A New Shortcut for Frequent Overseas Travelers

Go abroad often? Here's a way to make that long trip home a little shorter.

By Martha Lynn Craver, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

June 10, 2008

U.S. citizens who make many overseas trips will be able to skip long passport lines when they return. The Customs and Border Protection is launching a new program, Global Entry, which is designed to expedite the screening and processing of low-risk, frequent international travelers.

Citizens and lawful permanent residents must undergo background checks, pay a $100 fee, get fingerprinted and be interviewed by Customs and Border Protection officers at one of the three participating airports. Once approved, they'll be entered in a computer database to allow quick process.

Whenever they return from an overseas trip, travelers can bypass the regular Customs lines and go directly to a special kiosk to check in. The kiosk will be activated by inserting a machine-readable passport or permanent resident card. Fingerprints will be checked and a digital photo taken. Finally, the traveler will be prompted to answer the usual customs declaration questions posted on the kiosk's touch screen. Once that process is completed, the traveler will get a receipt to give to the Customs officer as they leave the control area.

A pilot program will begin on June 10 at three airports and expand to others later. The airports participating in the program are Kennedy International Airport in New York, George Bush Intercontinental in Houston and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. Applications for Global Entry are available at Customs and Border Protection's Web site -- they must be completed electronically and submitted with a processing fee of $100. Membership is good for five years.

Eventually, they'll be reciprocal programs with other nations. Most likely the first countries will be those that already have their own international registered traveler programs such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the Netherlands. The government also is looking at ways to marry this program with domestic registered traveler program and other trusted traveler cards such as NEXUS and SENTRI.

Visit Customs and Border Protection's Web site to start the process, but keep in mind you won't get your card until after you visit a participating airport for an interview. The Web site doesn't make that clear until after you have paid the fee, so be careful that you don't commit unless you are sure you can make it to an interview.

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