I enrolled my 2 year old in GE and at the interview they didn't fingerprint him. The reason given was that up until the child is 12-13 years old, their fingerprints can't be accurately read by the machines. They told me that upon entry, to swipe my son's passport and I would get a printout with an 'X' on it. I should take the sheet to the front of the line and give it to the next available agent who would process us through.

It's not a secondary inspection - just has to be handled by a live person though.

As an aside, I also enrolled my 13 year old and he was in fact fingerprinted at the interview.

 

Well, at YUL they certainly did not know about this, nor did the CBP helpdesk whom I wrote to. Can you provide any further information?

Again, very interesting, and leads me to believe we will have problems with the 8-year-old's poor print quality.

 

$100 for 5 years is a steal. Why not just enroll your kids and not worry about all this?

 

I went ahead and got all 4 of my kids their Global Entry recently. Ages range from 3 months to 6 years.

 

Did children without the fingerprints being recorded still get their GE cards (for land entry)?

 

They had their NEXUS cards already. I suppose we'll find out soon what happens, and I'll report back here.

 

Fingerprinting doesn't affect eligibility. It affects whether you get the X every time.

My 8 yo (at time) was fingerprinted w/o issue and it's worked at least twice. So the problem is not universal.

 

Yes - my 2 year old got his GE card in the mail a few days later.

 

OK, so we tried using GE twice with the kids....

1) The 8-year-old's prints scanned flawlessly both times, though the kiosk was unable to take his picture as he's obviously too short. No problem.

2) The 5-year-old's passport caused the kiosk to display the message that he was not registered for GE.

At YUL preclearance, the officer (whom you have to talk to in any case, and who does both immigration and customs) simply waved us through. At MIA, one officer made us fill in a customs form for the 5-year-old, and sent us to the diplomat line. The officer there looked over everything, requested the NEXUS card, and stated that he found it strange that the kiosk would refuse, as he thought all was in order.

He did confirm that getting an X on your printout does not mean automatic secondary, but merely that they have to see your passport to confirm your identity.

I suppose we'll be going back to a GE enrolment center to try to sort things out once and for all.

Overall, however, it was a good experience, and I'm glad things did work as they should.

 

I'm surprised the ACLU or similar agency hasn't tried to stop people fingerprinting their minor children. Seems like their kind of issue.

 

Huh? It's entirely voluntary . . . I don't think that's a fight any organization pursuing civil liberties is likely to want to take on.

At most the issue would be that CBP would destroy records of fingerprints of underage enrollees when they turn 18 and make a request, in case some child is upset with their parents for enrolling them.

 

We recently were approved for NEXUS, and at the interview the CBP officer offered to add GE for us as well. She wasn't sure if it would do anything for us since her post in YUL doesn't receive a lot of info about GE, as they mostly process Canadians seeking access to the US and not vice-versa. However, when I logged into GOES, I do see a note at the bottom for my wife and I that we can use GE. For my daughter (age 1) it says she can use GE once she provides fingerprints.

My question is, since GE doesn't have a lower age limit but also doesn't fingerprint small children, how do we actually go about using GE when all 3 of us travel together?

Appreciate the help.

 

As long as your daughter is enrolled in GE, then you can still all use it. At my interview, it was explained that although they didn't take the fingerprints of my 2-yo son, we should just scan his passport at the kiosk and we would get the slip containing the "X" on it for him. They told us to take it to the agent and that we shouldn't have any problem going right through.

 

Gotcha. So when you log into GOES for your 2 year old, do you see that note at the bottom saying he needs fingerprints on file, or do you see something different? Here is what I get:

Global Entry Benefit: As a NEXUS member, you will be able to use the Global Entry kiosks located at the top 20 major U.S. international airports to enter the U.S. once you provide your 10-fingerprints to CBP. To use the Global Entry kiosks, you must use a valid machine readable U.S. passport. If you wish to use Global Entry, please contact any Trusted Traveler Enrollment Center to schedule an appointment to have your fingerprints captured. Enrollment center information can be found at http://www.NEXUS.gov/, http://www.SENTRI.gov/ or http://www.GlobalEntry.gov/. Do not use your NEXUS card in the kiosk, but you may wish to carry it with you. There is no additional cost to use Global Entry, and you may use it for the duration of your NEXUS membership. Additional information about Global Entry can be found at http://www.GlobalEntry.gov/. If you do not wish to use Global Entry kiosks, please disregard this message.

Thanks!

 

No - there isn't anything like that on there for me but I signed him up directly through GE and not NEXUS. I wonder if the language you see is just advertising language telling you that you can automatically sign up for GE if you go through their application process (i.e. fingerprinting etc...).

I would call an enrollment center and have them make sure the system recognizes your daughter's GE enrollment. Sounds like a flag might not have been flipped along the way?