While cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap auto rentals are great, travelers experiences are further improved when they can move smoothly through customs. Trusted travel programs provide expedited CBP (Custom and Border Patrol) processing, including dedicated traveler lanes, for pre-approved low risk travelers for travel across U.S. borders.
Members must successfully undergo a thorough biographical background check against criminal, law enforcement, customs, immigration and terrorist indices, a fingerprint check and be interviewed by a CBP officer.
The following are the three trusted travel programs currently being offered:
Global Entry Customs is currently limited to U.S. citizens and legal residents as well as Dutch citizens and expedites international arrivals into the U.S. It has 36,000 members who pay a one-time $100 fee.
Nexus is for residents of the U.S. or Canada for USA-Canada border crossings. It has 383,000 members who pay $50 for five year memberships.
Sentri is for U.S. citizens crossing USA-Mexico borders. It has 210,000 members who pay $122.50 for five year memberships.
Global Entry, the program with the widest appeal, since it can be used for U.S. citizens entering the U.S. from any other country, is expected to expand rapidly once it completes its pilot phase this spring and the government promotes it more widely. This service is currently being offered at 20 U.S. airports.
Global Entry members scan their machine readable passport or permanent resident card at kiosks in customs and have their identification verified via fingerprints. Members are then asked several questions. A receipt is printed and users then move on to baggage claim or a baggage inspection booth. Kiosk clearance takes about 40 seconds and dealing with immigration personnel takes on average one minute for U.S. citizens and three minutes for foreigners.
Membership increases are expected in part to come from more foreigners signing up for the program. U.S. customs is looking to expand the program to include Britain and Germany. Over time more countries are expected to join.