The Customs Process Is Now Digitized with the Mobile Passport App
Experienced international travelers all know the routine.
You disembark from your long international flight and head for those wonderful
immigration lines where you hurry up and wait to show your passport to the nice
Customs Agent and officially re-enter the U.S. Now-a-days most international airports have
those kiosks where you can scan your passport, take your picture, answer a few
questions and get a receipt to hand to the CBP officer. This helps to speed up the process a bit, but
you generally still have a line to the kiosk and then a line to the CBP officer to
wait in.
Then there is Global Entry.
A program where you pre-apply to receive your “Known Traveler Number” which
provides you with expedited clearance through the security and customs
processes. Once in this program,
international travelers can us specially marked express lanes at the majority
of U.S. international airports to speed through re-entry. However, you may not want to fill out the
application, pay the $100 non-refundable processing fee, and go through the
interview process to gain this access even though membership is good for five
years.
iPhone and Android Users Get Your Free App
So now there is good news for those smartphone users who don’t want to fork out the dough. Available for download through the App Store or Google Play, Mobile Passport is a free app which allows you to skip the long Customs lines and jump to the Mobile Passport Control express lane to help you speed through the process of re-entering the country. It’s pretty simple to use. Here’s what you do.
Step One - Complete Your Profile
After downloading the Mobile Passport app to your smartphone, complete your profile with your passport information and take a selfie as directed. This app now has the convenient “Passport Scanner” function to enter the info for you in seconds. Double-check the information has been entered correctly, then save your profile. Travelers can do all this without being connected to Wi-Fi to complete their profile.
To keep things convenient, you can add family member
profiles as well, which will remain stored in the app ready for use as needed. You can do this anytime at your convenience. (Your profile information will be encrypted
and shared only with CBP.)
Step Two - Answer a Few Questions & Get Your Receipt
Now for each trip, once you land, connect to your wireless network or Wi-Fi and open Mobile Passport to complete the “New Trip” section of the app. Here you will select yourself and any family members traveling with you. Enter your flight information, answer a few questions and submit this digital form for a receipt.
Step Three - Skip the Line
Once you
have received your receipt (QR code), you are ready to take your passport and smartphone
to the CBP officer. Just follow the
signs to “Mobile Passport Control” and you’re on your way. (It is important to remember, however, that
this receipt is only good for four hours.)
There is a small hitch to this good news, though. Mobile Passport is only available for use in
Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, Minneapolis, NY JFK,
Newark, Orlando, Raleigh Durham, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Tampa and
Washington Dulles airports right now, and will be coming soon to Boston. So if you're like me, who travels out of LAX the most, maybe Global Entry is still your best option.
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