BajaNomad

Sentri Card Saga

schwlind - 5-29-2009 at 08:26 AM

3 years or so ago, my husband and I entered the Sentri program. Last year new cards were mailed to everyone in this program. I received my card around April 2008, but my husband never received his. After about a month of receiving my card, I called the main Sentri number to inquire about this situation and was told that even though we applied for our original Sentri cards at the same time and locale, it was not unusual for the new cards to be sent at different times. Two months later, still no card for my husband, and I called the main Sentri number again to learn if my husband’s card had been mailed. I was told to call the Sentri office where we had originally applied and they could tell me. Called the Otay Mesa office and was told there was no way to know whether or not the card had been mailed. I asked what to do about this and was informed that my husband had to come to their office, be finger printed, have another photo taken, then return in 10 days to pick up the new card. I was told they would NOT mail it to him. Since we live in FL and my husband is still working, we couldn’t just run down to the Sentri office in Otay Mesa, then hang out for the necessary 10 days to pick it up.

Fast forward to yesterday, May 28. Returning from a brief trip to San Antonio Del Mar (Sur) entered the San Ysidro Sentri Lane, which was pretty fast (only about 15 minutes) until it was our turn with the Customs/Immigration person. We gave her our Sentri cards and she immediately began grilling my husband about his “old” Sentri card and wanted to know where his new card was… Well the answer that we had never received it, didn’t sit well, so you guessed it… we were told we had to go to secondary. Okay, pain in the butt, but we had been sent to secondary in the past and it wasn’t a particularly big deal then. Well yesterday was far different. First we were sent through this huge x-ray machine… car, my husband and I and all contents were x-rayed. We were then told to go park and they placed a cone on our car with a number.

A woman with two kids pulled in and parked about 15 minutes after us, reclined in her front seat and began taking a nap… she had evidently been through this drill before and it did not bode well for how speedily we could be done with this. I was becoming increasingly annoyed the longer we sat. After 1-1/2 hours an agent finally approached us. He looked at the form the 1st agent placed on our windshield along with our Sentri cards, asked more questions about why my husband didn’t have his new card…. blah, blah, blah! He took the form and our cards saying he had to find the one and only sentri person working the San Ysidro Sentri crossing to get their assistance. About ½ hour later, he returned to say that my husband’s card had been confiscated and that the reason it took so long was because the Sentri person had to verify that my husband was still in fact a "trusted traveler" in good standing. He told us we should go to the Otay Mesa Sentri office; that they in fact had his new Sentri card. Oh joy!... Since their office was open until 10pm, we decided to go right then to pick up his new card.

There were about 25 people who were already at the Sentri office when we arrived. We checked in and were told that my husband’s card was not there… and he’d have to do the finger-print/photo thing again. I asked if he would get his card today and was told no. This “receptionist” told us we would not have to come back to pick up the card; that it would be mailed to us in about 7 to 10 days. She also told us we would probably receive a form letter saying we had to pick it up, but to ignore it. Fortunately, there were only 2 people ahead of us with the same problem, so it didn't take forever.

We finally got to our hotel room at around 10:15 pm… only about 5 hours after our encounter with the first agent at the Sentri crossing… What fun!

Bottom line to this story… do not attempt to cross at Sentri with the old card… they will confiscate it and delay you more than you’d like. We were told all the old cards are now cancelled. The problem is however, as is the case when dealing with almost any governmental agency, you can’t always get correct information. So when anyone says anything to me about the Mexican government and how fluid everything is, I will definitely know… our country is probably not much better.

Linda

Udo - 5-29-2009 at 08:32 AM

This sounds like something the Mexican Feds would do, only it would have cost you a few extra Pesos.

David K - 5-29-2009 at 08:40 AM

As strict as the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is, I would never dream of trying to use an expired I.D. card to get in... Yah, it sucks that you did everything you were supposed to to get it replaced in time... but until you had the new card, using the normal lanes to return aren't that bad anymore, with tourism so down.

Memorial Day, late afternoon (a typically insane time to cross) took us only 37 minutes at Tecate.

Good luck getting the new card, anyway!

mtgoat666 - 5-29-2009 at 08:41 AM

Wow. You could have avoided the problem easily -- keep this in mind for nexrt time:
When crossing sentry and one or more vehicle passengers do not have a sentri card (or has expired card), the passengers should get out and walk across border via pedestrian line, and get back in car on other side of border.

tjBill - 5-29-2009 at 08:53 AM

Interesting story. :(

bajabound2005 - 5-29-2009 at 09:13 AM

Given your situation, I would have opted to cross at Otay to begin with. Then you go directly to the SENTRI office...

Martyman - 5-29-2009 at 09:33 AM

Remind me not to apply for a Sentri.

DanO - 5-29-2009 at 10:16 AM

One thing people may not pay attention to is keeping their travel document info, typically the passport, current with SENTRI. Our passports were set to expire earlier this year, so we renewed them. When you do that, you must go to Otay and update your file with the new passport number. I only noticed this because I got a notice requesting that I verify my vehicle information, and when I logged in to the SENTRI computer system, there was a flag on my file indicating my travel document had expired. Good way to avoid a potential headache.

Woooosh - 5-29-2009 at 10:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by DanO
One thing people may not pay attention to is keeping their travel document info, typically the passport, current with SENTRI. Our passports were set to expire earlier this year, so we renewed them. When you do that, you must go to Otay and update your file with the new passport number. I only noticed this because I got a notice requesting that I verify my vehicle information, and when I logged in to the SENTRI computer system, there was a flag on my file indicating my travel document had expired. Good way to avoid a potential headache.


Sentry is a waste of time, energy and money right now. There aren't any significant lines to cross and the new passport rules will cut that back even further. In a couple years it may make sense- so save your money until then and slum it in the regular lanes where the good food is.

Bajahowodd - 5-29-2009 at 10:30 AM

goat- Your advice is generally correct. It works fine, as long as those without current SENTRI possess another form of acceptible ID.

estebanis - 5-29-2009 at 12:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
Wow. You could have avoided the problem easily -- keep this in mind for nexrt time:
When crossing sentry and one or more vehicle passengers do not have a sentri card (or has expired card), the passengers should get out and walk across border via pedestrian line, and get back in car on other side of border.

I will be doing that coming back from the Baja 500. Can you tell me where I should pull over to drop my passenger and where is the best place to pick him up on the other side?
Thanks,
Esteban

Bajahowodd - 5-29-2009 at 02:29 PM

Drop off is fairly obvious as you'll see pedestrians in line. Pick up depends on which crossing you're using.

schwlind - 5-29-2009 at 02:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
As strict as the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is, I would never dream of trying to use an expired I.D. card to get in... Yah, it sucks that you did everything you were supposed to to get it replaced in time... but until you had the new card, using the normal lanes to return aren't that bad anymore, with tourism so down.

Memorial Day, late afternoon (a typically insane time to cross) took us only 37 minutes at Tecate.

Good luck getting the new card, anyway!


David and others,

When I received my new card, the only instructions were to activate the new card online at the GOES website and that after your new card was activated to destroy your old card as it would no longer be valid.

After the number of conversations I had with the Sentri people, over a 6 or 7 month period of time, you would think at least ONE would have told me that if the new replacement card had not been received by such and such date the old card could no longer be used. NO ONE from Sentri ever told me that. If we had known that they were cancelling the original cards by a specific time, we would not have been stupid enough to use it going through Sentri yesterday.

Lesson learned, but I have made sure all friends and Nomads are aware... because no one told us!
Linda

bajasammy - 5-29-2009 at 02:39 PM

If you're crossing at San Ysidro the Ped line is pretty easy - just keep going 'straight'. We usually meet people right next to the Jack in the Box on the other side.

Sentri Card Saga - Update

schwlind - 6-8-2009 at 09:05 AM

My husband received his new Sentri Card on 6/6/09, as was promised when we went to the Otay Mesa office on 5/28 so a new picture and fingerprints could be taken.

Linda

BajaNomad - 6-8-2009 at 01:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CaboRon

It seem as if you are going through a lot of trouble when only crossing a couple of times of year.

Just think of all the time and money spent for occasional use.

Could have spent all those hours eating fish tacos instead :lol:
Ron, would you believe that's actually the exact reason behind the announcement I just made:

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=39144

:light:

[Edited on 6-8-2009 by BajaNomad]