Have you experienced the ongoing Global Entry delays for a new application? Hope you aren’t in a hurry. Despite the speed that Global Entry usually allows when members pass through customs formalities, there is currently a huge backlog for approvals. My family is dealing with this now. Admittedly, that this is an issue for us is self-inflicted. We let my wife’s Global Entry membership expire. No excuse for that. But realizing our mistake, I reapplied for her the day after her birthday, in late May, and the status is still showing as Pending Review. We are now approaching 5 months now with no movement.
How long are the current Global Entry delays?
With her Global Entry membership expired, I was annoyed, but not particularly worried. We didn’t have any international trips planned for the summer, so I knew there was time. My wife has had a few business trips domestically where she missed out on PreCheck. Now we do have a trip coming up in the next few weeks so I’m hoping there is some movement, but after this long of a delay, I don’t know what to expect.
According to the CBP website, these extended delays are due to partial government shutdown and the so-called border emergency. The partial government shutdown ended in January, so this seems like a stretch. But there isn’t much that I can do at this point but wait.
Another reason to renew before expiration is that user will continue to receive the benefits of their membership. Various data points seem to show renewals are not delayed as significantly as new applications.
What other options are there?
If her approval doesn’t go through before our trip, my plan is for her to use the Mobile Passport Control. We’re arriving at O’Hare, where I’ve heard some reports of citizens passing customs just as fast as those with Global Entry. I expect we’ll be able to test this, especially since my daughter and I will be held up in the Global Entry line since young children don’t have biometric information on file. At least 2 of us can get a Global Entry Selfie on this trip.\. Looking at her passport photo (so cute!) I realize now we need to renew her passport too. Thankfully I just confirmed that her soon to expire passport is accepted where we are going on this next trip.
Final thoughts
Anyone have other suggestions besides the Mobile Passport App to help with the arrivals process? That’s not going to help with PreCheck on departure, but hopefully it won’t be too bad. Departing from Milwaukee will help. Rarely are security lines very long.
Plan ahead, and make sure to renew your Global Entry before it expires. This can be done up to a year in advance.
