Trusted Travellers Program

Great news
http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/39957?c=border_security

Does anyone do the US program? and if yes does it help? is it worth it?

Z

Z.. I think it's a new program pretty sure it's stated in article.  But I figure business people will take advantage of it. That plus people going back n forth a couple times a month. I don't know the fee however.

Zedinmexico wrote:Does anyone do the US program?  and if yes does it help?   is it worth it?

Z

I'm not sure what you mean by "the US program" but if you mean "Global Entry"... my wife and I are members.

We are Canadian and after we flew back to Canada for the first time 3 years ago and had to wait in line for over 1 hour at the Dallas/Ft.Worth airport to pass through immigration, we applied for the Global Entry/Nexus program. Nexus is the Canadian Trusted Traveler Program and if you are a member of one, you are automatically a member of the other.

We applied online and had to go to the Toronto Airport for an interview with both the Canadian and American immigration people.  We received our cards in the mail a couple of weeks later.

The next year when we flew from Toronto to Guad. via Dallas we bypassed a huge line in Toronto and were through in 5 minutes.  On our return to Toronto - again via DFW, we were through US Immigration in 5 min. and didn't have to talk to anyone - it was all done at an ATM type machine.

Another example of how quick it is to cross borders... last 4th of July, (busiest travel day of the year in the USA) we drove from Detroit Michigan to Windsor Ontario via the Ambassador Bridge.  We were convoying with another car.  We went to the Nexus/Global Entry lane and were through in 2 minutes. Our friends were one and a half HOURS ! ! !

Worth it??? Hell YES...  the cost is $50 per per person for 5 years.

"Mexico launches its first trusted traveler program open to U.S. citizens"

Please note headline of article. . It is a Mexican program.

The program is for U.S. and Mexican citiizens. To be eligible U.S. citizens must already be enrolled in the Global Entry program. Entry using the new program currently is limited to 3 airports, GDL is not one of them.
http://www.viajeroconfiable.inm.gob.mx/index.php/home/

Since NEXUS for travel between the US and Canada runs $50, Global Entry designed for International Travelers runs $100 and SENTRI for travel between the US and Mexico runs $122.25, one needs to be a frequent traveler to jump through all the required hoops. The Mexican program requires Global Entry and a payment of $1375MXN. Sure Immigration and Customs can take up quite a bit of time but from our experiences, delays result from multiple flights landing at the same time and retrieval of baggage. I can't think of one time in the last ten years where the actual individual process of clearing Immigration or Customs in either the US or Mexico resulted in being delayed by actual extra scrutiny by either.

Besides standing in lines upon entry into Mexico is simply a signal to slow things down and accept things as they come!

We are U.S. Citizens and both have Global entry for arriving in the U.S. It costs $100 for 5 years...pretty cheap at $20 a year. Have missed connections waiting in line at U.S. Immigration. Using a kiosk takes less than a minute, gets you through a special line in Customs and TSA security check point. Totally worth it as far as I am concerned. We do travel to the U.S. 4-5 times a year, but worth it even if once a year.

I worked alot in the beach areas of Baja California and had a SENTRI pass and it was great to cross the border in 10 minutes late on a Sunday afternoon where others would wait hours.