Can Green Card Holders Apply for Global Entry?

Yes, green card holders can apply for Global Entry. Lawful permanent residents are listed as eligible for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection trusted traveler program alongside U.S. citizens and nationals, and approval also gives you TSA PreCheck at domestic airport checkpoints.¹ To apply, you need a valid machine-readable Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), a valid machine-readable passport from your country of citizenship, and a clean legal and immigration history.² The application fee is $120 and membership lasts five years.

Eligibility Rules That Matter Most for LPRs

Federal regulations list lawful permanent residents as eligible, but CBP has broad discretion to deny anyone it treats as a potential risk. Several disqualifiers in the regulation catch green card holders more often than U.S. citizens:

Any arrest or conviction in any country, and any pending charges or outstanding warrants. An arrest alone can be enough, even without a conviction.³
Any past finding that you violated customs, immigration, or agricultural rules in any country.
Being the subject of an ongoing investigation by any federal, state, or local law enforcement agency.
Being inadmissible to the United States under immigration law, or having ever been granted a waiver of inadmissibility or parole.
Providing false or incomplete information on the application.

Read that fourth item carefully. Many permanent residents received their green cards after an inadmissibility waiver, such as an I-601. The regulation lists having received such a waiver at any time as a disqualifying factor, even though you now hold a green card.³ If that describes you, expect a harder path and weigh whether the $120 non-refundable fee is worth the risk.

What to Gather Before You Apply

The application runs through the Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) website. Have this information ready before you log in, because the portal times out:

Your Permanent Resident Card, including the Alien Registration Number (A-number) printed on it. CBP uses the A-number to match your application to your immigration file, so enter it exactly.
Your current passport from your country of citizenship.
Every address you have lived at for the past five years, with dates and no gaps.
Every employer for the past five years, with dates, addresses, and contact information.
Every country you have visited in the last five years, other than the United States.

Fee, and Applying for Children

You pay the $120 fee at submission by credit card or electronic bank transfer, and it is not refunded if the application is denied.⁴ There is no minimum age. Children under 18 whose parent or legal guardian is already enrolled or has a pending application can apply at no cost, for applications submitted on or after October 1, 2024.⁵ A parent or legal guardian must be present at the child’s interview and must give consent, but the consenting parent does not have to be a Global Entry member.⁶

How Long the Background Check Takes

After you submit, CBP runs a background check before granting conditional approval. About 80 percent of applications reach conditional approval within two weeks, though some take 12 months or longer.⁶ Most applicants without a criminal history complete the full process — background check, scheduling, and interview — within four to six months.

CBP does not always email you when your status changes, so log in to your TTP account to check.

The Enrollment Interview

Once conditionally approved, you complete an in-person interview at a CBP enrollment center. Appointment waits range from a few weeks to several months by location.⁶

Bring:

Your valid passport, and all valid passports if you hold more than one
Your machine-readable Permanent Resident Card
Proof of residency, such as a driver’s license with your current address, a utility bill, or a mortgage or rental payment statement

The officer verifies your identity, reviews the original documents, and collects a digital photograph and a full set of ten fingerprints.³ Expect questions about your travel history and reasons for applying.

Enrollment on Arrival

If scheduling an appointment is difficult, Enrollment on Arrival lets you complete the interview at a participating airport when you return to the United States from an international flight. You must already be conditionally approved to use it; you cannot walk up without that status, and it is only for arriving international travelers, not domestic connections.⁵

Keeping the Membership Usable as a Green Card Holder

Global Entry kiosks require a machine-readable green card. An expired card can block you at the kiosk even if your membership is active, and green cards issued before 1989 cannot be read at all.⁷ If your card expires, file Form I-90 with USCIS to replace it and keep the Notice of Action (Form I-797) as proof that a replacement is pending. You still have to carry your physical green card and valid passport when traveling internationally, regardless of your Global Entry status.⁸

When you get a new passport, update your TTP account online through “Update Documents.”⁵ A legal name change requires an in-person visit to an enrollment center with documentation.

To use TSA PreCheck, enter your PASS ID from your TTP account as the Known Traveler Number when booking flights.⁹ PreCheck only activates after full approval; conditional approval does not qualify.

If You Naturalize

If you become a U.S. citizen while your membership is active, update your citizenship status in person at an enrollment center with your naturalization certificate or U.S. passport. This change cannot be made online.¹⁰

Renewal

Membership lasts five years.¹ You renew by submitting a new application through the TTP website and paying the $120 fee again.⁴ Not every renewal requires a new interview, but CBP runs a fresh background check every time.

If You Are Denied or Revoked

A denial or revocation comes with a written explanation.¹¹ Common triggers include failing to declare items at customs, making false statements on the application, and a change in your criminal or immigration record.

If you think the decision rested on inaccurate or incomplete information, you can request reconsideration through the TTP website. The request goes to the CBP Trusted Traveler Ombudsman and should include:

The date and stated reason for the denial or revocation
A summary explaining why the information is inaccurate, or context for any incident or arrest
Court records for any arrests or convictions, including expunged ones
Any supporting documents in PDF, DOCX, PNG, JPEG, or GIF format

Everything submitted to the Ombudsman must be in English. CBP does not publish a resolution timeline, so the review can take considerable time.¹¹

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Global Entry
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Eligibility for Global Entry
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eCFR. 8 CFR 235.12 – Global Entry Program
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. How to Apply for Global Entry
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Global Entry Frequently Asked Questions
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Department of Homeland Security. Global Entry – Frequent International Travelers – Trusted Traveler
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. LPR – Lost, Stolen or Expired Green Cards or Has No Expiration Date
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. International Travel as a Permanent Resident
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. TSA PreCheck
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Department of Homeland Security. Trusted Traveler Programs – Frequently Asked Questions
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Trusted Traveler Program Denials