Global Entry Revoked or Denied: What Your Letter Means

If your Global Entry status has changed, CBP will have emailed you, and the decision letter itself is posted to your Dashboard on the Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) website. The TTP FAQ says the letters can be downloaded or printed from there; if one won’t open, turn off your browser’s pop-up blocker. Save a copy before you do anything else, because every later step starts from its exact words.

Denied or revoked: what’s the difference?

The letter uses one of two words, and they mean different things:

Denied (“disapproved”): your application, or your renewal application, was turned down. That can happen after vetting or after the interview; see denied after the interview.
Revoked: an existing membership was removed. Under the Global Entry regulation, a removal takes effect immediately (8 CFR 235.12(j)(3)).

Either way, the regulation says CBP will notify you with the reasons and with instructions for how to find out more (8 CFR 235.12(j)(1)). The application fee, currently $120 for five years, isn’t refunded when an application is denied or a membership is removed (8 CFR 235.12(j)(4); 8 CFR 103.7(d)(13)).

The parts of the letter

GAO published a sample CBP denial letter in its 2024 review of the trusted traveler programs (GAO-24-106314, Appendix VI). Letters vary, but these are the parts to look for:

Part of the letter	What to do with it
Date at the top	This is the “date of denial” CBP asks for in a reconsideration request. Copy it exactly.
RE: line with a number	Your membership number, also called the PASSID. It also works as your Known Traveler Number.
“Disapproved” or “revoked”	Tells you whether an application was denied or an existing membership removed.
The reason line(s)	Often a short category such as “Other”, followed by a sentence. Copy every word, including the category label.
Reconsideration paragraph	Repeats what CBP asks a reconsideration request to include.
List of ineligibility circumstances	A general list. It’s standard text, not a finding that all of it applies to you.

What the reasons mean

The Global Entry regulation lets CBP find a person ineligible if it decides, “at its sole discretion”, that they present a potential risk or are “otherwise not a low-risk traveler”, and lists factors that can disqualify someone (8 CFR 235.12(b)(2)). CBP’s eligibility page sets out the same ground. In plain terms:

False or incomplete information on the application. This one catches people out: leaving off an old arrest or a customs penalty is a problem in itself, separate from the event.
An arrest or conviction for any criminal offense, pending charges or outstanding warrants, in any country. An arrest that never led to a conviction still counts. CBP’s eligibility page and FAQ also list driving under the influence, a denied firearm purchase and a criminal pardon. See Global Entry after a DUI, arrest or expunged record.
A violation of customs, immigration or agriculture regulations, procedures or laws, in any country. CBP’s FAQ warns that members must declare all agricultural products, and that failing to can bring fines and penalties of up to $10,000. See revoked for undeclared food or a customs penalty.
Being the subject of an ongoing investigation, and inadmissibility to the United States, including cases involving a waiver or parole.
Being unable to satisfy CBP that you are a low-risk traveler. This is the catch-all, and the one behind many vague letters.

GAO describes the CBP Ombudsman’s guidance as generally weighing how long ago an offense happened, how severe it was, and whether the traveler has kept a clean record in recent years (GAO-24-106314, p. 25). That’s why the date and the outcome of any old event matter so much in what you send next.

“Other”, or revoked “for no reason”

Some letters give only a category such as “Other”, or a sentence like “you do not meet program eligibility requirements”. GAO found that wording like this can mean CBP isn’t permitted, or has chosen not, to disclose the specific reason (GAO-24-106314, footnote 41). GAO’s example is a traveler connected to a known smuggler, where CBP can’t reveal that it knows of the association. So a vague letter doesn’t always mean a mistake. Sometimes it does.

After GAO’s review, CBP updated its letters in June 2024 to point travelers to three places for more information: an enrollment center, the CBP Information Center, and a Freedom of Information Act request (GAO recommendation status). CBP’s own FOIA page says that if you’re seeking information on a trusted traveler denial, you should contact the relevant enrollment center. A 2014 CBP memo to enrollment-center officers, internal guidance that CBP published on cbp.gov in 2025, says the reasons given to you “must be clear, concise, and complete” and that it “is not the appropriate action to defer to the Ombudsman’s office when the applicant inquires about the reason for a denial.” It isn’t a regulation, and it doesn’t promise what your letter or the officer will say, but it’s good support for asking the enrollment center first. A FOIA request gets you records, not explanations; our guide to a CBP FOIA request covers what it can and can’t do.

Match your letter’s wording to the right page

The kit’s triage map takes the exact reason line from your letter and sends you to one of five reason pages, each with the records to gather, the do’s and don’ts, and a worked example. You can try the map on the home page before you buy.

Decode your letter Get the kit for $49

A 33-page self-help e-book, 8 editable templates and a planner. Not legal advice.

What changes now

No more Global Entry processing on arrival at participating airports, if you were revoked.
TSA PreCheck through Global Entry ends. GAO notes that revoked travelers lose the TSA PreCheck they had through a CBP program (GAO-24-106314, footnote 30), so your PASSID stops producing the PreCheck indicator.
You can still travel. CBP’s Mobile Passport Control app is free and needs no enrollment application, background check or fingerprints; CBP describes it as an alternative if you don’t qualify for a trusted traveler program. TSA PreCheck is a separate TSA program you can apply for on its own ($85 or less for five years, according to TSA). TSA publishes its own disqualifying offenses and other factors, and its list doesn’t name a Global Entry denial, but TSA doesn’t say how it treats one: approval is possible, not assured. More in TSA PreCheck after a Global Entry denial or revocation.

Your three options

The regulation names two redress routes, DHS TRIP and the CBP Trusted Traveler Ombudsman, and says both are “wholly discretionary” and don’t create or confer any legal right (8 CFR 235.12(k)). Reapplying is the third option.

Ask for reconsideration by the CBP Ombudsman. The main route for explaining or correcting the record behind a decision, open to applicants and members alike. CBP’s pages list no fee for it. See how to request Global Entry reconsideration.
Use DHS TRIP for screening problems: repeated secondary inspection, fingerprints CBP told you need correcting, or being confused with someone else. It isn’t the place to explain an arrest or a penalty.
Reapply. GAO notes that a denial or revocation doesn’t prevent you from applying again (footnote 40), and there’s no published waiting period. A new application is vetted from scratch and costs the full $120 again, so it tends to fit best once the facts have changed.

CBP’s published guidance gives no deadline for filing a reconsideration request and no processing time for the Ombudsman. Check your own letter for any date it gives.

When to talk to a lawyer first

A reconsideration request becomes part of a government record. Some situations carry risks beyond Global Entry, and a self-help approach isn’t the right first step:

pending charges, outstanding warrants or an open investigation;
several arrests, a felony, or convictions abroad;
any question about immigration status, admissibility, a waiver or parole;
you aren’t a U.S. citizen (including a green-card holder) and the letter involves an arrest, a violation or something left off your application;
you believe the decision was retaliation for something lawful you did, such as recording law enforcement, a complaint or a protest.

In those cases, speak to a qualified lawyer before you contact CBP; our guide on whether you need a lawyer sets out which kind. For everyone else, the next step is usually to pin down the reason and gather the records, in that order.

Do it yourself, carefully

The kit walks you from the letter to a complete reconsideration request: five reason pages, the three routes, a records pack, four reconsideration letters by reason, an enrollment-center information request, a FOIA request, a court-records request, a checklist and a planner that turns official time rules into dates.

Get the kit for $49 See what’s inside

Independent, not affiliated with CBP, DHS, TSA or any government agency. No outcome is promised.

Official sources

This guide is general information about processes the U.S. government publishes. It is not legal advice, and it is not affiliated with CBP, DHS, TSA or any government agency. Nothing here predicts or promises an outcome.