The secret about Global Entry is officially out: It’s one of the most powerful tools to get through the airport faster. You can skip through security thanks to a TSA PreCheck benefit, then clear immigration within minutes after an international trip.
But this service is more popular than ever, so getting enrolled in Global Entry can be easier said than done. While federal officials say some travelers can complete the entire process in less than 30 days (and that has been our experience), backlogs in processing applications can drag out the process for months.
Long processing times to get signed up – and finding an interview to finalize your enrollment – have made it a months-long hassle for many flyers. It got so bad at one point that the federal government practically pleaded with travelers to sign up for PreCheck instead.
Scheduling an in-person interview is often the hardest part. It’s the last step to getting Global Entry set up, and finding an available appointment can be a pain, dragging out the process by months or more.
But don’t give up hope. We’ve got some hints.
How Global Entry Works
Global Entry is a trusted traveler program run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that allows you to get through U.S. immigration and customs quickly. Best of all, it includes a TSA PreCheck benefit, getting you into the designated lane for security at all U.S. airports.
It’s a genuine two-birds, one-stone program. But because this program lets you get through high levels of airport security quickly, the process for getting approved is a bit more rigorous. It’s also more expensive, now costing $120 while TSA PreCheck costs just $78. Enrollment in both programs lasts for five years.
Thrifty Tip: Pay for your application with a travel credit card that covers the cost of enrollment – it’s like getting Global Entry for free!
The signup process begins with an application online, and it’s fairly extensive. You’ll answer questions about current and previous employment, places of residence, previous international travels, and more. Once you hit submit, it gets sent off for a thorough background check.
After submitting, you need to wait until you get conditional approval. After that, you need an in-person interview to finalize your enrollment. From there, you can simply head to the designated Global Entry line when clearing immigration and waltz through in just a few minutes … or less.
One thing to keep in mind: Until your Global Entry enrollment is completely finalized, you won’t get TSA PreCheck benefits, either.
Tips to Find a Global Entry Interview Faster
Finally get conditionally approved but struggling to find an appointment within the next few months … or at all? You’re not alone.
So how can you get in and get your Global Entry enrollment wrapped up ASAP? We’ve got some advice.
1. Monitor the Schedule Like a Hawk
It’s not unusual to pull up the schedule of available interviews around your area and see … well, nothing.
Getting an in-person interview on the books can be the hardest part of signing up for Global Entry. At times, it can be nearly impossible to score a slot at major U.S. airports. Other times, it’s much easier.
For example, here’s a look at availability at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport, where you can find some appointments starting early next month, as of publication. There’s excellent availability over the next two or three months in Los Angeles (LAX), Chicago-O’Hare (ORD), Detroit (DTW), Miami (MIA), New York City (JFK), Newark (EWR), Philadelphia (PHL), Washington, D.C.-Dulles (IAD), and some others.
Other locations like Boston (BOS), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Las Vegas (LAS), San Diego (SAN), and others don’t currently have any availability, period, at the time of publication. But keep in mind: Just because there are no interviews available right now doesn’t mean there won’t be any tomorrow. Or even later today.
Read more: The Best (& Worst) Airports for Finding a Global Entry Interview
The schedule of available interviews is constantly in flux, as enrollment centers add and subtract slots and other applicants cancel or reschedule. So it’s worth checking regularly if you’re on the hunt for an appointment.
It pays to be vigilant and keep checking back. If you schedule an interview weeks or even months out, don’t resign yourself to waiting that long. Book that appointment but keep checking back to the calendar. You may – and often will – be able to slide in even earlier.
2. Check for New Appointments on the First Monday of Each Month
As travelers fight for limited interviews, the agency that runs Global Entry has shaken up how it releases these appointment slots.
The federal government now releases a bunch of interview appointments at 9 a.m. local time on the first Monday of each month. While you won’t find wide-open interview availability at every single major hub across the country, there’s typically enough there to help travelers stuck in Global Entry limbo get across the finish line.
In our experience, this new batch of appointments typically get added to the calendar right at 9 a.m. at the local time of your enrollment center.
So set a calendar alert for Monday, Dec. 2. Or Monday, Jan. 6. Or even Monday, Feb. 3.
3. Pay a Service to Find You an Appointment
If you’ve struck out finding an appointment, there are services like Global Entry Spotter and Appointment Scanner that can do it better than you ever could. These services scrape the entire schedule 24/7/365, alerting you whenever it finds an appointment at your designated enrollment centers.
We have two favorites we’ve tried out ourselves.
With Global Entry Spotter, you can get alerts for up to three airports or enrollment centers. You’ll get an alert via text when a new appointment opens up, and from there you can just head to the Global Entry website and schedule it.
Global Entry Spotter charges a one-time fee of $25 for unlimited automated alerts. And unlike many competitor services like Appointment Scanner and TTP Appointments, which only give you a month’s worth of alerts, Global Entry Spotter will send you alerts for as long as it takes. It even allows you to opt back into alerts without having to pay again.
One member of our team signed up for Global Entry Spotter at 9:48 a.m. on Jan. 9. Just 10 minutes after signing up, she had already received an alert for an appointment at Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) … for later that same day!
Read our review of the Global Entry Spotter service!
There’s also Appointment Scanner, which gives you alerts for up to three locations, including remote renewal interviews via Zoom. Just wait for an alert by email or text, then head out and snag an opening as soon as you get one.
It’s also not free: It costs $29 for one month of alerts. But if you ask me, it’s worth every penny if you’re otherwise struggling to find an interview. Consider this:
- I received an alert for an interview at my hometown Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) airport within four minutes of signing up. Four minutes!
- I got more than 15 alerts for MSP interviews within just a few days – all for availability within the next two weeks.
- Since I picked New York City (JFK) as one of my three locations, I also received more than 70 alerts for that airport … in less than 48 hours.
- Unlike Global Entry Spotter, Appointment Scanner can help renewing members find a remote Global Entry appointment to do the whole thing over Zoom
Read our full review of the Appointment Scanner service!
4. Work it into a Domestic Trip
Pssst … You don’t have to do your interview at your home airport.
If you’ve got some domestic trips coming up, log into your Trusted Traveler account check out the list of enrollment centers nationwide and see what might fit into your upcoming travels. Head down to your interview after you land or schedule it well ahead of your departing flight to return home. Or even sneak it in during a layover!
Let’s say your nearest enrollment center doesn’t have interviews available for months, but you’re making a trip to Miami soon. You never know, the interview schedule at Miami (MIA) airport might be wide open…
Check out your travel calendar, go through the list of enrollment centers, and see what you could make work.
5. Or Take a Road Trip Instead
Most of the major enrollment centers are at major international airports. But they aren’t alone.
There are roughly 100 enrollment centers nationwide – and even one in Guam! You can find them in towns big and small, in the center of the country and along the borders with Canada and Mexico, and in Hawaii and Alaska. Depending on where you live, it could make sense to hop in the car to knock out your interview – just turn it into a weekend road trip, if you can!
For example, I can’t find an appointment at my hometown airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), until next year. But I could head up Minnesota’s beautiful North Shore, spend the weekend skiing, and pop in for an interview in Grand Portage where the schedule is wide open – even later today!
At five hours, this example is a fairly long drive. But by turning it into a weekend trip, you can get a two-for-one: a short vacation and knock out your interview. And there are other similar opportunities around the country.
6. Consider Enrollment on Arrival
As enrollment centers continue getting hammered, Customs and Border Protection (CPB) keeps touting one of its newest features: Enrollment on Arrival.
Rather than scheduling an interview, you can simply wrap up your enrollment process when returning from an international trip. It’s available at more than 60 airports, including a few international airports that have U.S. customs pre-clearance like Dublin (DUB) or a handful in Canada. There is typically a designated lane to finish your enrollment with CPB officers while also clearing immigration.
Read our full guide to enrolling in Global Entry on Arrival!
The biggest drawback of this process is that you won’t be able to use the TSA PreCheck benefit until after you’ve completed your enrollment – so you’re out of luck when departing on your international trip. But it’s an easy way to knock out your interview when getting one on the schedule proves difficult.
Bottom Line
It’s gotten more and more difficult to get Global Entry in just the last few years. But trust us – good things come to those who wait.
And if you employ some of these strategies, hopefully, the wait to schedule an appointment and finalize your enrollment won’t be long at all.
