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DUI and Global Entry: a $120 non-refundable bet, and the cheaper programme that judges a DUI differently
Of all the collateral costs a DUI creates, the trusted traveller programmes are the only ones where the government charges you for the decision itself. U.S. Customs and Border Protection takes a $120 application fee for Global Entry and keeps it if the answer is no — and its published eligibility rules say a criminal conviction can make the answer no. TSA PreCheck, at $85 or less, works from a different disqualification list on which an ordinary DUI does not appear. This page prices both programmes from the agencies' own published material, as a companion to our visa and immigration page and Canada entry page.
Global Entry: what CBP publishes about DUI eligibility
CBP describes Global Entry as a programme for pre-approved, low-risk travellers, and its published eligibility guidance lists the reasons an applicant may not qualify. Among them, stated in the agency's own summary form: the applicant has been convicted of any criminal offence or has pending criminal charges or outstanding warrants; is the subject of an investigation by a federal, state or local law enforcement agency; or has been found in violation of customs, immigration or agriculture regulations. A DUI is a criminal offence in every state, so a DUI conviction falls squarely inside the first listed reason — CBP does not publish a DUI exception, a waiting period, or a number of years after which a conviction stops counting, and this page does not soften that into one. Denial is not presented by CBP as automatic for every record, and approvals of applicants with old, single, minor offences are reported anecdotally, but the published rule is discretionary and the published price of asking is the same either way: a $120 application fee for a five-year membership, non-refundable even if the application is denied. A member convicted after enrolment faces the mirror-image risk — CBP may revoke membership for failing to meet the programme's continuing eligibility standards — and the $120 is not returned then either.
| Trusted traveller component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Global Entry application fee (CBP) | $120, non-refundable even if denied; membership runs 5 years if approved |
| Global Entry eligibility rule for criminal history (CBP) | An applicant may not qualify if convicted of any criminal offence — no DUI exception or waiting period is published |
| TSA PreCheck enrolment fee (TSA) | $85 or less for 5 years, set by the enrolment provider under TSA's published pricing; online renewal priced lower by providers |
| TSA PreCheck disqualification frame (TSA; 49 CFR disqualifying offences) | Disqualification runs from a published list of specified (mostly felony) offences; an ordinary misdemeanour DUI is not on the TSA list — a different frame from CBP's any-offence rule |
| Reconsideration after a Global Entry denial (CBP ombudsman) | No fee for reconsideration is published by CBP — described, not priced; a fresh application is a fresh $120 |
| Global Entry membership on revocation after a later conviction | No refund of the application fee is published — the 5-year term simply ends early |
PreCheck is the different bet, and the difference is regulatory
TSA PreCheck covers the security checkpoint rather than the border, and its eligibility screen is built differently. TSA's published disqualifying-offence framework is a list — specified serious offences, largely felonies involving violence, weapons, fraud against transportation security and similar conduct, with permanent and interim categories — and a simple misdemeanour DUI is not among the listed offences. That does not guarantee enrolment: identity, citizenship and immigration-status requirements apply, a felony DUI or a record containing listed offences changes the analysis, and TSA can act on security information outside the list. But on the published rules, the driver who is a poor Global Entry risk can still be an ordinary PreCheck applicant, at a fee TSA describes as $85 or less for five years through its authorised enrolment providers, with online renewals priced lower. Global Entry membership includes PreCheck benefits, which is why the comparison matters: a traveller with a DUI who applies for Global Entry first and is denied has spent $120 to learn what the published rules already said, and still has the $85-or-less PreCheck application ahead of them. Applying in the other order risks nothing that the rules do not disclose.
The surrounding travel stack this page does not reprice
A DUI's travel costs extend well past these two programmes, and the rest of the stack already lives on its own pages: the visa holder whose visa is prudentially revoked after a DUI arrest faces the State Department reapplication fees priced on our visa page — $185, $205 or $315 depending on category — while the driver shut out of Canada by a DUI faces the rehabilitation and temporary-resident-permit framework on our Canada page. What this page adds is the domestic layer: two federal memberships, two different eligibility logics, and $205 of combined application exposure priced exactly as the agencies publish it. Two unpriced components deserve naming. Travel time lost to standard lanes after a denial or revocation is real and unpublished, and no figure is estimated for it. And expedited-programme benefits bundled with premium payment cards are private offers, not agency fees; a card's statement credit can change who pays the $120 but not what CBP charges or keeps, so card offers are mentioned here only to be excluded from the pricing.
Before paying either fee
The agencies publish everything needed to sequence the decision. Read CBP's eligibility list against your actual record — conviction, not arrest, is the word the published rule uses for the criminal-history ground, though pending charges are separately listed — and treat any recruiter's promise of a DUI workaround as what it is: there is no published expedited review, no published waiver fee, and no published waiting period to buy. If the record includes an expunged or decades-old single DUI, the honest statement of the position is CBP's own: the conviction is within the listed reasons CBP may rely on, the decision is discretionary, and the fee is non-refundable. Drivers whose DUI is recent, repeated or felony-level should price Global Entry as a likely $120 loss and start with PreCheck. Drivers with no other record and a genuinely old single offence are making a judgement call the published rules leave open — this page's job is to make sure the $120 part of that call is made with open eyes.
Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Global Entry eligibility and fee pages ($120 application fee, 5-year membership, non-refundable); Transportation Security Administration, TSA PreCheck enrolment and eligibility pages ($85 or less for 5 years; disqualifying offences framework). Last verified: November 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorThe one-line summary the agencies support
Global Entry: any criminal conviction may disqualify, $120 buys the decision and is kept either way. TSA PreCheck: disqualification runs from a published list of specified offences that does not include an ordinary DUI, at $85 or less for five years. Everything beyond those two sentences — approval odds, waiting periods, unofficial success rates — is not published by CBP or TSA and is not printed here.
Related cost guides: DUI visa and immigration costs, DUI and entry to Canada costs, DUI costs for pilots, Out-of-state DUI costs.
Sources: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Global Entry programme pages; Transportation Security Administration, TSA PreCheck programme pages. Last verified: November 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.