TTPRADARThe Global Entry application fee is $120. It is non-refundable, and you pay it when you submit the application, not at the interview. If you are approved, it buys a five-year membership.
That is the whole answer. The rest of this post covers the edges: who pays nothing, what happens after a denial, and what the fee does not pay for.
The fee in brief
The Federal Register notice on the 2024 fee change says applications submitted on or after October 1, 2024 require a $120 non-refundable application fee "at the time of the application submission". The notice was written for NEXUS, but it aligned the fee across NEXUS, Global Entry and SENTRI.
The fee is charged once per application. You pay it up front, before anyone at CBP has looked at your file, which is why the non-refundable part matters.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Global Entry application, five-year membership if approved | $120, non-refundable |
| Minor under 18 applying with a parent or guardian | No fee |
| Minor under 18 applying independently | $120 |
| Replacement RFID card (trusted traveler programs) | $25 |
Who pays nothing
Minors under 18 pay no application fee if a parent or legal guardian applies at the same time or is already a member. That makes the family math simple: one adult fee, and the children come along free.
The catch is the independent route. If a minor applies on their own, the notice says they are charged the full $120. Have the parent or guardian's application in place first, or submit them together.
What happens if you are denied
You do not get the fee back. The official wording is "non-refundable", and credit card issuers' explainers say the same about denials: a denied application is not refunded, and reapplying means paying the full $120 again.
So the fee is the price of being assessed, not the price of being approved. Check your eligibility before you pay, especially if you have anything on your record that could cause a problem.
Missed interviews and deadlines
Two questions come up often: what happens to the fee if you miss your interview, and how long you have to complete it after conditional approval. We could not confirm either from an official CBP page, so we are not going to guess.
The only rule we can confirm is the general one: the fee is non-refundable. Read the notices in your Trusted Traveler Programs account, and check the CBP Global Entry pages before you let an interview window run down.
What the fee gets you
A five-year Global Entry membership, if you are approved. It also includes TSA PreCheck for domestic flights at participating airports, at no extra charge.
That is a real saving if you would otherwise buy PreCheck separately. TSA lists PreCheck on its own at $79.75 to $85 for five years through its three enrollment providers, CLEAR, IDEMIA and Telos. Renewal costs $58.75 to $72.95 depending on provider and whether you renew online or in person.
Some premium credit cards reimburse the fee with a statement credit. Card benefits change, so check your current card terms before you pay.
What the fee does not cover
Travel to your enrollment center is your own cost. The fee pays for the application, not for the drive, the flight or the parking.
That is worth thinking about when you pick a location, because the nearest center is not always the one with the earliest interview appointment. You can see live wait times by enrollment center and the full list of centers we monitor before you commit to a trip.
The $25 replacement RFID card fee is a separate charge from the application fee.
The practical takeaway
Pay the $120 only when you are ready to see the process through. It is non-refundable, and a denial does not return it.
If appointment availability is the sticking point, there are free browser-based alerts that watch for openings. They are separate from the CBP fee and have no connection to CBP.