My Global Entry membership was up for renewal and I went through the process last week. These are a few things I learned.
Changes: Create new login.gov account
One of the first things I noticed is that you can no longer login with your GOES userid and password. You are prompted to create a login.gov account instead.
During the account creation process, you can link the login.gov account to your Global Entry PASSID. Once the accounts are linked, you will be able to review and update your existing information.
Tip: Prepare the List of Countries You Visited Ahead of Time
Fortunately, most sections are pre-filled from the previous application. The section that took the longest for me was the “countries you’ve been to” (since 5 years ago). I don’t keep a running list of the countries I had traveled to. When I thought I was done, I realized that my visits to the UK and Switzerland were also within the last 5 years. I ended up having to comb through old emails for past itineraries to make sure I didn’t miss anything else.
Confirm and Submit Payment
After you update your information, you will need to verify and certify the application, and submit the $100 USD renewal payment. You are done at this point. You just need to wait for notification of status, and for instructions on whether you need to go in for an in-person interview.
Frequently Asked Questions
I have these questions when I was going through the process, so in case you are wondering:
1. How Early Can You Renew?
You can renew your membership a year before the expiration date (which is set to your birthday). For example, if your birthday is Dec 1 and your membership is due to expire Dec 1, 2018, you can renew as early as after your birthday in 2017.
A renewal extends the membership 5-years from the date of expiration (not from the time of application). This means that there is no harm in renewing early. You will see a message indicating when you are eligible to renew in your account, and a “renew” button if you are eligible.
2. How Long Does it Take for a Decision?
For me, I applied on a Friday (an observed national holiday). I got an email notification of a change in application status the following Wednesday, or a total 3 business days. I’ve heard that an update can take a week or longer for some, so I was pleasantly surprised by the turnaround time.
3. Do You Need To Go For Another Interview?
My application skipped the conditional approval status (which would require another interview) and went directly to “approval” status. No additional interview needed!
Addendum: While it ended up working out well for me, keep in mind that approval is not guaranteed for renewals. I don’t know if I am part of the exception or the norm, as some are still required to come in for another interview. YMMV.
4. Do You Get a New Global Entry Card?
The process didn’t indicate either way, but I expect to get a new ID that reflects the new expiration date. (Will update here once I know how long this takes).
In some ways, having the card is not hugely important. As I found out when I lost my Global Entry card (What To Do If You’ve Lost Your Global Entry Card), you don’t really need to carry the physical card.
The physical card is only important if you need to use the SENTRI/NEXUS lanes.
Did you recently renew your Global Entry membership? How was your renewal experience?
I thought I read you could renew 6 months out, so I did that in September. I got the message that the application was in progress, I checked back a couple of times and it still said the same thing, so I basically didn’t worry about it, except for thinking about the possibility of interviews (when I might be in an airport that had an office). Then I got the card in the mail, so no interview necessary. (I also lost my card, and have gone most of the 5 years without a physical card and it was no problem. I wrote the number in my passport and referred to it when needing the number for the “trusted traveler” info on a new airline I was booking a ticket with, so that I would have pre-check on every airline that has it.)
I renewed my GE and no interview was needed. I also just got my new GE card in the mail with the new expiration date.
I like to use my Global Entry card as photo ID at TSA security. Half the time the TSA person looks at it a bit confused and then somehow realizes that is valid or something. Fun times.
My Global Entry is renewing next year, so this post comes at the perfect time for me. It is good to know that you can renew up to a year in advance, so take a look at all of your credit cards that offer Global Entry reimbursement. It may make sense to use the credit now before you consider canceling the card… or if you plan to keep it, they only reimburse every 5 years, so renew early to start the 5-year clock now.
I did NOT get the automatic renewal, so I will be coming in for an interview….. So it’s not always as easy as your experience.
Sorry to hear and it is a good reminder. You are right – it just so worked out well for me; I am going to add an addendum to my post.
Hopefully, the interview is just a matter of standard procedure and it’s not vastly different from the original interview.
I had to interview for my renewal in February 2017. I was amused when the agent said that everyone renewing must interview. That’s obviously not true. He asked me nothing but did take a new photo and finger prints. While I’ll never know for sure, my guess is that the CBP required me to interview because the quality of the fingerprints taken five years ago wasn’t great. I’ve had less trouble passing that step at GE kiosks since the interview. A new card arrived in the mail within days of the interview.