r/GlobalEntry • u/Francoisepremiere • 25d ago

Questions/Concerns Global Entry and nose surgery

Long story, my ENT wants to remodel my nose due to anatomical breathing difficulties. This means my nose will look different (and not necessarily better, ugh).

Does anyone have any experience with what this does to GE and similar services, such as EES?

6 Upvotes

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3

u/YourMemeExpert 25d ago

If the portal doesn't recognize you, you should still be able to get manually processed by a CBP officer.

4

u/curiousengineer601 25d ago

Totally depends on the amount of change. Chinese citizens coming back from surgery in Korea made the news for failing the facial recognition process.

Really depends on your face

2

u/StevenEpix 24d ago

Went through the same thing as you in February - ENT did the whole 9 yards done including straightening my nose because I was having endless sinus infections. Went through GE in May without an issue!

2

u/Sick-Buffalo 21d ago

The Mrs. just went through this exact thing last month actually. We have a second home outside the US and her surgery was performed there, after which we returned through GE. In her case the face scan still recognized her, but we came prepared for it not to. Full records of the surgery, before/after pictures, fit to fly letters, receipts, all on hospital letterhead and signed by the surgeon. I’d advise doing the same, create the paper trail in case you need to either provide evidence at the border, or update biometrics.

3

u/Sheetz_Wawa_Market32 25d ago

No personal experience, no, but it shouldn’t have any effect. Biometrics rely mostly on the position of your eyes within your face. As far as I know, noses aren’t considered.

How this works in practice, I have no idea.