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How to Update a Global Entry Account With Login.gov

Oct. 05, 2017
4 min read
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How to Update a Global Entry Account With Login.gov
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Several months ago we renewed my oldest daughter's passport as its five-year shelf life was already up, but I put off updating her Global Entry account with her new passport number until yesterday...mostly because my luck with messing with the old GOES website is abysmal. However, with an impending international trip, I had to move that task to the top of the to-do list. As I learned yesterday, and you will quickly learn when you go to apply for or update information related to one of the Trusted Traveler Programs including Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST, there is now a brand new website you must register for and utilize on a go-forward basis.

Create a New Login.gov Account

  1. To begin with, set up your login.gov account. To do this you first enter an email address to use for your government communications. I quickly learned that your email address can only be used once. This means it cannot be also used for your children as it is one person/account per email address. Thankfully the same is not true with phone numbers. I actually already had an email address for my seven-year-old, but I didn't yet have one for my two-year-old. Seth from the Wandering Aramean pointed out to me that in many cases you can use youremailaddress+kidname@youremailprovider.com and that will work and get delivered to your inbox without creating a new email account for your baby. An example if my email was summerhull@hotmail.com, then could use summerhull+LittleC@hotmail.com for my daughter.
  1. Verify your email account. You then will have to login to your email account and click on the email sent to you from the Login.gov site. Once you click on the link in that email it will take you back to the login.gov site to create your password.
  2. Enter a phone number for a text verification code. The next step will be that a number will be texted to the phone number provided for you to enter in the account set-up process. If you don't have text capabilities you can do it with a voice phone call.
  3. Receive and save a 16 digit personal key. After you pass the text number verification process you will receive a 16 digit personal key that you need to print and/or write down. You will need to enter this key on the next screen, so you can copy it to have it prepared to paste if you wish.

Link Your Trusted Traveler Information

That concludes the Login.gov account set-up process, but now you get to link your Trusted Traveler program information using your Login.gov account.

  1. Assuming you already have Global Entry or similar and just wanted to update your information, select I am already a program member, manage membership, and then consent.
  2. If you aren't still logged into your login.gov account, you will have to log in and enter the code that will be sent to your phone.
  3. You will need to enter all of your personal information, including your Membership Number/PASS ID or GOES ID. The PASS ID is on the upper left-hand side of your Trusted Traveler Card, or at least that is where it was on the back of our Global Entry/Sentri cards.
  1. Assuming all of this matches up with what is in their system, you should now be taken to an account screen where you can see your Trusted Traveler memberships, expiration dates, and more.
  1. From here you can update things like a passport number, mailing address, and more.

While setting up a new account wasn't pleasant, especially since you can't just link the child accounts under yours, the actual new website I found to be easier to navigate than the old GOES website that was my nemesis. The whole process to set up the new account and update her Global Entry information with her new passport number took 10 - 15 minutes, which I consider to be a great success compared to the never-ending-loop nightmare I have been stuck in on prior attempts.

Have you used the new website to update your Global Entry information or similar since October 1, 2017?