Hello,

Just wanted to give some info on a relative of mine who applied in 2018 for NEXUS. He was denied due to a '2011 Customs Violation.' It didn't go into detail, but we realized it was an incident where he was caught by CBP with some undeclared onions. He wrote a short appeal to the ombudsman, taking ownership of his mistake, demonstrating an understanding of the need to declare all fruits and vegetables, highlighting his spotless record of a 100+ crossings since the incident, and noting that he always travels with his NEXUS holding wife, so it would be ideal for him, and CBP, if he could travel as a NEXUS holder. The reply email (sent 9 months to the day when he requested reconsideration by email), just said the Ombudsman has reviewed your application and overturned your denial.

He completed the interview today, and despite having all records and documents ready, was not asked about his initial denial. So there is hope for people who have been denied, even if the denial is based on accurate and complete information (which perhaps initially would spit out an automated denial). At the end, in reconsideration, a human makes a decision that it's in the interest of CBP that this person be declared a trusted traveler. I'm happy that this issue is behind us. He honestly did not expect to be approved at all, based on the language of the reconsideration option shown, and short discussions with CBP officers at one of the offices he first contacted (as suggested in the initial denial letter), who said that the ban is pretty much for life and there was nothing they could do at their level. I suppose that is true, but it seems the Ombudsman does in fact have some leeway and power.

I first posted this on the NEXUS Information Thread, I cross-posted it to this Global Entry Denial thread, as this deals with CBP. I hope that is ok.