For low-risk travelers, it’s easy to obtain CBP Global Entry, but once you get it, you have to keep it by continuing to be a low-risk traveler.
Despite the increased cost to $120 for a five-year U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry membership, it’s a triple play bargain, worth every penny to international travelers who are U.S. nationals.
This is the Global Entry triple play.
Look at what you get.
1. Upon return to the U.S. you have expedited processing through U.S. immigration and customs.
2. For domestic departures, you have TSA PreCheck membership.
3. Your Global Entry photo ID membership card is a Real ID, good for all U.S. domestic air travel as identification.
Once you have Global Entry, you shift to ensuring that you retain your membership in the program.
Of course, once you’re a Global Entry member, you have to remember that CBP can revoke your membership at any time for a variety of offenses, even some that would surprise many.
Global Entry was primarily designed to expedite Americans through the process of returning to the nation at the border.
For those traveling internationally, at least from time to time, who are unaware of Global Entry, let’s review its three top benefits. Global Entry was created for the purpose of expediting border processing for low-risk Americans when they returned from an international journey. I applied for it years ago after returning from Argentina. I was stuck in a line at CPB that included the passengers from five wide body planes. It took more than two hours to get through the line. The next time I returned from abroad, this time as a Global Entry member, passengers from three wide body planes were already queued. I went through the Global Entry line at CBP in less than three minutes, not the hour and 45 minutes a friend on the same flight waited.
Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck membership.
The second main benefit of Global Entry is TSA PreCheck membership, which helps get passengers through U.S. airport security quickly. It’s included at no extra cost. PreCheck alone costs about $78 to enroll for five years. That means when you become a Global Entry member, it’s just $42 more, over five years, to use the CBP expedited line.
The Global Entry membership card is a Real ID and can be used as such on domestic flights.
The third benefit of Global Entry is that the Global Entry membership card is a Real ID. You can use it at TSA airport security checkpoints as identification. If you have it, you won’t need to use your Passport or even obtain a Real ID state driver’s license to fly domestically in the U.S.
To me, if you fly just once or twice every few years and travel internationally once or twice every five years, Global Entry’s triple play is a bargain that will save you considerable angst and time at airports across the nation. If you fly internationally more frequently, Global Entry is a must.
Once you have Global Entry, then you need to retain it.
Once you have it, however, you’ve got to keep it. That means more than putting in renewal applications and paying the renewal fee every five years. Unfortunately, it’s easier to lose Global Entry than many travelers believe.
About ten years ago my wife and I left our Cairo hotel at about 4 a.m. with a box breakfast made for us. By the time we left on our flight to Frankfurt, Germany, we had eaten most of the breakfast, but my wife kept an apple from it for eating later, then forgot about it. From Frankfurt, we flew to the U.S. Arriving at our home airport, a CBP canine sniffed out the apple. My wife wasn’t fined, but she was warned not to repeat the mistake. The CBP agent confiscated the apple and noted the incident in her record. Three renewals later, she finally was able to renew her Global Entry membership without an interview.
Today, CBP is apparently not letting travelers make mistakes like my wife did without serious consequences.
Today, CBP is apparently taking a tougher stance. It’s been widely reported that Crystal Tadlock was given an apple as a snack on her flight from Paris back to the U.S. When she went though Customs in the U.S. her bag was randomly searched. They found the apple. She was fined $500 and told she’s facing the loss of her Global Entry membership.
I think that anyone would understand that if they were convicted of a crime they’d lose their Global Entry membership, as the program is to allow expedited entry clearance solely for “pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the U.S.” You can bypass the long lines as a Global Entry member, but you can only be a Global Entry member if you’re a “low-risk” traveler as determined by CBP. To retain your membership you must maintain your status as “low-risk.”
Here’s a list of 15 types of arrests, convictions and
DHS compiled and released to the public a list of Global Entry participants who lost their membership and why.
A few years ago, through the Freedom of Information Act, these reasons were listed by DHS. Here are some of the reasons that Global Entry memberships were revoked:
- DUI convictions.
- Reckless driving convictions.
- CBP Agriculture violations.
- Arrests for assault causing bodily injury of family members.
- Arrests for possession of child pornography.
- Possession of an undeclared quantity of medications at U.S. border entry.
- Credit card reversals of the application fees.
- Unlawful tape recordings.
- Possession of illegal drugs at U.S. border entry.
- Possession of marijuana-infused candy at U.S. border entry.
- Failure to declare valuable merchandise upon U.S. border entry.
- Burglary felony arrests with no disposition.
- Filing false information on the Global Entry renewal application.
- under the Vessel Navigation and Steering laws.
- Verbal abuse of a CBP officer by cursing.
DUIs, agriculture violations, illegal drug possession, filing false information, and a failure to declare international purchases to CBP are the top violations leading to the loss of Global Entry membership.
When one reviews the thousands of revoked Global Entry memberships, the recurring reasons most often cited for revocation are: DUI, CBP agricultural violations, illegal drug and drug paraphernalia possession, false information on Global Entry applications and failure to declare international purchases of merchandise when returning to the U.S. Arrests and convictions can be for either felonies or misdemeanors.
For many crimes, you don’t have to be convicted. Many lose their Global Entry membership if arrested and if the arrest isn’t resolved fairly quickly.
When trying to be sure you have Global Entry for your next international journey,
The two surprises for me about the Global Entry membership revocations were that anyone would be stupid enough to curse at a CBP officer and that a significant number of renewal applications were revoked because the application payment was reversed by the applicant. What were they thinking?
Once you have Global Entry, don’t forget what violations can quickly end your membership.
The application for Global Entry is comprehensive, but not difficult to fill out and submit. While it’s obvious that committing a crime will cause your membership to be revoked, that’s not a problem for most Americans. However, for many members — including me — what was unexpected was the number of Americans reentering the U.S. who didn’t declare even small internationally made merchandise purchases or who accidentally brought some kind of food or agricultural product across the border. Either will get you kicked out of the Global Entry program.
READ ALSO:
Insurance issues when booking flights travelers need to be aware of
Why are travelers making such a mess this summer?
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.