Passport card or SENTRI? Passing customs faster when coming back from Mexico

[buddha]

Originally Posted by 45user

So last July when I was coming back from Bahia de Los Angeles, my friend had a passport card and I had a passport book. We saw a line that was going considerably faster but it was not a drive through fast however they had to flash their card (not transponder) at this machine then proceed to border agent then drove off.. Way faster than passport book lane. So my friend asked the border agent why the other lane was faster and we were told the same thing as ful-rac was told.
And I looked up passport card and I found out about SENTRI..I guess I will wait for someone's report back from baja as my planned trip is not until July.
45

I guess if you go down to Mexico a few times a year it is worth it to get the Sentri card. It seems like the "ready lane" is 30-50% faster than the regular lane. Not a bad idea to get a passport card also and use it when you enter by car or walking in.

[Phatford]

I accidently ended up in the centri lane and was Told I screwed up and got sent to Secondary inspection... They gave me a warning and said next time I screw up I could end up with a fine of UP to $5000... Anyway he said he knew how bad the signs were on the mexico side and said just get a sentri pass....

I was through everything in about 25 minutes and the wait in the normal lanes was over 3 hours... All in All totally worth screwing up... ha ha With that said I am getting a Sentri pass! Its like the Car Pool lanes before they added Hybrids and Prius POS's and 2 riders...

[buddha]

Here is information on the sentri program.

http://usa.immigrationvisaforms.com/...pass-interview

[ful-rac]

Found some videos on Youtube about the ready lanes.

Check'em out