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Two weeks ago, I gave away the same thing and Ty won. Same prize this week, but you need to enter again to be considered.
Global Entry is amazing. If you apply and are accepted into the program, you can cut the immigration and customs lines every time you enter the United States for five years. Plus when I add the “Known Traveler ID” that Global Entry members get onto my reservations, I invariably get TSA Precheck, which allows me to save time in the security lines at American airports on domestic and international flights.
But there’s a $100 fee to apply for Global Entrey.
Maybe you haven’t gotten Global Entry because of the $100 fee. Well, leave a comment on this post or retweet this tweet to enter the drawing for me to pay your $100 application fee. You can enter both ways to double your chances; I’ll pick a winner next Friday.)
Follow @MileValue & retweet this tweet by 5/28 for a chance to have me pay your $100 Global Entry application fee –> http://t.co/vJPFywycon
— MileValue (@MileValue) May 22, 2015
Even if you don’t win the drawing, you can use your Citi Prestige® Card to pay your application fee and get a $100 statement credit to offset your Global Entry Application fee. (If you already have Global Entry and a Citi Prestige, you can use the credit to pay someone else’s Global Entry fee like I’m doing today.)
Process to Get Global Entry
Having Global Entry allows you to skip the immigrations and customs queues when arriving in the US. Instead of spending time in line and talking to an agent, you tap a few buttons at a kiosk and get to the curb in a few minutes. Global Entry membership is valid for 5 years, and having Global Entry also lets you skip immigration queues in Australia and New Zealand.
There are two steps involved in obtaining Global entry: an application and an interview.
Application
Here’s my experience from a few years ago:
First, you need to fill out the online application. To do this as efficiently as possible, make sure you have on hand:
- proof of Citizenship documents (I just used my passport)
- your driver’s license, if you have one
- your addresses for the last five years
- your work history for the last five years
The online application process took me about 30 minutes to complete.
If you have never registered with GOES (the Global Online Entry System), you will be prompted to register when you click the online application link above.
Once you are registered with GOES, log in to the system. You will see that you are not a member of any programs. Click “Enroll in a New Program” to begin your Global Entry application.
Select the link that allows you to start the application for the trusted traveler program.
From here, you will have to fill out a variety of personal information. There are 16 categories of information.
Fill out all the sections and submit your application. You will be prompted to pay the $100 application fee–I’ll pay it for you if you win this drawing–otherwise pay with your Citi Prestige® Card to be rebated the $100.
Unfortunately, the GOES system doesn’t email you when your application is approved or denied. I set a reminder on my calendar to check on the status of my application in a week. Once your application is approved, you can use the GOES system to schedule your in-person interview, which will take place at any airport that participates in the Global Entry program.
Interview
The interviews start and end right on time, so they can be scheduled for a time when you know you’ll have to go to an international airport. For instance if you know you have a 2:30 PM flight out of LAX, you can schedule your interview for 12:40 PM and kill two birds with one stone.
In the interview, it seems like they are trying to assess the risk that you are a terrorist or smuggler. They asked me questions about my job, how often I travel, and where my upcoming trips were headed. I just answered honestly and concisely, and we spent most of the 20 minutes talking about poker.
At the end of the interview, they show you how to use a Global Entry kiosk. They also input your fingerprints and scan your passport. They don’t officially accept you into the program during the interview; they tell you you will receive an email saying to sign back into the computer system where the process began to see your changed status.
My email came within a week, and I was enrolled in Global Entry. Now I can skip the line and head straight to the kiosk. I don’t even have to fill out the customs form flight attendants distribute to everybody.
After you land, the kiosk takes about 30 seconds. You scan your passport, hold your fingertips on the machine, and select “No” to all the customs questions (if that’s the truth), and a receipt is printed out. You flash the receipt to an agent in the passport area and give it to the an agent in the customs area, and you are on the curb.
My record, after I landed at LAX from London, was 7 minutes 21 seconds from airplane door to curb. It would have been faster, but I beat the customs agent to his station I was so fast.
Bottom Line
Comment on this post or retweet the tweet embedded in this post to enter for me to pay your $100 application fee for Global Entry.
This is money well spent for the average traveler, but you shouldn’t have to spend it. Even if you don’t win the drawing, you can use your Citi Prestige® Card to pay the $100 fee and have it credited back to you automatically.
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Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.
The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.
here’s another try!
here’s another try!
this would be amazing!
this would be amazing!
Already have an interview booked!
Already have an interview booked!
I’d love a free Global Entry so my wife can accompany me when I get the Citi Prestige free Global Entry benefit for myself.
I’d love a free Global Entry so my wife can accompany me when I get the Citi Prestige free Global Entry benefit for myself.
I would love to win global entry!! Thank you!
I would love to win global entry!! Thank you!
I’m trying again. Regular subscriber to the daily email.
I’m trying again. Regular subscriber to the daily email.
I would love to win global entry! Thank you!
I would love to win global entry! Thank you!
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again!
If at first you don’t succeed, try try again!
I would love to win this one!
I just signed up for GA yesterday (Citi Prestige), would be awesome to win this and get it for my wife as well.
Maybe this time!
Yes — Global Entry is amazing!! Would love to give this to my brother. Pick me!! 🙂
I want Global Entry!!!!!! 🙂 I would be great to have for my Scandinavia trip this summer. I could write a guest post about my trip.
Have to wait a while to apply for a citi prestige card but I would love to not have to wait in customs!
I would love to have global entry for some upcoming international trips!
I need to renew my GE…
ive been tossing Global Entry and TSA PreCheck around for a bit. The fee has just been my sticking point…fees seem to be everywhere nowadays. Upcoming trip to Europe, this would come in handy.
Please enter me for a chance to win. We do travel abroad quite a bit and Global Entry would be a plus. Thank you.
I want to win! Would love to have Global Entry.
Please let me keep my shoes on, everyone else will thank you
Every time I comeback through customs I see the Global Entry, would be nice to have. Thanks for the opportunity
I have learned so much from this website and look forward to putting it all together when I travel in the future. Thanks for all the insider tips and the TSA Global Entry Advise is just one example.
I’d love to have global entry
I just picked up the Amex Platinum card with this benefit – I’d love to get it for my husband as well!
Great giveaway, thanks!
Would love global entry. I travel for work so this would save so much time.
Global Entry is on my list of things to do this summer in preparation for our fall trip to Europe. Would be great to get one membership paid for! Thanks.
Just applied. Interview 6-5-15.
Awesome. Congrats!
Would love to get Global Entry…I don’t have a card that pays the fee, so winning would be amazing!
Thanks for the second global entry giveaway.
Here’s another try!
We’ve been meaning to get Global Entry!
Thanks! This would be awesome!
Count me in. I was thinking of applying for global entry so why not take this opportunity
Glad you didn’t have to wait for your appt. Just did the interview at Otay Mesa last week and they were running an hour behind
This would be a very useful thing to have. Thank you for giving us the chance to win this.
My interview is June 21st. Would love to have the hundred bucks I paid to apply to spend on travel.
Won’t work like that. This giveaway is only for people who haven’t applied yet for me to pay their application fee because it is based on the $100 statement credit my Citi Prestige offers me for paying a Global Entry application fee.
Thanks for the giveaway! This is an incredibly useful prize!
I was SO wishing I had Global entry on my last return to the states from Belize… Very painful line! Thanks for offering a chance!!
I’ll take another shot
Thanks for the giveaway
2nd time’s the charm
Yes please
Would love to win Global Entry fee!
Going to Netherlands this summer.
Paul T. Would so love this opportunity!
I would be so thrilled to get a free global entry membership! Thanks for this giveaway 🙂
Thank you very much, Scott!
Would really appreciate it!
Can you comment on NEXUS? Im debating on either NEXUS or Global Entry. Ive read with NEXUS you get automatic Global Entry and TSA Precheck. Is one better then the other?
I don’t know anything about NEXUS. Seems like Google or a CPB FAQ can clear it up no problem though.
I bought KTN two years ago. I want to take my son (a veteran) on a trip when he finished college in May 2016. I could use this prize to get it for him!
I’d love to get my fiance in on this, please! It’d be nice to have 2 KT’s in the family.
Good Luck to me! I will certainly need it! How sweet would it be?
This is going to be great! I can’t wait for my interview!
Wooooo! Thanks for the offer, Scott!! Keeping my fingers crossed
How long does it take to bet a Global Entry approved from the day one applies?