America's Global Entry system is well worth the effort - and the expense

The title “Global Entry” is an exaggeration: this scheme will help you get in only to America. Acquiring Global Entry status is a formidable exercise in bureaucracy. Yet once you clear all the hurdles, you too may regard the new system for fast-tracking through US border control as possibly the best development since the jet engine.

Last weekend, Orlando airport was even busier than normal. The British Airways flight from Gatwick arrived on time, but my spirits sank when I saw we were taxiing to the terminal behind a Virgin Atlantic 747, with an identical Jumbo already parked at the gate. Add in a Lufthansa 747 fresh from Frankfurt, and a Thomas Cook flight from Manchester, and there were certain to be at least 1,500 people ahead in the queue for immigration.

Fortunately, in the depths of last winter I began the process of enlisting for Global Entry, America’s new system for so-called Trusted Travelers. I bypassed the pens holding hundreds of holidaymakers, and followed the signs to a machine that looked like an ATM. I placed my passport face down into the holder, looked up at the camera and squashed the fingers of my right hand onto the reader. Within 15 seconds, I was clutching a receipt confirming that I had passed muster to enter one of the world’s most fastidious nations, bureaucratically speaking.

A colleague who has not (yet) registered for Global Register took a further 75 minutes to go through “classic” border control. He was further irritated when I breezed through a special Global Entry channel for US Customs and joined the car-rental queue. He is now beginning the rigorous and expensive process of joining this exclusive club.

I’ve never tried to become a rocket scientist or join MI6, but I imagine that both involve a similar level of difficulty to applying for Global Entry. British travellers first have to apply to the UK Government for permission to apply to the US Government. “This costs £42 (non-refundable if you fail the background checks),” as the Home Office reminds you. To make things a little easier, I’ve created a short link for you here (bit.ly/GlobEnt) to take you to the right page.

Within 10 days your background checks will be complete, and assuming you don’t have too many skeletons in the cupboard you get sent a nine-digit code by the “Apply for US Global Entry Team”. You then present this, online, to the American authorities. It entitles you to begin the process of applying, which will cost a further $100.

All being well, you should get provisional clearance within three weeks. But then you may feel your problems are really only beginning. In order to grant you the precious permission to queue-jump, the Americans would like to see you. Within 30 days. On their turf. And that means going through another interminable wait…

I got around this requirement by making an appointment in Toronto, one of the airports that offers pre-clearance to US-bound travellers. I was actually flying from Canada to Amsterdam, but booked an appointment just before departure and had an interview, with my fingerprints and photograph taken.

I wanted to have something to take away - a card, a certificate, just something for all that trouble - but all I got was an email saying I appeared to be a Trusted Traveler. And it wasn’t until that moment in Orlando that I was recognised - agreed, only by a computer. But skipping the line was the biggest thrill I have had for a while in the theme-park capital of the world.