Does anybody know how to get in touch with SIA?

[Lisafuller]

How long ago was “a while back”? I interviewed at SG’s US Embassy in Dec last year and saw at least 5 others in front of me who interviewed as well. Four months ago is fairly recent to me.

If you click “Other Countries” in this website, you’ll see SG’s US Embassy is one of the locations. But slots are notoriously difficult to acquire which is why they ask you to interview on arrival at the participating US airports instead.

About a month ago. Maybe the lady I spoke to wasn't very knowledgeable.

[Lisafuller]

How long ago was “a while back”? I interviewed at SG’s US Embassy in Dec last year and saw at least 5 others in front of me who interviewed as well. Four months ago is fairly recent to me.

If you click “Other Countries” in this website, you’ll see SG’s US Embassy is one of the locations. But slots are notoriously difficult to acquire which is why they ask you to interview on arrival at the participating US airports instead.

Had a look at the link, and indeed there is an option to interview in Singapore, however, like you mentioned, the slots seem to be full. At the moment they're full through September 2023 which is a long time away.

Do you know if people have a habit of canceling their appointments, leaving them to open up for others?

[MOCHS]

If people do cancel, you won’t be notified at all. You’ll just have to be lucky when you login and see if there’s an available slot. When I previously logged in, there were no slots at all. I emailed to ask if they would open up any more in the future and they said to check back in a few weeks.

I randomly logged in one day and saw two slots available and I quickly asked my hubby to register for him and then myself.

I have read blog posts (here and here) of people getting interviewed at airports upon arrival. You just have to budget more time (10 minutes or so) for that if you’re not in a huge hurry to head to your accommodations or needing to catch another flight.

[Lisafuller]

If people do cancel, you won’t be notified at all. You’ll just have to be lucky when you login and see if there’s an available slot. When I previously logged in, there were no slots at all. I emailed to ask if they would open up any more in the future and they said to check back in a few weeks.

I randomly logged in one day and saw two slots available and I quickly asked my hubby to register for him and then myself.

I have read blog posts (here and here) of people getting interviewed at airports upon arrival. You just have to budget more time (10 minutes or so) for that if you’re not in a huge hurry to head to your accommodations or needing to catch another flight.

The interview only takes 10 minutes? I'm not opposed to being interviewed upon arrival, but my impression is that in order for me to be interviewed, I would first have to clear security, which would defeat the purpose of global entry, since I'd still have to wait in the lines.

[MOCHS]

Uh, why would you go through security upon arrival at the airport? Going through security is for departures. Every passenger goes through immigration upon landing, you’ll just have to look for the sign that says “Global Entry” and enquire for “Enrolment On Arrival” with the officers.

JFK had at least 5 lines from what I recall “Global Entry”, “Airline Staff”, “Diplomats”, “US citizens/permanent residents”, “International”.

10 minutes is what the blog posts say. If there are many people waiting for enrolment on arrival, then you’ll have multiply the waiting time. The blog posts also state there are occasions where “the officer that does global interviews isn’t working today” and they have to try again for another inbound international flight or book an interview within the US.

The US embassy staff allowed hubby & me to be interviewed as a family, probably around 15 minutes or so.

[Lisafuller]

I'm referring to immigration and processing, if I recall correctly last couple times I've been in the US, it's been quite a lengthy process to get out of the airport, despite having citizenship.

If you're right, and I can enroll upon arrival, that will certainly save a lot of time. But I guess the difficulty would be finding an appointment slot that coincides with my landing time, which can be difficult to predict since flights are subject to all sorts of delays.

[malcontent]

I don’t have Global Entry. From the multiple trips I’ve taken to the US over the past 10 months, it’s been hit or miss on wait times at immigration. Depends how many international flights came in just before yours. When it’s bad, it can be an extra hour waiting in line. When it’s good, almost no wait at all (but then you’ll still have to wait for luggage).

I’m thinking about applying for Global Entry as well. It also comes with TSA pre-check, which can save time too. Are you paying out of pocket? I’m thinking about applying for the United Explorer card which is $0 annual fee for the first year and reimburses the Global Entry fee plus 70k bonus miles. It’s hard to pass all that up!

[MOCHS]

I saw signs encouraging US citizens to download the “Mobile Passport Control” app to have an easier time at immigration. I don’t know if it will shorten the time for you guys.

Global Entry is amazing, I breezed through immigration within 5 mins… and waited a long time at the luggage claim instead lol. Yes, it comes with TSA Pre Check and I just used it today. Not having to take off shoes and keeping my liquids & devices in bags is a huge plus. I saw there’s a higher tier called CLEAR but I’m not eligible for it.

The TSA agent seemed very unfamiliar with SG passport and had to use the UV light on it to ascertain its authenticity. Since hubby was with me, she shined the light in his passport too. SG passport is practically a rainbow under the light while US passport only has 1-2 colours.

[Lisafuller]

I don’t have Global Entry. From the multiple trips I’ve taken to the US over the past 10 months, it’s been hit or miss on wait times at immigration. Depends how many international flights came in just before yours. When it’s bad, it can be an extra hour waiting in line. When it’s good, almost no wait at all (but then you’ll still have to wait for luggage).

I’m thinking about applying for Global Entry as well. It also comes with TSA pre-check, which can save time too. Are you paying out of pocket? I’m thinking about applying for the United Explorer card which is $0 annual fee for the first year and reimburses the Global Entry fee plus 70k bonus miles. It’s hard to pass all that up!

The flight to Newark is standard and comes in at 6 AM every day. I'm hoping that since it's so early in the morning, the airport will be less crowded, but you never know.

How much is the annual fee after the first year?

[Lisafuller]

I saw signs encouraging US citizens to download the “Mobile Passport Control” app to have an easier time at immigration. I don’t know if it will shorten the time for you guys.

Global Entry is amazing, I breezed through immigration within 5 mins… and waited a long time at the luggage claim instead lol. Yes, it comes with TSA Pre Check and I just used it today. Not having to take off shoes and keeping my liquids & devices in bags is a huge plus. I saw there’s a higher tier called CLEAR but I’m not eligible for it.

The TSA agent seemed very unfamiliar with SG passport and had to use the UV light on it to ascertain its authenticity. Since hubby was with me, she shined the light in his passport too. SG passport is practically a rainbow under the light while US passport only has 1-2 colours.

That's definitely odd considering the singapore passport is one of the most powerful in the world, I assumed they'd be more familiar with it.

Why aren't you eligible for clear?

[malcontent]

I saw signs encouraging US citizens to download the “Mobile Passport Control” app to have an easier time at immigration. I don’t know if it will shorten the time for you guys.

Global Entry is amazing, I breezed through immigration within 5 mins… and waited a long time at the luggage claim instead lol. Yes, it comes with TSA Pre Check and I just used it today. Not having to take off shoes and keeping my liquids & devices in bags is a huge plus. I saw there’s a higher tier called CLEAR but I’m not eligible for it.

The TSA agent seemed very unfamiliar with SG passport and had to use the UV light on it to ascertain its authenticity. Since hubby was with me, she shined the light in his passport too. SG passport is practically a rainbow under the light while US passport only has 1-2 colours.

I’ve been through many times and they have always used the UV light on my US passport. I don’t think they did it just for show. They might have taken a little longer with yours just to be sure they didn’t miss any of the unique security features that might be different from what they normally see. Their job is just to ensure all passports are genuine.

The only time I’ve sensed any prejudice is when my wife goes with me and her Indonesian passport gets flagged at least twice as often. Maybe it’s simply because of the higher frequency of problems with people who carry that passport. Since my wife needs a visa, it is clearly a passport that gets more scrutiny.

[malcontent]

I don’t have Global Entry. From the multiple trips I’ve taken to the US over the past 10 months, it’s been hit or miss on wait times at immigration. Depends how many international flights came in just before yours. When it’s bad, it can be an extra hour waiting in line. When it’s good, almost no wait at all (but then you’ll still have to wait for luggage).

I’m thinking about applying for Global Entry as well. It also comes with TSA pre-check, which can save time too. Are you paying out of pocket? I’m thinking about applying for the United Explorer card which is $0 annual fee for the first year and reimburses the Global Entry fee plus 70k bonus miles. It’s hard to pass all that up!

The flight to Newark is standard and comes in at 6 AM every day. I'm hoping that since it's so early in the morning, the airport will be less crowded, but you never know.

How much is the annual fee after the first year?

From what I read online, it’s US$100 for 5 years, so not too bad. Several credit cards reimburse this fee, but most charge an annual fee that can’t be waived.

From what I’ve read online, United Explorer is the best deal because the annual fee is waived the first year, but they will still reimburse your fee for Global Entry, even if you cancel within a year. You also get the sign up bonus miles and some other perks if you fly UA.

[MOCHS]

Global Entry lasts for 5 years, CLEAR lasts for a year. I don’t have the participating US credit card(s) for the GE fee waiver and just willingly paid for it.

I’m not eligible for CLEAR because I’m not a US citizen or green card holder. CLEAR only lets you have your face verified at the airport without the need to show your ID/passport.

Typically TSA PreCheck is only for US citizens & green card holders too but Global Entry automatically grants you TSA Precheck. So when I got GE, I got TSA Pre too. I can see why the airport staff was a little confused at seeing a foreign passport at TSA PreCheck.

I was flying from LGA airport to my in-laws state and most of their international flights are to & from Canada/Bahamas/Cuba unlike JFK or EWR which has flights all over the world.

The staff swiped my passport, asked me for my flight number, swiped again, then shined under the UV light for a few seconds before finally letting me go through TSA Precheck security.

It is very well known M’sian & Indo nationalities get flagged at US customs thanks to 9/11. Even my ex-teacher with SG passport, once they see country of birth is Malaysia in the passport, they automatically question him even though he’s Chinese race.

[Lisafuller]

I saw signs encouraging US citizens to download the “Mobile Passport Control” app to have an easier time at immigration. I don’t know if it will shorten the time for you guys.

Global Entry is amazing, I breezed through immigration within 5 mins… and waited a long time at the luggage claim instead lol. Yes, it comes with TSA Pre Check and I just used it today. Not having to take off shoes and keeping my liquids & devices in bags is a huge plus. I saw there’s a higher tier called CLEAR but I’m not eligible for it.

The TSA agent seemed very unfamiliar with SG passport and had to use the UV light on it to ascertain its authenticity. Since hubby was with me, she shined the light in his passport too. SG passport is practically a rainbow under the light while US passport only has 1-2 colours.

I’ve been through many times and they have always used the UV light on my US passport. I don’t think they did it just for show. They might have taken a little longer with yours just to be sure they didn’t miss any of the unique security features that might be different from what they normally see. Their job is just to ensure all passports are genuine.

The only time I’ve sensed any prejudice is when my wife goes with me and her Indonesian passport gets flagged at least twice as often. Maybe it’s simply because of the higher frequency of problems with people who carry that passport. Since my wife needs a visa, it is clearly a passport that gets more scrutiny.

Yeah, there is definitely heightened security around those carrying certain passports... don't think I need to be more specific.

[Lisafuller]

It is very well known M’sian & Indo nationalities get flagged at US customs thanks to 9/11. Even my ex-teacher with SG passport, once they see country of birth is Malaysia in the passport, they automatically question him even though he’s Chinese race.

Unfortunate, but from a security POV, you can see why they feel it's necessary.