Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  On Wednesday, April 24, I logged into my Global Entry account to saw that my Global Entry / TSA PreCheck membership was set to expire this year in November 2024.  Side note: Do you know when your Global Entry / TSA PreCheck membership expires?  Once your membership is within 12 months of expiring, you can begin the renewal process.  In this post, I will walk you through the Global Entry renewal process and show you how long it took (spoiler alert: my renewal was approved in 2 days).  To get started, sign into your Global Entry account and click the Renew Membership button.

I selected Global Entry and selected Yes (flying internationally into the US within the next 6 months), then I clicked the Next button.  The current fee for renewal is $100, but that will go up to $120 on October 1, 2024.

Global Entry requires a background check and an interview, but after the initial interview, I have not been required to come in for another in-person interview.  I then clicked the Apply for Global Entry button.

Previous Global Entry application information is transferred to the renewal application, but some updates may be required.  I then clicked the Next button.

There were 7 errors in my renewal application once the Global Entry information was transferred over, so I went through each section and updated the information.

The Travel History section is the trickiest section for me.  Since I am doing the renewal in April 2024, the form asked about international travel since April 2019 and the form states that you do not need to include countries that you spent less than 24 hours in for a stopover.  I started by looking at my passport stamps from April 2019 to present.

When I flew from the US to Europe, I connected in France and went through customs and immigration.  I got a passport stamp there.  But when I flew to Czech Republic, Denmark, and The Netherlands, I did not get a passport stamp.  When we flew home from Europe, we went through Germany and I got a passport stamp there.  I was also on 2 cruises that made stops in Jamaica and Bahamas, but I did not get passport stamps there either.

I always list all the countries I have visited, even if I did not get a passport stamp and even if I only connected in the airport for a few hours.  I would rather list all the countries I have been to in the last 5 years rather than leave a country off the list that Global Entry might question later.  I’m not sure if that is the right approach, but it has worked well for me in the past.

P.S. The list of countries below is out of order, I just added them as I went through my passport, memory, and travel history.

After I went through each section and updated out of date information, I was ready to submit the application.

I agreed to the terms and clicked the Next button.

The renewal cost was $100 and I clicked the Pay Now button.

I selected Debit or Credit Card and clicked the Continue button.

I then looked through my credit card spreadsheet to see which credit cards had the $100 Global Entry credit available.  I decided to go with my Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card.  I confirmed the $100 Global Entry credit on the Chase website.

I then filled in my address, credit card information, and clicked the Continue button.

I reviewed the information and clicked the Continue button.

My payment was accepted and my renewal application was submitted.  I then clicked the View Payment Receipt link.

Here is what the payment receipt looked like, but I did not download or print the receipt.

Less than 48 hours later, on Thursday, April 25, I received an email regarding a TTP Application Status Change.  I didn’t see the email until the morning of Friday, April 26.

I logged back into my Global Entry account and saw that my application was approved and my membership had been extended to November 2029.  I also clicked the Approval Notification link in the Notifications section.

Here is my approval letter.  I originally applied for Global Entry at the Seattle International Airport, so I wonder if that team is who handled my renewal application.

I then logged into my Chase online account and saw that the $100 Global Entry purchase and $100 Global Entry credit had both posted on Wednesday, April 24.

I am honestly surprised that my Global Entry renewal application was processed and approved so quickly and that the $100 Global Entry credit posted so quickly too.  I have heard from friends and family members that some applications have taken 6+ months for approval and renewal, so I am not sure why there is such a difference in processing times.  If you have any questions about the Global Entry renewal process, please leave a comment below.  Have a great weekend everyone!