Lakewood Township is pleased to announce that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will be hosting in-person interviews in Lakewood for its popular Global Entry Program on Tuesday, August 18th. The interviews will take place in the Lakewood Municipal Building during the morning hours. This is the first time that such interviews will be held in Ocean County; and among the only times it has ever been held in New Jersey outside Newark Liberty International Airport.

A limited number of interview slots available at this event will be selected via lottery, to CBP pre-approved Lakewood residents only. In order to qualify for a potential slot, applicants must receive initial CBP conditional approval for Global Entry – and apply for a slot – by July 31st.

To apply for the “Global Entry Lottery,” please email [email protected] and provide the following information, in full, for each applicant:

• Name
• Address
• Date of Birth
• Email Address
• Global Entry conditional approval PASSID. (This can be found in your Global Entry Program account profile and/or email communications.)

“I would like to thank the CBP – and other government officials and community leaders – for working together to make this unique opportunity a reality in Lakewood,” says Committeeman Meir Lichtenstein. “We look forward to enabling local residents to join Global Entry in a convenient manner; with the potential for additional local events in the future as well.”

How to apply for Conditional Approval:

Applications for Global Entry Program conditional approval can be submitted online at https://globalentry.gov/, which is the only official government site for applications. (CBP strongly discourages the use of third-party sites). It is important that all questions are answered accurately. Submitting any inaccurate information – even minor or inadvertently – can disqualify an applicant from consideration for the program.

As slots at the Lakewood event are very limited, conditional approval does not guarantee an interview slot. However, it can always be used to secure an interview at the CBP’s year-round interview location at Newark Liberty International Airport as well.

Applying for the Global Entry Program costs $120 per adult; and several credit card companies provide customers with credits towards the application fee.

Global Entry is free for children under the age of 18. A parent or legal guardian must already be an active Global Entry member or have a pending application in order to apply for a child. Children are not automatically covered by a parent or legal guardian’s membership. Every traveler, regardless of age, must have their own separate account and approved background check.

Global Entry Program Benefits:

Travelers who are approved for the Global Entry Program typically enjoy substantially shorter wait times at passport control at dozens of airports in the United States, as well as at CBP Pre-Clearance stations at select airports outside the United States. Once fully approved in Global Entry, members are also automatically enrolled into TSA PreCheck for expedited domestic airport security at no additional cost.