Do Your Global Interview As You Return From Your Trip at These Airports
Global Entry is by far one of the best investments I’ve ever made. I travel overseas at least six times a year, often more often, and customs at my San Francisco airport can sometimes take hours. My very first trip with Global Entry was on my way back from Italy, where I drove an hour and a half ahead of my boyfriend, who was on the same flight and entered the customs area next to me.
Filling out the Global Entry form is easy, but requires a personal interview and is not easy to arrange. Earlier I wrote a post that the earliest meeting that was available at my airport was 8 months later, when I was conditionally approved, and I arrived a week before that trip to Italy and was able to see me in 2 minutes.
Last week, on my way back from an international flight, I noticed a new addition to the Global On Arrival Interview customs line. At SFO (and some other airports), you can now have interviews on landing and take advantage of shorter lines at the same time.
For me, my interview lasted about 5 minutes when I was in the office, but usually they are scheduled for 15, so you can have a little chat with this customs officer. That said, if you’re already conditionally approved, it’s great that you can take advantage of the service and take care of that annoying part of the interview without waiting for a formal office meeting. And you are missing this potentially terrifying line for Global Entry, even if you are not fully approved yet.
The landing interview option is not available everywhere, but it is available in many places. The list of airports is too long to list here, but you can see them all narrowed down by state here .
The service is available in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington. You can also sign up on arrival at several airports in Canada.
If you are flying to any of these cities soon from overseas and still haven’t signed up for Global Entry, now might be the right time.