YVR - Fast track immigration?
Apr 25, 2019, 10:00 pm
#16
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 1999
Programs: FB Silver going for Gold
Posts: 21,805
Horribly-long lines domestic=> transborder at YVR but we had an expired Nexus card that worked. Would have been much longer than 15-20 minutes. Not that the lines are all that long (40-50 maybe?) but they (CATSA) just have such a slow and inefficient routine.
I wish it wasn't so but security in much of the rest of the world is much faster.
Apr 27, 2019, 12:21 am
#17
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: YVR
Programs: UA Premier Platinum
Posts: 3,759
Thankfully volumes are low. I hate to see how long one will have to wait if lines are actually long. That was at YYJ (well over a minute per pax) so nearly 10 mins with 5-6 in front of us at YYJ on a Thursday mid-afternoon..
Horribly-long lines domestic=> transborder at YVR but we had an expired Nexus card that worked. Would have been much longer than 15-20 minutes. Not that the lines are all that long (40-50 maybe?) but they (CATSA) just have such a slow and inefficient routine.
I wish it wasn't so but security in much of the rest of the world is much faster.
Horribly-long lines domestic=> transborder at YVR but we had an expired Nexus card that worked. Would have been much longer than 15-20 minutes. Not that the lines are all that long (40-50 maybe?) but they (CATSA) just have such a slow and inefficient routine.
I wish it wasn't so but security in much of the rest of the world is much faster.
Unsure if you have Global Entry (highly recommended) but if you haven't I would encourage you to sign up for Nexus instead which gives you the fast track immigration of Global Entry in Canada and the US, plus TSA pre. All of that is for $50 CAD/USD every 5 years. From what I hear, YVR immigration can be painfully slow, even for Canadians without Nexus. The last time I flew there (Jan, 2018) I was hyperventilating since it took 5 minutes to clear immigration at YVR with Nexus (usually takes 30 seconds at YYZ).
Would love to hear Vancouverites experience with immigration at YVR.
-James
Would love to hear Vancouverites experience with immigration at YVR.
-James
Apr 27, 2019, 12:26 pm
#18
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: UA1K, *G & Wife of UA1K MM
Posts: 3,432
Lately I've been travelling with a significant other who does not have NEXUS (it is in process, I assure you) and honestly with the introduction of the 'PIKs' at YVR (computer kiosks for entering your declaration, etc.), wait times for Canadian/US residents without NEXUS are rarely more than 5 minutes. Especially since YVR does not have a dedicated CBSA officer for collecting NEXUS slips (you must instead wait to be called at a junction with the 'everyone else' line, with only some agents giving priority to NEXUS).
Apr 27, 2019, 12:36 pm
#19
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 3,359
True, CATSA is the slowest in the developed world by a country mile (far worse than TSA assuming you have Pre) due to their byzantine procedures (why do they check your boarding pass 4 times?), but this thread is about immigration, not security.
Lately I've been travelling with a significant other who does not have NEXUS (it is in process, I assure you) and honestly with the introduction of the 'PIKs' at YVR (computer kiosks for entering your declaration, etc.), wait times for Canadian/US residents without NEXUS are rarely more than 5 minutes. Especially since YVR does not have a dedicated CBSA officer for collecting NEXUS slips (you must instead wait to be called at a junction with the 'everyone else' line, with only some agents giving priority to NEXUS).
Lately I've been travelling with a significant other who does not have NEXUS (it is in process, I assure you) and honestly with the introduction of the 'PIKs' at YVR (computer kiosks for entering your declaration, etc.), wait times for Canadian/US residents without NEXUS are rarely more than 5 minutes. Especially since YVR does not have a dedicated CBSA officer for collecting NEXUS slips (you must instead wait to be called at a junction with the 'everyone else' line, with only some agents giving priority to NEXUS).
Apr 27, 2019, 12:40 pm
#20
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: YVR
Programs: UA Premier Platinum
Posts: 3,759