rubesl

Yea, I used AMEX Plat., but I got Nexus + GE for both me and my wife ($50 each & AMEX reimburses $100 of charges coming from the GOES website). Getting Nexus is going to cost you $50 and AMEX won't reimburse it. Also, if you're getting Nexus and using it to enter Canada via air make sure you get the iris scan (at YYZ the Nexus office that does iris scans is on the departures level outside security - you need the iris scan to use Nexus to FLY into Canada - if you get Nexus in the US you don't need an appointment to get the iris scan at YYZ, just walk in & it takes 5 min. - the only non-airport iris scan locations are in Buffalo or Vancouver). Good luck.

Ready2Go

You can use it to enter the US by land in a Nexus lane (if everyone in the car has Nexus or GE).

kahuna613

If you have more than one valid US passport, can you keep both active on your GE account? I will soon be getting an official US passport for work, in addition to my personal one.

rthib

?? A US Citizen can have only one Valid Passport.
There is no such thing as a work passport vs a personal passport.

kahuna613

Yes there is, particularly if you work for the US government...please see the Wikipedia page on US passports for more information.

Dubai Stu

In addition to government employees, you can get a second passport to visit Israel if you also travel to places who don't recognize her, eg Lebanon, Syria, Saudi, Oman, Yemen, and Iran.

N1120A

Also to use SENTRI lanes from Mexico.

Wrong.

FlyingHoustonian is the one to ask about this.

kebosabi

If you work for the US government or if you have a job related to working on behalf of the US government, yes you do get a second work passport.

For example, take Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As Secretary of State on official business to meet with the Foreign Minister of Japan in Tokyo, then she goes through Haneda or Narita using a black colored US passport that has the words "Diplomatic" on it.

If she and Bill are doing a personal trip to Japan to hike Mt. Fuji, then she goes through Haneda or Narita using her navy blue colored passport like everyone other American.

The more "common" secondary US passport would be the brown colored "Official" US Passport, which are provided to people who have specialized skills and are on official business on behalf of the US government. An example of this would be an American researcher working at Los Alamos National Laboratory attending a multinational conference at CERN HQ in Bern, Switzerland.

mre5765

Returned to the USA via YEG on 2012-04-16 and was surprised to see that like YVR, the order of security and CBP inspection has reversed. CATSA first, CBP second. More surprising was that there were Global Entry signs all over the place. Alas, the two kiosks were still sitting on pallets, but I used front of line privileges nonetheless.

Haven't been through YYC lately, but I hope it goes the same direction. By putting security first before CBP, the "no sooner than two hours" nonsense that started in 2010 will go away.

It appears that NEXUS is reduced to being a way for Americans to have a faster trip through Canadian immigration. Not worth the hassle IMHO.

AMRivlin

I don't follow what you mean.

I use nexus in YVR and YYZ by going down the escalator to immigration, Nexus Booth, Baggage, Customs.

I use nexus at border crossings, but using the Nexus lane then flashing my cards at the sensor, and I am 90% of the time waved through.

(Recently Canada Nexus agent raised a big stink that my profile had an out of date expiry date on my DL. "You are not a valid pass holder". But he let me proceed after explanation. I later stopped in the Nexus centre and had it updated)

mre5765

Can't speak for YYZ, but at YVR, flying to the the US, there is no downstairs. On the same level, you check in, drop bags, clear catsa, and then have the choice of global entry, nexus, or the bark of a CBP officer. The only stairs involved are going up a level to use the MLL in the trans border area. Indeed, I am unaware of any pre clearance airport where you go downstairs to immigrate, drop bags, and clear customs. I think you are thinking of the experience when entering Canada at YVR.

Another reason I am happy I was rejected for nexus. For global entry no one cares if my DL is up to date. They barely care if my Canadian passport is up to date; my green card is the sole document I require to enter the US.

As a nexus member you are also a global entry member, and there are global entry kiosks in yyz, YVR, YEG and other stations. Eventually CBP will figure out it is a waste of money to have both forms of kiosks and nexus kiosks will go away at pre clearance. As a someone who frequently crosses the border by car, nexus is useful to you. It is useless to redundant for anyone with global entry since Canadian immigration lines are not known for requiring hours to clear. And more Americans and permanent residents have global entry than nexus. The CBP ultimately has to cater to the bigger market. Nexus for air is toast.

Global entry and nexus exist only because of the inefficiency of the CBP. The only country I've entered that comes close to the CBP in terms of time wasted clearing is India.

YVR Cockroach

One advantage of GE over Nexus is speed. From a small sample (2 GEs and 1 Nexus usage) recently, GE is much faster with passport scanning followed by fingerprint recoqition (seemingly as few a 2 good fingerprint readings required). Returning to YVR using Nexus, my iris scan was recoqnized but those of my wife's and two other travellers got a very audible "iris capture FAILED" after the audible shutter click. This was with repeated tries and trying different machines.

PhotoJim

They aren't supposed to care for NEXUS either. I went to the YVR NEXUS office a year and a bit ago to get CBP stickers for our passports (I was flying through ORD in May and they can be fussy about that there). I asked the US agent there and he said they didn't care about the DL at all.

I'll stop at a NEXUS office in YYZ in June and ask again when I pass through. I need to leave a copy of my new passport then anyway.

mre5765

Nexus is a binational program. The poster I replied to says CBSA cares. Your experience is CBP doesn't care.

PhotoJim

Good point. I asked a US officer at a NEXUS office in a Canadian airport and I assumed he would speak for both countries but he may not have been.