I know it’s rare to receive exemplary service from our government employees but when we do I think it’s worth mentioning…

I have a couple of overseas trips coming up later this year and I needed to renew not only my Global Entry but Passport as well.

Back in December I applied to renew my Global Entry and was approved in TWO days! I received my new card within a week.

Well given all the horror stories we’ve all heard about passports literally taking months and the Passport website stating it could take 12 to 16 weeks I decided to not wait until the last minute. From the time they received my completed application to the time I received my new Passport to an amazing EIGHT DAYS!.

That’s f8*&King amazing! This was for regular processing not an expedited service. If you are thinking of renewing your Passport or GE now may be the time to do it. Kudos to these .gov workers!

We had a similar experience when renewed our passport two years ago. Not as quick as described in the OP, but it went as described and as we were instructed to do. We went through the passport desk in our local County Clerk’s office. In addition to paying for an expedited handling for the return, the Clerk’s office suggested we submit our application via express mail, at our expense, sidestepping any potential delay with the county’s outgoing bulk mailing. Our application was processed and returned well within what we were told and in about half the timeframe stated on the government website.

There are different pathways to renew passport. I forgot the exact wording, but there is the emergency renewal, urgent renewal and regular route. The last time Mrs Q needed to renew hers urgently, she got it in a week, IIRC.

when i looked up global entry, they mention both pre-check/global now have cards!!

is the global a credit card?? what's pre-check card??

new to me, i just renewed my enhanced dl thursday. from the list of approved id's, if no real id, the va health card is now acceptable!!

i wouldn't have paid the $25 for renewal.

I have a customer who works in the office that processes passport apps. She said all the delays are due to people not following the instructions, causing their apps to get returned. She read them off to me and told me to follow them to the letter, pay for the expedited service and it'd be seven weeks and it was just about that.

But mine was only 8 days with normal, not expedited, service. Amazing!

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
when i looked up global entry, they mention both pre-check/global now have cards!!

is the global a credit card?? what's pre-check card??

new to me, i just renewed my enhanced dl thursday. from the list of approved id's, if no real id, the va health card is now acceptable!!

i wouldn't have paid the $25 for renewal.

Global entry is not a credit card. The main difference, as I understand it, is that Pre-Check is for domestic flights and Global Entry is for international flights arriving in the US.

Interestingly I have never had to show the card as it is suppose to be tied to your passport.

EDIT - This is straight off their website—-
“ You need to carry your membership card only if you'll be traveling by land between the United States and Canada or Mexico. You do not need the Global Entry card for travel by air.”

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:

quote:

Originally posted by airbubba:
when i looked up global entry, they mention both pre-check/global now have cards!!

is the global a credit card?? what's pre-check card??

new to me, i just renewed my enhanced dl thursday. from the list of approved id's, if no real id, the va health card is now acceptable!!

i wouldn't have paid the $25 for renewal.

Global entry is not a credit card. The main difference, as I understand it, is that Pre-Check is for domestic flights and Global Entry is for international flights arriving in the US.

Interestingly I have never had to show the card as it is suppose to be tied to your passport.

EDIT - This is straight off their website—-
“ You need to carry your membership card only if you'll be traveling by land between the United States and Canada or Mexico. You do not need the Global Entry card for travel by air.”

TSA pre-check (included with Global Entry) gets you in the fast lane outbound to anywhere from a stateside airport. It is useless when boarding overseas. It HAS to be on your boarding pass, add it to your profile for each airline you fly on.

Global Entry gets you in the fast lane for immigration coming back into the states. Lately I've just smiled at the camera, then the agent says "come on down" and I'm in. I've had the passport handy but the ICE people no longer look at it. Airlines will need to see it.

I carry my Global Entry card and actually needed it once. We had checked in with a Star Alliance partner (not United) in (I think) Bucharest and "TSA pre-check" was not on my boarding pass for the final flight home (MLI) from ORD. Odd, my wife did get it on hers. Anyhow, the United agent at ORD needed to see my GE card so he could issue me a new ORD-MLI boarding pass with "Pre-check" printed on it. That may have been one of the few times I got SSSS on the pass for random additional screening.

8-days...that's remarkable! You should go out and buy a few lottery tickets because that level of speed for government documentation is unheard of, especially for a passport. Good for you. Helps that its the low-season so, you did go by starting the process now before the Spring crush of last-minute travelers.

Global Entry is worthwhile if you travel outside of the country at least 2-3 times within the five year period between renewals. You get TSA Pre-Check which will allow you enter a 'faster' line during security for outbound flights. Enter your Trusted Traveler# into your frequent flier number with the airline you're flying and your boarding pass should have a TSA-Pre icon or wording on the pass. Returning CONUS, instead of lining up in the US citizen line, you go straight to a Global Entry kiosk, scan your passport which will have your Trusted Traveler# tied to your passport#, take a picture, grab the print-out, then go grab your luggage and hand the CBP agent the print-out upon exiting.

I just got mine in the mail a couple of days ago, and I was impressed with how fast I got it. My problem, I think, is I didn’t get the card along with it. Hoping it wasn’t overlooked, and that it is being mailed separately.

Also, I immediately noticed the new style with the plastic personal information page. Cool, but keeps the passport rigid.

Is their online renewal page working again? Last time I looked into doing it, it was down. I need to get that done.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Is their online renewal page working again? Last time I looked into doing it, it was down. I need to get that done.

Get it done NOW during the low-season and its one less headache when that time comes for your trip.
https://travel.state.gov/conte...-passport/renew.html

This is here nor there, but my passport card came today. Also, my expired passport arrived, but in a separate envelope.

Wife and I just received ours (passports and cards) back though the mail and I think the total turnaround time was about 3.5 weeks.

I think its time for me to renew then, I've been holding off due to the 15-18 month mantra that had been out there since COVID.

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:
I just got mine in the mail a couple of days ago, and I was impressed with how fast I got it. My problem, I think, is I didn’t get the card along with it. Hoping it wasn’t overlooked, and that it is being mailed separately.

Also, I immediately noticed the new style with the plastic personal information page. Cool, but keeps the passport rigid.

It is mentioned in the instructions that if you are renewing both the book and the card that they will be shipped separately.

quote:

Originally posted by PghPI:

quote:

Originally posted by ftttu:
I just got mine in the mail a couple of days ago, and I was impressed with how fast I got it. My problem, I think, is I didn’t get the card along with it. Hoping it wasn’t overlooked, and that it is being mailed separately.

Also, I immediately noticed the new style with the plastic personal information page. Cool, but keeps the passport rigid.

It is mentioned in the instructions that if you are renewing both the book and the card that they will be shipped separately.

My wife has perfect handwriting skills so I had her complete the renewal application without me ever reading it. When my passport arrived without the card, my wife didn’t mention that it and the card were shipped separately. Not blaming her, but the separate mailing of the items probably wasn’t a surprise since she probably had read that but if information.

Another thing I noticed immediately about the card was the following printed on the back, “Valid for domestic air travel, international land and sea travel between the U.S. Canada, Mexico the Caribbean and Bermuda. Not valid for international air travel.” It is way more limited than I thought, but I’m still happy I got it.

Current passport processing times reach pre-pandemic estimates

by Caroline Tanner
Feb. 15, 2024

If you are in the market to renew your passport in the coming weeks or months, the U.S. Department of State currently estimates six to eight weeks for both new passports and renewals, down from nine to 11 weeks. Expedited service is currently expected within two to three weeks, decreased from five to seven weeks.

"The Department of State is committed to providing the best possible service for our passport customers while upholding strict national security standards," a State Department spokesperson said via email. "While we are issuing more passports than ever before, we are also lowering passport processing times."

Not only does the State Department advise travelers to renew their passports a minimum of six months before planned travel, but most countries require visitors' passports to be valid for six months at the time of travel. Be sure to check the requirements of each specific country since some require validity to be six months from the date of entry while others state six months of validity from the date of intended departure...


Complete article:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/...ssing-status-g2hrg8/

My Global Entry application still hasn't budged in 10 months or so.

::sigh::

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
My Global Entry application still hasn't budged in 10 months or so.

::sigh::

That is waaaaay too long, could it be you're approved and need to set up an interview appointment (which is another PITA)?

You should be able to log in and check the status, if not start here:

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/tru...bal-entry/contact-us

If you have travel coming up soon you won't have Pre-Check, but coming back in the Mobile Passport App is supposed to be almost as fast as Global Entry.

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-...ile-passport-control