Portland Global Entry Appointments: Why Oregon's Only Enrollment Center Is the Hardest to Book in the Country

The short version

Global Entry Spotter is an independent alert service, not affiliated with CBP or DHS. We measure the public schedule; where we suggest reasons, they are possibilities, not findings.

One small center for a whole state

Portland’s enrollment center, in the CBP office by the airport, interviews one applicant per time slot, 33 slots a day, Mon, Tue, Wed and Fri. It is closed Thursdays and weekends. That comes to about 510 interviews a month, and it is the same today as in late 2024.

Washington’s two Global Entry centers, at SeaTac airport and in Blaine near the Canadian border, offered a combined 4,065 or so a month this year. Per resident that is about 4 times Oregon’s: roughly 511 interviews a month per million people in Washington against 116 in Oregon. SeaTac and Blaine also serve travelers from elsewhere, so this is a rough comparison, but the gap is large.

Where the three centers are

SeaTac is about 130 miles north of Portland’s center and Blaine about 230 (straight-line distances). Map outlines: Natural Earth. Populations: U.S. Census Bureau estimates for July 2024.

New dates arrive about once a month, and now go in hours

Portland has never been easy: in 9 of the 12 months of 2025 it had appointments open less than a third of the time. What changed in 2026 is how quickly each new set of dates disappears.

Portland does not open appointments a few at a time. Roughly every 4 weeks (anywhere from 1 to 7) it publishes a batch of new dates: 204 to 609 slots, usually covering two to four weeks. How long those batches last is where 2026 looks different:

• Second half of 2025: a batch typically took 3 days to be half booked, and about 54% of it was still open three days later.
• 2026: half is typically gone within 18 hours, and three days later there is essentially nothing left (a median of 0%). About 17% goes in the first hour, against 2% before.
• The latest batch, published September 17 for October 19 to November 6: half gone in 6 hours.

One bar per batch, by the month it was published. Red: batches published in 2026.

The center offers the same number of interviews as last year. When the same batch that used to last days now lasts hours, more people are trying to book at the same time.

The calendar got shorter

Through 2025 Portland’s schedule ran about 3 months ahead: a batch published in August covered November. Since January 2026 it has run about 7 weeks ahead, with each batch starting about 5 weeks after it is published (against 12 weeks in late 2025). The change came after the longest gap in our record: not a single new slot for 55 days, from December 4 to January 28, 2026.

For applicants, a shorter calendar means you cannot book months ahead for a summer trip and then relax. Everyone who needs an interview in the next couple of months is waiting for the same few batches.

Between batches: a trickle of cancellations, gone in minutes

Between batches, the only openings are cancellations and reschedules, usually one slot at a time. Portland saw a median of 97 of those a month in 2026, down from 182 in 2025, and in 2026 a typical one was booked within 4 minutes. The chart shows the pattern over the last six months: a spike when a batch lands, a slope as it is booked, then a flat line at zero.

Portland: open appointments, last six months

Seattle, for comparison: always something open

Sampling our record once an hour since November 2024 (17,047 checks per center), Portland had 10 or fewer open appointments in 82% of them. SeaTac never had fewer than 425 open, and Blaine never fewer than 434.

In 2026 the earliest open SeaTac appointment was typically 2 days away; Blaine, a longer drive, usually had something the same or next day. Nationally, SeaTac ranks 34 of 109 by how fast openings go, and Blaine 90.

Share of hourly checks in the 30 days to each date with more than 10 open appointments at least an hour away; one point per week.

What might explain it: possibilities, not findings

The schedule shows what changed, not why. These fit what we see; none is confirmed:

Questions about staffing, scheduling or policy are for CBP.

What applicants can do

• Flying home from abroad? Once conditionally approved, you can do the interview on arrival, no appointment needed. CBP lists Enrollment on Arrival at PDX international arrivals (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and at SeaTac (see our guide to Enrollment on Arrival).
• Consider the drive. SeaTac has had openings within days through 2026; Blaine usually has something within a day.
• Book any slot you can get, then keep checking for an earlier one. Cancellations are rare at Portland, but they do happen.
• Be ready for the next batch. Batches arrive roughly every 4 weeks and cover dates about 5 weeks out; 24 of the 25 since January 2025 appeared between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. Pacific. Stay signed in to your Trusted Traveler account so you are one click away.

Current availability: Portland, SeaTac and Blaine. Or let us watch for you: Global Entry Spotter texts or emails you the moment a slot opens, for a one-time $25.

Use this data

Reporters, bloggers and researchers are welcome to quote any figure or chart here with a link to this page. The weekly series for all three centers is a CSV download. For another cut or a different center, write to alex@globalentryspotter.com.