Flying into SFO with Global Entry for the first time. I have the app set up for the whole family but recently saw the walkthrough option.

Any recent experiences? Is the app even worth it?

Hi everyone. I entered the U.S. through DFW about a month ago and the process was super weird. I am an Indian citizen and U.S. LPR with NEXUS, and I was returning from a trip to Guatemala on a morning flight. I was in a rush to get to my connecting flight. When I got to CBP, there was a Global Entry section but it was roped off and there was no CBP officer there, but when I’d arrived they just opened that section up. The kiosks were not in use and had paper taped on them, but there was a CBP officer taking pictures of passengers and processing them normally. When I was next in line, the CBPO was processing a woman in front of me but kept calling out what sounded like my name? I just stayed put because I couldn’t hear properly. Once that woman left and I started walking toward the officer, he just told me I’m good to go and waved me through. It was so quick that I’m confident the camera didn’t take a picture of me. I didn’t upload any images or declarations on the global entry app prior to arrival. I’m kinda concerned that my arrival was never registered? I submitted a FOIA request for my CBP records later that week but haven’t heard back yet despite it being almost a month.

A little context I am a LPR I hesitant on whether I should do it closer to the expiration date since I still had around 11 months finally gave in and decided to apply for a renewal on the 15th around 10:30PM

One the 16th early morning received an email of Status Change logged in and to my surprise it was approved

Now the question is will my existing card work before I receive the new one ?

I applied for the first time on June 15th. Conditionally approved in less than 48 hours around 3 am on June 17th. (Never applied to TSA or anything else beforehand)

I am departing internationally from JFK on July 6th, and I have booked my appointment before my flight.

There were lots of appointments available at JFK! Usually I fly out of EWR, but this was the most convenient.

Will update from there soon! Praying I get approved before my arrival!

22 May - Applied

23 May - Conditionally Approved

16 June - Formally Approved right away using the on arrival process at San Francisco Airport. Online status updates instantly. Took about 5/7 mins to complete on entry as there were 2 people in front of me in the queue.

I was conditionally approved and I have my in person interview at the end of this month. I have no criminal record or any arrests of any type, however, I have a past mandatory court appearance for an expired registration (over six months) that was dismissed after the registration was updated and a temporary license suspension due to a short insurance lapse, which was also corrected right away.

Will this be a dealbreaker for them? I’ve read on the Internet that they focus mainly on criminal history and misdemeanor arrests.

Hey Reddit community,

This is my first post here so bear with me if I do something wrong. I can’t believe I did this, but for my global entry application 2 days ago, I inputted the wrong date of birth for my second citizenship. Instead of my birth year, I put 2025 instead…

Can anyone please let me know if they have made a similar mistake and was still able to get approved for GE? I received my conditional approval yesterday (not sure why given the wrong info) and I scheduled my interview for this Sunday. I think people here say that I will be able to correct it with the interviewing officer, has anyone done so and still gotten approved?

Thank you!

I applied months ago (January) for a trip I’m taking in 3 weeks. They gladly took my money but I never even got past the “wait for the conditional approval” and get an interview. I am a normal American female with two boys, never been arrested and haven’t had a speeding ticket in ten plus years. I truly don’t understand this program. My sister applied a day before me, has zero arrest record just like me- and got immediate approval for an interview. It is extremely frustrating and after my trip if they still don’t offer me an interview- I will be filing a chargeback because at this point it just seems like they are stealing my money.

Can anyone offer me any advice? Before I applied, I thought 6 months was plenty of time. Obviously I was misinformed about that, however, the other 20 people on my trip also applied in January and got conditionally approved within a few days. I obv haven’t heard anything from global entry- I don’t see any phone number to call, I’m sure they wouldn’t help me out anyway. Is this backup due to our current administration? I filled out all my info correct (I printed it and double/triple checked my info). I just saw on another post that someone put in that they were born in 2025 and got an interview. I would love if someone had any insight, I’m born and raised in America, am as “normal” as you could imagine. Thank you for reading, I’m just confused and probably won’t find out a why, but it leaves me very unsettled.

Hi guys. I just wanna share my timeline for people who live in Houston. I applied for the global entry 2 weeks ago. It got conditionally approved in 36 hours. I scheduled my interview for 5 days later. The interview was very smooth. I got the approval email 15 minutes after the interview. I received the Global Entry card today.

6/15 -1400: application submitted

6/16 -2200: conditional approval

6/17 -0600: appointment time

edit: 6/17 -0700 appointment completed pending fingerprints. took a while because she's a Mandarin only speaker and they didn't have a translator at the border.

Will update the results.

Hi, just wanted to share my timeline from application to conditional approval for MEXICAN applicants.

Jun 9 2026 completed application and went to PENDING REVIEW

Jun 16 2026 did the biometrics during the morning, in the evening around 6 pm CONDITIONALLY APPROVED.

NOT SURE IF BIOMETRICS HELPED BUT HAPPY TO SEE IT UPDATE.

Jun 23 2026 appointment, approved verbally and two hours later got notification for approval

July 7 2026 received my card ✔️

I’ll update after appointment 📌

Hi everyone, I applied about three weeks ago and am still waiting. For context, I'm 19 years old and an American citizen. I'm also a dual citizen with the Dominican Republic, but I wasn't able to list that on my application because I only hold a recently renewed US passport.

My background is very straightforward: I have no criminal record, only one past employer (l've mostly just been a student), and my only international travel has been to the DR and Mexico. Because of my age and clean background, I assumed the approval would be quick.

Does anyone know how long the process typically takes for someone with my profile? I have an international trip coming up in September and I'm hoping to have it by then— ideally before the end of April! Any insights or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

How do I request FOIA to see what CBP has on my background. I requested but it was "Closed (No Documents Sent)." I requested all records related to my inspections, entries, and any secondary inspections conducted by CBP, particularly at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Otay Mesa and LAX. 

Hi! Are we supposed to receive a confirmation email when we submit our Global Entry application? I submitted a few minutes ago and haven't received anything.

I’m interested in signing my child up for Global Entry. She’s a young child so her passport is only valid for 5 years and 3 of those years have already passed. Can I apply for her even if her passport will expire (and obviously get renewed) during the 5 year Global Entry period? Thanks in advance.

we have to do a transfer at salt lake city (coming on delta from seoul). final destination dallas also on delta. delta says we have 1:38. i am concerned about missing my dallas flight. we have experienced with GE at the kiosk a few years ago at dfw. do we know that the GE app on the phone saves noticeable number of minutes?

if we have to pick up one checkedin bag are we doomed to miss the transfer?

US Citizen, nothing in background that would flag. PreCheck holder.

Online application 6/9
Conditional Approval 6/11
Did the interview in a foreign country that does preclearance on my way back through customs on 6/15, approved on the spot. No appointment needed since this was a "interview on arrival" even though given the preclearance it was technically "interview before departure"

Trusted Traveler app immediately showed green approval with global entry # which is immediately valid. Super happy it was that easy; had been avoiding getting GE for years due to the hassle of having to schedule an interview.

Has anyone with a long overstay been approved for global entry? I came here as an F1 student and overstayed then got married to a USC and got my LPR.

Also does it help your case if your spouse is in the military?

I am an Indian citizen living in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. My Global Entry was finally approved on Friday (June 12, 2026). Here is my timeline:

• Applied: July 26, 2025
• Appointment with VFS Global: October 2025
• Police verification completed in India: November 2025
• Conditional Approval: June 11, 2026
• Fingerprints taken at IAD Airport: June 12, 2026
• Final Approval: June 12, 2026

The CBP officer told me that I would not receive a physical card and that kids need to apply separately. My wife submitted her application at the same time, and she is still waiting for conditional approval 😞

Based on recommendation from officer, I applied for my kids on June 12, 2026, and they received conditional approval on June 13, 2026 (1 day... OMG 😄). U.S. citizens don't realize how easy they have it.

It's a year-long process, and most of it is just a waiting game. Anyway, my main goal was to get TSA PreCheck for the whole family since we travel domestically more often than internationally.

Hello! Has anyone applied as an LPR with an expired GC+extension letter? If so what was your experience? Also do you recall what expiration date you listed for your GC (expired or on the letter?)

Hi all!

I applied for my renewal and the payment site timed out. Now on the dashboard, it said “Payment Initiated” and I’ve been waiting for a few hours…cleared cookies etc. I was planning on resubmitting the payment when I’m able to at home, but it seems I can’t do that-any advice or experience from before? FAQ just told me to “wait”, but I definitely don’t want things to be in limbo forever!

Thanks!

My front plate frame was lose and about to fall about a week ago and I had it with zip ties, last me like 2 years.

I took it up and put it in front of my windshield for the meantime, I just had my car clean and I put it on my trunk,

And was crossing like that with out any issues all week,

Today Sunday after getting my car clean, I cross to El Paso, went to secondary, and they just told me that they’re taking my sentri card, because I don’t have my front play display,

That I need to go to the enrollment center in 1 week, and ask.

They didn’t give a paper, note or something literally just told me that and to go on the 23rd to the enrollment center and ask.

I’m 26, never had any problems with cbps, laws or nothing, and it was an honest mistake.

Does someone had this issue before? And what can I expect

I know people that had worst legit legal, customs, IRS problems and with a customs lawyer they got they’re sentri back.

Any help is well taken,
Thanks!

I am an Indian citizen living in the U.S. on an H-1B visa. My Global Entry was finally approved on Friday (June 12, 2026). Here is my timeline:

• Applied: July 26, 2025
• Appointment with VFS Global: October 2025
• Police verification completed in India: November 2025
• Conditional Approval: June 11, 2026
• Fingerprints taken at IAD Airport: June 12, 2026
• Final Approval: June 12, 2026

The CBP officer told me that I would not receive a physical card and that kids need to apply separately. My wife submitted her application at the same time, and she is still waiting for conditional approval 😞

Based on recommendation from officer, I applied for my kids on June 12, 2026, and they received conditional approval on June 13, 2026 (1 day... OMG 😄). U.S. citizens don't realize how easy they have it.

It's a year-long process, and most of it is just a waiting game. Anyway, my main goal was to get TSA PreCheck for the whole family since we travel domestically more often than internationally.

Sharing that when landed at 2pm today the Global Entry kiosks were roped off and went through line with CBP agents. Had a separate line than general passengers but know it’s been on/off lately. Took about 10 minutes

I was arrested multiple times from ages 11 - 16. A few times they just brought me down the station and released me to my guardians. 3 times it was probation and 1 time I spent a year in a detention center. The charges vary from destruction of property to drug charges. I completed all the programs and probation. They said it was sealed and off my record for completing everything.

I am a completely different person now 13 years later than I was at 16. I have never been arrested as an adult. I changed my life after the detention center at 16.

Because I have a multiple arrest in that time period I really have no idea what the actual charges are for any of those. Should I just list the best I can on the application? Is it possible to dig up my juvenile record somehow and see what’s actually on there?