seawolf

CBSA may pull out of NEXUS and put back CANPASS with the CBP firearms impasse. You then have to pay $100 for GE and $50 for CANPASS but you will get your separate background check/approval.

DualityOfNam

While one country will eventually blink, I don't see how CBP will yield on the firearms impasse. It may well be a return to the old days of CANPASS but that's a significant regression and would have its own headaches during separation.

I suspect it's more than just firearms but why not just allow CBP to be armed at the Nexus interview locations in addition to the CBSA officers, if they're not already? Let them all be armed. (My Texas open-carry-everywhere speaking here )

i0wnj00

Both SENTRI and Global Entry/INSPASS programs were developed separately from each other around the mid -1990s. SENTRI was developed for the southern border in cooperation with Mexico and Global Entry started as INSPASS for arrivals from certain US international airports with cooperation from specific overseas governments.

xobile

Sentri is also unique in that it is open to all nationalities, not just those the US has agreements with like Nexus/GE. Someone with more knowledge than me can pitch in as to whether Sentri gives all the benefits of GE at all ports of entry.

No way CBSA would bring back CANPASS. They were paying $50 per crossing ($250k annual cost to operate, 5k crossings, vs 50 cents equivalent cost for NEXUS crossings in the last year CANPASS was offered). The time it would take to restart, reenroll, and operate would just not be worth it.


Honestly a lot of the current backlog issues would be avoided if the cards and membership were active for ten years, like a passport or passport card. 5 years is too short, especially if you get called in for another interview. They should figure out how to do initial interviews over zoom, fingerprints included if necessary via your phone. Picture on the card can be the same as the passport, which is what they use anyway for facial recognition. If they could do away with the interview entirely for low risk travelers for renewals and ideally initial interviews too that would be great.

tuquee

From the last CBSA audit of the trusted traveller programs in 2016, it was even worse than that, with an estimated cost of $103 per passage on CANPASS Air. The first recommendation from the audit is redacted, but given the context clues and the timing, it's likely that it was "shut down CANPASS Air and Private Boat, it overlaps with NEXUS and costs way too much to operate".

GUWonder

I am thankful that NEXUS and GE are separate. When it comes to expedited entry, it’s thanks to Canada and CBSA that NEXUS applicants pay a lower fee than what US CBP wants GE applicants to pay.

Having separate GE and Nexus programs is a good idea, and I hope it long remains so.

xobile

Sorry to sound crass but the cost to the user alone shouldn't the only reason why a program is kept or removed. CBP already put out a proposal last year to synchronize the fee of all three programs to $120. It's a lot easier for CBSA to outsource the background check, card issuance, etc to CBP versus doing it itself. I do think that since Canada and the US already do so much information sharing on who comes in and out, that they would both have all the necessary details to make a decision on their own on the trustworthiness of a traveler, a decision that can be accepted by both the US and Canada, at least virtually by the other party if needed.

seawolf

They can't because CBSA is performing background checks against Canadian law enforcement databases which CBP does not/nor should it have access to.

xobile

What makes you think CBP doesn't have access to Canadian databases, or the other way around? I believe there was a white paper some time ago that said they pull from US, Canadian, UK, and Interpol databases when someone pulls up or applies. Any information sharing agreements would almost certainly include those.

DualityOfNam

I think so too. While each country may have a wider access to its own databases, I would assume part of administering a shared program like Nexus and also managing a shared border is the ability to request *some* information from other countries in real-time. At the very least a simple confirmation of identity documents validity and a yay or nay to adjudicate admission at the border. I believe the term they use is "derogatory information." So if CBP or CBSA scans a Canadian or US passport at their respective POEs, each will immediately receive some information on that individual that might/should include criminal background check. Everything is digitized post 9/11 and is a simple API call (with appropriate credentials and permissions)

GUWonder

The dynamic about applicants' costs is reason enough for me to be thankful for the programs being separate.

I am no fan of outsourcing background checks for any of these type of programs to other countries -- and that even extends to program participating partner countries. I've seen my share and then some of US citizens ending up with false derogatory information on file in foreign government intelligence/law enforcement/court databases/files that stubbornly remains even when the USG has absolute evidence of the foreign authorities' derogatory information being obviously false given the USG's own records/material. And the USG too has some of the same sort of issues with false derogatory info stubbornly sticking around and adversely impacting people. Unfortunately, there is more and more of the "anything for security" data-sharing and less and less concern about false (or even deliberately manipulative) derogatory information becoming a bigger problem because of "data-sharing".

DualityOfNam

On the cost, it just makes no sense that NEXUS costs half of Global Entry when it includes both GE ($100 USD) and PreCheck ($80 USD). That discrepancy maybe historical but I'm sure won't last for long.

Agree on false/inaccurate information persisting in government databases being a serious problem. But it is completely independent of and has far wider implications than just administering NEXUS.

seawolf

There is evidence that NCIC/CPIC might be shared but no indication CBSA immigration/customs related databases are.

GUWonder

https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-to...s-and-borders/

That’s from December 2018.

seawolf

Thanks. I recall we discussed a number of yeas ago.

Doesn’t look like the rest is shared (eg entry by air, customs infractions etc).