Global entry - renewal

[mitchja]

in the final 12 months of my current Global Entry membership, so started the renewal application on Jan 1st in case there may have been any delays which I encountered last time I renewed, however it was the complete opposite this time.

Amazed how quick everything was.

Applied for and payed the £42 for the UK Boarder Force background check Jan 1st 13:28 EST. Code received via return email the same day 22:10 EST.

Re-newed Globe Entry application paying the $120 fee which was submitted Jan 3rd (the earliest I could re-new).

Received an email Jan 8th informing me there' been an update'. Logged in to find my renewal has gone straight though to 'Approved' this time without the need for either an online or in-person interview which I had to do for my last renewal. My GE expiry is now January 03, 2031.

8 days start to finish

Yeah renewals are pretty quick. If nothing has changed, i.e. no name changes, nothing flags on the background check etc, it's approved.

Plus 5 years ago, they were still super backlogged with new applicants. Nowadays its plain sailing. Best $120 for anyone flying to the US, even once a year.

[mitchja]

Indeed, arriving into Atlanta Dec 28th, I was first at the GE kiosks and even with the 'seek assistance' message everyone was getting, I was through in under a minute. As always at ATL, the wait was for luggage.

JFK can still be hit and miss though even with GE. My last 2 times it took 40mins to see a person (using the crew lane) after the GE kiosk kicked me out.

The new facial recognition GE kiosks seem to cause more issues now than the old manual insert passport GE kiosks ever did!

The GE app always fails for me as well.