Officed moved at YYZ
 

Not sure when it happened..sometime between last week and today..but the nexus office at YYZ is now located adjacent to the us pre-clearance area.

No, you are not totally allowed to bring in food. Certain items are permitted. Many are not. Your best bet is to always answer truthfully. And an excuse of I was going to eat before the plane left Canada/ on the flight etc. won't get you very far if they decide to make an example out of you.

Normally if that happens Air Canada (or whatever airline you're on) will call down to CBSA and arrange to have one of their officers come get you from the gate and escort you back through customs. Same procedure if a flight is cancelled close to departure; CBSA comes and gets everyone and walks them out so you don't have to go through the lines or anything.

I made the same mistake travelling with my dog the first time. After 50 border crossings I wasn't even reading the questions anymore (because I never bring food or anything else down with me). Though the officer at the Nexus desk was nice, all he did was change it on the card and reminded me to mark him down in the future. It was a good lesson on why you should read things before you sign them.

you should have considered yourself very lucky that you still have your NEXUS card....i know people who have had it yanked for the same thing.

Yup. A colleague of mine had NEXUS revoked because he was holding an apple.

(Bumping my own question!)

Is using NEXUS to clear US CBP in Calgary still a different process than at other Cdn airports? (i.e. you still have to stop to talk to an officer at a counter after the kiosk??)

Went through Calgary last week.

Yes, it's that setup still. I think once in about 10 transits did I ever have a full-blown chat with someone.

That setup is the same there as it is in Halifax, Winnipeg and Edmonton, where the kiosk person also collects the cards, that's the primary reason for the difference.


Thanks for the reply.

Yes. I was in line there early morning a few weeks ago, and it was excruciatingly slow. I noticed that about every second person was being escorted back for secondary. The agent was scowling at everyone. I noticed he was asking to see Nexus cards, when I was the fourth person back in line. Those in front of me weren't paying attention, so had to dig through purses, briefcases etc. to hunt for it and if they couldn't produce, off to secondary. I had mine out and he didn't say a word to me. Just scowled.

You have to speak with an agent in YUL too, but they are generally more friendly, and I rarely see anyone go to secondary after using Nexus.

That's not an apt analogy at all. At $50USD for five years, Nexus is a steal considering I cross the border 2-4 times a year and always seem to hit the CBP or CBSA lines at peak times. I was just hoping in vain to interview before my next trip.

Thanks for the great suggestion. ^

I noticed that the last time I was at YYZ, which was just over 2 weeks ago.

It has been that way for a new months now

They moved at the beginning of the year, I believe

Hi FlyerJ,

As others have posted, the preclearance at YYC with Nexus is still the same format as previous.

WRT the 2 hour rule, I sent a comment letter to YYC Airport Authority regarding the 2 hour time limit (subsequent to the 2 hour limit implementation, it was incrreased to 3 hours during the Christmas air scare, and then 2.5 hours during the Spring, but is back to 2 hours for the summer).

Here is a quote from an email I got from YYC Airport Operations:
A few things happened last fall to make the peak times an issue:
1. Air Canada initiated HNL and OGG service with 763. Departure times for AC services were at the same time as WS service to LAX, PHX, PSP, and one other USA destination.
2. In response to the new services, AC moved USA checkin to six podiums that were previously only used for international (LHR, FRA) and charter checkin. AC's previous six slots were allocated to WS, UA, and CO. WS also built another counter with two podiums at their end.
3. Bag services built a new sort and hold facility where gate 29 was located, this increased capacity for transborder throughput.
4. Peak time has transferred from early morning (6:30am -8am) to late morning (10am to 11:30 am with another departure bank at 12:30pm to 2pm). The late morning peak time is because of the new WS services with 737s and AC HNL/OGG service.

Overall, USCBP was not willing to increase staff to handle the winter season demand. I have heard from CBP agents they operate a 2 year rotation. With the new WS winter only services plus AC winter service to Hawaii, the winter season is now significantly busier for USCBP than summer.

Loved the NEXUS lane at the Ambassador Bridge today, just opened at 11 today when I was coming back from Indy.
Had to be more than a 100 cars in the regular meanwhile I go off to the left, drop my TDC in the box, guard says "Thank you!" and off I went!

:)

unemployment and NEXUS
 

Does anyone here know if partial or full unemployment (of a Canadian citizen) is likely to result in rejection of a NEXUS application? Does a rejected application have negative impact on later travel to the US?