flyingdoc9

I’m a Canadian NEXUS holder and recently I’ve been selected for secondary screening by CBSA every time I re-enter Canada via commercial carrier at YVR, and it is not clear why.

There have been no NEXUS violations as that would be grounds for terminating my NEXUS pass.

I am a very frequent flyer for work, and re-enter via different ports of entry across the country. When I re-enter via private carrier, no problem, but via commercial carrier at YVR it’s an auto-secondary, even when I enter via the NEXUS pathway.

The CBSA agents have been pleasant enough and haven’t appeared to be focused on any particular line of questioning or searching for anything specific, and when I asked them about a possible flag they denied it (they are permitted to lie, of course), and one agent seemed sympathetic and suggested I contact the NEXUS program because “I’ve heard they can do something to fix it”.

I’ll be doing this in parallel with asking this community for advice, as well as a formal request for information from CBSA (submitted about a month ago, still waiting on reply), and a formal CBSA complaint submission (for what it’s worth, which may be very little).

Given the frequency of my travel and the often time-sensitive nature of my work, the delays that these secondary screenings produce can be headaches at minimum and sometimes much worse.

Has anyone encountered something similar? What was your experience? Any advice?

Appreciate your responses!

sydneyracquelle

Can’t you get a clue from what they are looking for? Gifts worth more than $60? Food? $10,000+ cash? Do they read your cellphone? Surely there must be a pattern of what they are looking for? If you are travelling with anyone let them take all the checked/carry on bags then you get screened with zero. Are you Cdn or US citizen? If I had to bet $1 my guess is your nexus renewal will not be approved.

flyingdoc9

That's what perplexes me, I haven't been provided with any indication on what they are looking for. They don't request my cell phone or go through my laptop. Also, they screen whomever my travel companion is at the time, so I'm afraid your suggestion wouldn't work. (I am a Canadian citizen)

asovse1

Have you noticed at YVR lately that (even during peak times), the two to four CBSA officers processing the front of the NEXUS kiosks are sometimes not even on their computers? They'll just be standing ahead of the kiosks, and verifying your identity by hand and not even having to rely on what it pops up on the system. You'll be handing over your passport, NEXUS, and other articles to their bare hands with no tabletop, it's very awkward...anyway:

Have you encountered these standing officers AND they're sending you to secondary? Because if so, they're pretty much expecting you waiting for your name or face to present to them. That could be a clue that you have something egregious on your profile that they want to keep hassling you for. Or perhaps there's a hit code on your NEXUS kiosk printout that flags them right away.

If, of course, you're still encountering the seated officers at the computers, then your name will just keep popping up on the computers to go to secondary

flyingdoc9

On the most recent crossing through YVR I believe it was a standing officer. Took a look at my printout, asked if I had anything to declare, he cracked a joke, then welcomed me back. I can’t recall with certainty what happened the time prior, but I believe it went more or less the same. No harassment, no targeting specific behaviour, no indication of the reason for being flagged.

I wasn’t aware of the two different ‘species’ of CBSA officers though, so thank you for that.

I’ve written in to CBSA and will call NEXUS when they reopen tomorrow. Hopefully between this and the request for information under the privacy act I will have some answers.

sydneyracquelle

Book flights with companion on separate pnr and go through customs completely separately. Let them take all your stuff.

flyingdoc9

It’s a good thought, but the screening itself has never taken more than a couple minutes. The wait to be screened, however, has been over an hour long and sometimes much longer.

allbrosca

Entering Canada at YYZ I had a number of times in a row where secondary screening was required coming back to Toronto from the US. Never took more than a minute or 2 and never a line up to see officers at the Nexus exit area. I was also trying to figure out if I was flagged for some reason or there was something wrong with my profile, but coming back from Africa a little over a week ago, no secondary screening.

asovse1

Oh wow, I misread your OP that your entire secondary experience takes a few minutes at max (which I would have figured because NEXUS should have priority in the waiting room -- though that privilege might be just for the CBP side). That really sucks

Do you think you have a visa stamp from a suspect country that would have triggered something? Do you have a common enough name?

There's a reasonably active Trusted Traveler forum and a Checkpoints/Borders forum that is reasonably active where some of the members know more about the systems at play and have taught me a lot about the border and trusted traveller entry. You should check them out if you haven't already done so, there might be resources or contacts that you can probably copy your already-sent queries to

CorSter

Just spitballing here, but any recent data updates on the US side that may have not properly synced over to CBSA (eg new passport, change in personal information, citizenship or residency, etc)?

adamyccheung

I don’t know if this could be possible with Nexus, but I have a friend with the same name and birthdate as a criminal. (So I was told). Every time we go through security he gets questioned and he’s been through secondary many times. Maybe you could check and ask the officer if it could possibly be someone if the same name. He solved his issue by adding a middle initial

flyingdoc9

Update: received a response to webform complaint on CBSA website a couple months ago stating there are no derogatory comments on my file and that “we do no pre-flag anyone” 🙄

However, coincidence or not, the next time I crossed back into Canada via commercial carrier, lo and behold NO SECONDARY.

I have heard of similar reports where a complaint is submitted, CBSA denies everything, but somehow the issue ‘magically’ resolves.

Hope this post will prove useful for someone else in the future.