Applying for Global Entry takes about 40 minutes online, costs $120 for five years, and ends with an in-person interview. The part most people underestimate is the gap in the middle: CBP says roughly 80% of applications are approved within two weeks, but some take twelve months or longer.
Here is the whole process, in order, with the details that actually trip people up.
Global Entry is open to U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, and to citizens of a fixed list of partner countries. As of CBP's January 2026 update, that list is Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Germany, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Panama, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Some of those countries have extra requirements of their own, handled through what CBP calls an International Arrangement, so check your country's entry on the official eligibility page before paying.
CBP lists specific disqualifiers. You may be refused if you:
That last line is the one to take seriously. It is deliberately broad, and it means approval is a judgement CBP makes rather than a checklist you can pass.
Everything happens through the Trusted Traveler Programs system at ttp.cbp.dhs.gov. Every applicant needs their own account regardless of age — a parent cannot apply for a child from inside their own account.
CBP estimates the Global Entry application takes about 40 minutes. You will need your passport, your address history, and your travel history.
The fee is $120, and it is non-refundable — including if your application is denied. It is paid at submission, by credit card or electronic bank transfer. Membership runs five years.
There is one exception: for a minor under 18 whose legal guardian is already enrolled or has an application pending, the fee is waived.
CBP reviews the application and, if it passes, marks it conditionally approved. Only then can you schedule an interview.
This is where expectations and reality separate. CBP's own figure is that 80% of applications are approved within two weeks, while some can take up to 12 months or longer. There is no queue position to check and no way to expedite it. If you are applying with a specific trip in mind, apply far earlier than feels necessary.
Once conditionally approved, you have two ways to finish.
The conventional route. Each applicant schedules a separate interview, even within a family. Appointment availability varies enormously between centers — you can see current waits for every U.S. center on our Global Entry wait times page.
Enrollment on Arrival lets a conditionally approved applicant complete the interview when they next land in the United States, during the normal admissibility inspection, with no appointment at all. It is available at dozens of U.S. airports across 28 states and at several international preclearance locations including Canada, Ireland, Bermuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Guam, Saipan and the UAE.
If you already have an international trip booked, this is very often faster than waiting for an appointment. We cover it in more detail in how to get an earlier Global Entry interview.
For an interview at an enrollment center, CBP asks for:
Lawful permanent residents must present a machine-readable permanent resident card. If you are under 18, a parent or legal guardian has to be present.
Enrollment on Arrival asks for slightly different documents — notably evidence of residency, such as a current driver's license, mortgage statement, rental statement or utility bill. Bring every passport you travel on, so all of them can be added to your file.
It is worth understanding what you are consenting to, because it explains why the timeline is unpredictable.
CBP describes the vetting as a thorough background check against criminal, law enforcement, customs, immigration, agriculture and terrorist indices, including biometric fingerprint checks, followed by a personal interview with an officer.
That is a lot of separate systems. Most applications clear all of them quickly. An application that raises a question in any one of them stops being a two-week case, which is why CBP's own range runs from days to more than a year.
A denial comes with written reasons. If you believe the decision rests on inaccurate or incomplete information, you can request reconsideration through the Trusted Traveler Programs website, which routes to the CBP Ombudsman.
A reconsideration request must be in English and must include:
That third point surprises people. An expunged record still needs documenting. Turning up with an incomplete file is the most common reason a reconsideration goes nowhere.
The $120 is not returned in any of this. It is non-refundable including when an application is denied.
Membership runs five years, and renewal is a fresh application through the same TTP account rather than an automatic extension.
Renewal has one advantage first-time applicants do not get: CBP runs a remote interview option by video for some conditionally approved renewing members. To qualify you must be at least 18, have a photo on file taken within the past ten years and after you turned 14, and have previously submitted fingerprints. First-time applicants are not eligible for it.
If that applies to you, renewal can be completed from home in roughly fifteen minutes.
Approved members receive a PASS ID, which doubles as your Known Traveler Number. Add it to airline bookings to get TSA PreCheck screening, which is included with Global Entry.
Membership lasts five years. You can manage your application and your interviews through the official DHS TTP mobile app, and CBP's separate CBP One app is used for the virtual waiting room if you ever take a remote interview at renewal.
For context on the scale of the thing you are joining: CBP says the trusted traveler programs collectively cover more than 11 million pre-approved travellers.
The review is the unpredictable part and it happens before you can book anything. Apply months before a trip, not weeks.
Everyone needs their own TTP account and their own interview appointment, children included. A family of four is four applications and four appointments.
Providing false or incomplete information is itself a listed disqualifier — a worse outcome than whatever you were tempted to omit, and it costs the same non-refundable $120.
Appointment availability varies enormously between centers. Widening your search is usually the difference between weeks and months — compare them on our wait times page.
The single most common mistake is treating step 3 as instant. Apply before you book, not after.
By US Global Entry Team