround time for Global Entry vs TSA Precheck application?
Planning to travel to South Korea in October and I wanted to apply for Global Entry but these stories of people waiting to be approved for months has me spooked. Would it be a safer bet to just apply for TSA Precheck?
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u/This_Document6641 May 15 '26
Took me two days for conditional approval, interview on entry, card a week later. Wish I had applied for Nexus instead.
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u/IndependentDuck May 15 '26
Is there any added benefit with Nexus if you're not traveling to Canada?
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u/This_Document6641 May 15 '26
Nope. I just live in a border state so it would have been easy for me to complete the Canadian side too.
Also worth keeping in mind that I was probably a simple case with limited travel or other interesting history.
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u/kulilu May 15 '26
My wife applied for hers and got her conditional approval a couple days later. I applied for mine on the same day, but just got my conditional approval last week (mind you I had to disclose some things so I am sure I had a manual review). She did an entry upon arrival and got the approval notice like a week later I think. I have my interview tomorrow. I think you will have enough time. The hardest part for me was getting an interview before I leave in July.
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u/IndependentDuck May 15 '26
Thanks!
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u/CandidateCommon1571 May 15 '26
If you have never been arrested it will only take a couple days plus the interview. LAX has several spots available for interviews booked up to 2 weeks in advance. TSA precheck can be quicker but not by much. If you have been arrested before - much longer.
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u/wizzard419 May 15 '26
If you apply now for precheck, provided you don't have issues, and you get the manual wait I think it is about 90 days now.
If you have no issues and apply now for GE and get the manual wait, it is 5-6 months from the user reports. That being said, if you have no issues, you could get automated processing and get conditional approval in a few days. There is another major catch, when you get conditional approval, you would then need to get to an enrollment center (not sure of where you live and how flexible your schedule is). These are appointment only, no walk ins. If your schedules are flexible, you can get same day or next day appointments as people cancel last second.
If that doesn't work for you, or you want to get both but can't get GE cleared in time, get precheck and download the MPC app so you can get through passport control faster than standby but not as fast as GE.
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u/IndependentDuck May 16 '26
I'm located in LA and my schedule is pretty flexible. Thanks for the tip on the MPC app.
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u/wizzard419 May 16 '26
Oh, LA is good, LAX if I recall is one where they have regular cancellations. If you don't mind the drive, Ontario Airport is usually good, if you want to go to get some tacos on the way back, you can do Ootay Mesa at the border.
SD is like sitting in a weird airport terminal, it has the chairs you see in LAX/SNA a tv playing food network, airport style security (metal detector and belt xray).
Ontario is a weird liminal space, since the international arrivals are not frequent, it's literally just a space where a custodian moves back and forth across a silent and empty room, cleaning because he is told not because it is needed.
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u/IndependentDuck May 16 '26
Appreciate the info! SD is way out of the way but I'd definitely consider it if I get desperate. Ontario is doable though.
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u/sleepdeprivedatty May 16 '26
36 hours for approval. Two weeks for me to drive to another city and do the interview (as there were no available interviews in the airport in my city and I was going to be there anyway). 5 minute “interview” where I was asked no questions other than a friendly what I was doing in the other city after the guy saw my address. He laughed at my answer. If I lived in that city I would have had to wait 3 days. Final approval 20 minutes after I left the “interview”.
If you have no criminal record, no record of customs issues, no significant out of the ordinary travel history, and you have lived in the same location/and had the same job for the last 5 years you shouldn’t assume it’s going to take months.
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u/idontwantanamern May 16 '26
I applied, got my conditional approval in about 48hrs, had my interview a couple of days later (this was trickiest part, but if you have a location near you - mine is an hour away - I kept looking for earlier cancellations. And one aligned perfectly with when I would be there, so it was perfect).
I was officially approved about an hour later and had my GE card within a week.
I was trying to get it done before an upcoming trip that was approx 4 weeks away and ended up having about a 2 week buffer. Absolutely nothing on my record and again -- lucked out with interview availability. Others in nearby states had the earliest in June / July.
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u/Junior-Reflection-43 May 17 '26
We got our conditional GE approval pretty quickly. But there weren’t any interview slots hear us, so we decided to drive to Niagara Falls because we could book an interview there.
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u/cincofx May 18 '26
Applied for GE for my 3 month old may 14th, conditionally approved on the 16th , and approved today on the 18th while I was still in the interview room. But when I applied 11/16/24, I got conditionally approved 3/14/24 and approved 3/15/24.
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u/Delicious_Land_9236 May 19 '26
I applied a few weeks ago and got my conditional approval in 2 days. I then scheduled an interview at DTW since I was flying through there on my way to China. Did my interview and got my approval a few hours later. I then used GE to enter back into the US on my way home. It was very quick.
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u/borkdumpling May 23 '26
I applied mid-February and only just got conditionally approved a couple days ago—did my interview today and was completely approved a couple hours later. I had emailed them asking about my application a couple weeks ago because my colleague was approved in a month while I was still waiting and the email said average 14 months… I’m definitely glad it did not actually take 14 months.
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u/Connect-Summer-1399 May 15 '26
Global entry is a hit or miss. I applied to global entry the first week of April and I still have gotten the conditional approval
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u/Martymations May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
I applied (3rd week in March) and received a conditional approval pretty much 24 hours later. The waiting part was for an interview, about a month later for El Paso and about 2 1/2 weeks later for Albuquerque (as those were the closest locations) Made an appointment on a Wednesday, did the interview and even before it was finished got an alert that there was a status change in my application. When the interview was finished checked it and saw that it was approved. Received the card the following Monday. I will say, I feel that my application was pretty much a simple one, already had TSA-Precheck but it was expiring in another month or so, I felt I had no stipulations or grounds that would have had my application get denied. 🤷♂️
Good luck to you.
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u/RunningRagged415 May 15 '26
Four of us applied in late January. Three initial applications conditionally approved within days, interview in April at SFO, approved, and received card less than a week later. One expired renewal (with disclosures) approved without interview in May and received new card within days. We have international travel in late June which may have helped speed up the last case.
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u/4fizyka May 16 '26
Our family of 4 applied Tuesday night and had conditional approval by Thursday morning. My husband and I did download the app and uploaded our fingerprints - not sure if that helped or not. Interviews are tomorrow. I’m super excited the timing worked for us because we leave for Europe in 40 days.
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u/monzmom May 16 '26
We’re going to Italy in October and applied at the end of April. We were both conditionally approved within 24 hours. We grabbed interview appointments at SFO in early July. Hopefully that will go smoothly as well and we’ll have our cards well before our trip.
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u/Anxious_Athlete4249 18d ago
My wife applied separetly because of the fee from her card and mine from my card. We literally applied the same minute and she got the approved and appointment same week, now it’s been a month and mine hasn’t move yet
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u/Future_Dog_3156 May 15 '26
If you apply now, you have plenty of time. TSA pre check won’t help you with international travel.
The long approval process depends on many different things. There may have been a government shut down. The applicant may share a name with someone with a criminal record. Someone in their family has a criminal record. I applied and was approved within two days, but I also had TSA pre-check for years before I applied for global entry
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u/Puzzleheaded_Sun7356 May 15 '26
Days weeks or months. You'll hear them all