Global Entry

Global Entry is a program run by the United States Customs and Border Protection agency. Just like TSA PreCheck, access to the program allows you to skip the long line at security when you’re departing the United States. Additionally, it speeds you through passport control when you arrive back at an American airport from overseas. At passport control you get to skip the long line, skip the paperwork and instead answer a few questions at a computer kiosk. Then a Customs and Border Protection agent double checks you’re you, and you’re on your way. Global Entry is even available at a handful of airports outside the United States, like those in Abu Dhabi and Dublin, along with land and seaports of entry, like San Ysidro in California and Port Everglades in Florida. So while PreCheck only saves time when you’re departing, Global Entry helps when you’re departing and when you’re arriving.

Getting Global Entry is similar to the process of getting PreCheck. There’s an online form, then an in-person interview with a C.B.P. agent, during which you’ll be asked why you want to be a part of the program, your employment history, any criminal history, and what countries you’ve visited recently. You’ll be photographed and fingerprinted. There’s no minimum age, though anyone under 18 will need their parent or legal guardian present at the interview. Only those with Global Entry can use the Global Entry kiosks. Any family member, including children, who don’t have it, will have to use the normal line.

The $100 fee will get you five years of Global Entry, and is covered by many travel credit cards. Since it includes TSA PreCheck for only $15 more than that service, this is an easy choice for even occasional international travelers. You also get a credit card-size Global Entry ID card which lets you use SENTRI and NEXUS lanes when crossing the border into the United States from Canada and Mexico.

If Global Entry seems great, you’re not the only one who thinks so. The program is currently quite backlogged, and it might take weeks, sometimes months, to get approved. If you get conditionally approved and there are long wait times for the interview at your closest enrollment center, you might be able to enroll on arrival at certain airports.

WHO THIS IS FOR American citizens who frequently, or even occasionally, travel internationally, permanent residents and travelers from a handful of other countries.

WHO SHOULD SKIP IT Anyone without a passport.

PROS Includes TSA PreCheck for when you leave, then speeds you through passport control when you get home.

CONS Like all of these options, there are privacy concerns. Sure, the government already knows your social security number, so adding fingerprints and a detailed history probably isn’t a huge deal, but many don’t love the idea of giving the government more information, especially since it hasn’t done a great job keeping your, or even their own, info private.

Clear

Clear is a privately run company that uses biometrics like your fingerprints and eyeballs to verify that you’re you. This, Clear claims, speeds access through security lines at more than 60 airports and sports and event stadiums across the country. Once you sign up, you just find the Clear kiosk, and once it verifies you, you get brought to the front of the security line.

Clear only lets you cut the initial ID-check line, though. You still need to pass through security like the rest of us plebes. So to speed up the actual security process, you’d need TSA PreCheck/Global Entry on top of Clear, which isn’t included. At $179 per year, that seems a lot of money for just a few minutes of a few trips per year. Additional adults added to your account, either friends or family, are $50 each per year, but children under 18 can go with you through the Clear lane for free. If you know the airports you regularly use have Clear and long lines, this could be worth it. Not for most people, though. It’s worth checking to see if your airline’s frequent flier program offers a discount. Many do.