Hacker News Reader

Comment by iamatworknow | Hacker News Reader

It'd be nice if there was an actual global version of the American Global Entry/Nexus/Sentri system. I know coordinating between many countries would be a pain, and a lot of people don't like the idea of being added to a government registry and having biometric scans and a background check run, so such a system is probably not feasible for everyone.

However, I have zero regrets signing up for Nexus due to frequent travel to Canada. Nexus includes Global Entry and TSA Precheck for less than the price of Precheck alone. Flying between the US and Canada usually just requires a couple of taps on a screen and you're done with customs, and often times driving over the border I don't get any questions at all.

I do understand that we shouldn't have to pay for this expedited service and it should be available to everyone, but I'm constantly surprised by how many frequent US/Canadian travelers don't even know it's an option.

View on HN

No, thanks. Countries should serve people by making border crossing fast for everyone. GE is an ugly workaround, and shouldn't be needed in any civilised country (and yes, my country has an efficient border, the absolute longest I've seen or even heard of on the news is a 15 minute wait due to unlucky arrival timing - EU/EFTA still had no wait on that occasion due to automatic border gates).

>I do understand that we shouldn't have to pay for this expedited service and it should be available to everyone

I think it should only be used to get back into your host country. When I'm travelling part of the nice thing of going there is to get a stamp in your passport.

You can choose to go through the long line, talk to an agent and get a stamp.

Stamps are going away. Lots of countries no longer stamp passports, at least in some situations. Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Korea. The US will generally not stamp their own passports.

Frankly, I'm fine with it now that the US no longer lets you add pages to an existing passport.

I must be lucky? but I never get any stamps. Then again I'm never asked more than a few basic questions.

There's some options, for example business travelers can get the APEC business travel card, which allows the use of e-gates.[1] Similarly, if you travel to Hong Kong more than a few times a year, you can enroll in the frequent visitor program which allows use of e-gates.[2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APEC_Business_Travel_Card

[2] https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/echannel_visitors.html

Interesting. It does seem like there's a smattering of other national programs that work in part with Global Entry (many at an additional cost).

https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-...

> Interesting. It does seem like there's a smattering of other national programs that work in part with Global Entry (many at an additional cost).

It looks like Germany is the only Schengen country on that list. Does anyone with Global Entry have experience applying for EasyPass-RTP with a US passport?

I can't tell from the description that Global Entry is a requirement or enhances approval chances. From the description U.S. ePassport holders can apply and if approved it's good for the duration of the ePassport. I guess the next time I'm in Germany I'll find out!

The systems in EU are much better than the weird amalgamation that TSA has cooked up for us. With a EU passport traveling from the US I can sometimes just go through a gate that scans my passport and takes a photo and does a biometric verification in 10 minutes total. When traveling back to the US I always get to stand in a line for at least 30 minutes no matter what things I use and then talk to the friendly CBP officer

> The systems in EU are much better than the weird amalgamation that TSA has cooked up for us. With a EU passport traveling from the US I can sometimes just go through a gate that scans my passport and takes a photo and does a biometric verification in 10 minutes total. When traveling back to the US I always get to stand in a line for at least 30 minutes no matter what things I use and then talk to the friendly CBP officer

Huh? We're talking about passport control, which is completely separate from TSA.

The experience you're describing, by the way, is exactly reversed for people traveling on a US passport. When traveling with a US passport to Europe, I have to stand in the longer, non-EU line. When traveling back to the US, I go straight to an electronic kiosk that scans my passport, and it takes about five minutes.

I spent almost 3 hours in line at JFK, with an European passport. That is actually one of the main reasons why I probably won't come back anytime soon.

> I spent almost 3 hours in line at JFK, with an European passport. That is actually one of the main reasons why I probably won't come back anytime soon.

Right, we've established that queues for people traveling on foreign passports are longer and more frustrating than queues for people traveling with the local passports. That's the problem this article is talking about: queues for people traveling with foreign passports.

As an American traveling to Europe I find that when there is a line the EU gate attendants will see my US passport while I'm heading to the line and send me through the EU only line. Even in the non-EU line they glance at my passport and stamp it - it takes less than a minute to process me.

When I travel back the to the US I wait in very long lines, often for an hour, and then they ask a bunch of questions. I hate travel because getting back home is so hard.

> When I travel back the to the US I wait in very long lines, often for an hour, and then they ask a bunch of questions.

Agreed. I am getting progressively more upset at the quantity of questions I get--and I'm not the only one; it is trivial to hear what is being asked of others at the same arrivals hall in the citizens-only line--asked when returning to the United States.

I realize this is probably not a controversial opinion around these parts, but since, as a US citizen, I am guaranteed the right of entry into my own country, I believe the questions should be limited solely to establishing my identity. Where I went, why I went, and what I did while I was there are none of my government's business, absent being accused of a crime.

One time I got asked why I claimed to have gone to a place on vacation but my spouse wasn't traveling with me. That seems very out of line to me.

Once, when returning to the US, I was asked why I was wearing a coat. Because it's December and I just flew in from Frankfurt, you dunderhead...

Weirder were the two times an agent suggested that with my background I should join an intelligence agency. I was working on dual CS and international relations degrees at the time, which I did not mention to the agent. I should really file a FOIA request on myself to find out what was in my file that prompted those questions.

This has gotten piles better in the last 3 months at Schipol at least. US passports now go through the automated EU lanes and at the end you are diverted over to a little booth to get a stamp. It's wildly faster than it used to be (and I always felt that Schipol was pretty on their game already).

> This has gotten piles better in the last 3 months at Schipol at least. US passports now go through the automated EU lanes

That was not my experience the last two times I passed through AMS this summer.

The sign doesn't say US passports, but the e-gates take anything with the RFID chip in them.

> It'd be nice if there was an actual global version of the American Global Entry/Nexus/Sentri system

You know when invented, that was the purpose of a passport!

Of course, it today's world you have to now pay extra for what used to be include.

No, they're not the same thing. GE/NEXUS is a trusted traveller program where they do a full background check on you to see if you are a risk. Passports never provided that; a passport is just a travel document saying who you are, not a bilateral authorization from the security services of both countries that you're not and will not be a security risk.

I don't know, mine contains a request from Her Brittanic Majesty's Secretary of State, in the name of Her Majesty, that I should be allowed 'to pass freely without let or hindrance' and says nothing about requiring me to be inconvenienced and held up...

Agreed. The costs vary a lot too: the US is pretty good ($100/5 years, includes precheck), but you would have to travel a fair bit to make it worthwhile in the UK (£50/1 year + £20 registration).

Yeah. I have Global Entry and actually fly to London semi-regularly (a few times a year) which qualifies for the UK system but I don't travel enough for it to be worthwhile.

Nexus for me was $50/5 years, while Precheck alone was $80/5 years, so it was a no-brainer. Prices may have changed since then, though, because I believe I signed up in 2016.

The only difficult part was setting an afternoon aside to go get scanned/interviewed (if you even want to call it an interview, as I believe I was asked only one question: Why do you want this?).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com