I got Global Entry, which is a little card with a picture on it, that takes applying for it, background check, fingerprints, and a few months wait. Had used it once before covid and didn’t really save much time in customs but it looks like it finally works as it was meant to do, as promised:
Got to the customs area, signs for Global Entry on the left lane, there are a bunch of machines setup where you stand in front of, no mask/glasses, and it resets itself for the next person. Then you walk toward a kiosk where an agent said my first name, I said yes, and he said go ahead. That was IT! Didn’t have to show a single document. To the right of that setup was the customs area PACKED WITH EVERYONE ELSE, where they probably waited a long time to go through standing in serpentine lines in a big hall.
Global Entry also provides TSA preCheck, so you don’t have to take shoes off and just go through a metal scanner, and on to the gate.
In a few words: Extremely convenient, fast processing in and out of airports. Otoh, if the government knows who you are with such confidence from a picture they take as you stand in front of a camera, we have gone a loooooong way. Furthermore, no more filling the old card on the plane before landing declaring any money over $10000 you have with you, stuff you bought and importing over a certain value, raw fruits vegetables, etc. a whole bunch of stuff…..
Lots of established rules and procedures gone, especially that bothersome filling out of that card and just straight walking out of customs just like in EU countries where once you passed the passport area, you just walk out.
A far easier, more streamlined way to enter the country for all, foreigners/tourists and citizens, and especially for those who took the time and effort to apply for Global Entry.
I was really dumbfounded about how they knew exactly who I was from a picture in front of a machine. The agent just said my first name as I walked there, I said yes, and walked away.
Ok, then, hanging out in great NYC weather before I head down to the Florida steaming pot. Strange fking weather so early in the summer down there……same temps or even lower than Athens, but 28% humidity and temps dropping 20 degrees or more at night there, is a hell of a change of great summer weather.
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