Finally!

I sent them an e-mail asking for a status update as it had been 8 weeks and I got a response same day telling me to keep checking the website and that DHS is back logged right now. Thursday I got an e-mailing telling me my status changed, so I logged on right a way and saw that I was conditional approved! I set up my interview for Whirlpool as it was only a 2 week wait while YYZ wasn't showing anything before Jan 6th, 2012. I just happened to take a look today and an appointment slot for this coming Friday evening at YYZ was available so changed it! Hopefully I'll have my card by the end of the month.

Passport renewal from the US
 

My passport expires in Feb 2012. I have several trips planned before the end of the year so have a short window in which to renew it.

Is the 20 business day processing time listed on the Passport Canada website accurate? How do they send the passport back to the US?

If my passport does not arrive before my next trip, will AC let me board my EWR-YYZ flight with only a NEXUS card?

If you can get to a city with a passport office you can have the renewal done in a day or two, paying an additional fee. Or courier to a friend who can take it in to be processed. The friend can then have your old passport cancelled, but retained and couriered back to you. Canadian officials are not as strict as Americans and a Canadian can reenter the country from the US with normal ID, something with your Canadian address, a provincial drivers license or health card, and with a NEXUS card there should be no problem.

I'm not sure if this will help your specific situation, but I recently had my passport renewed at the Toronto office, and I received it in the mail within exactly 1 week of visiting the office. YMMV, of course.

two of the four Nexus machines were working in T1 US pre-clearance last night. I used the GE machine though, as its the first time I've had the opportunity to use it. Simple and easy to do. And appreciate that the question about food has been updated to be more like the Canadian one where it asks about specific types of food, as opposed to the generic "food" listed on the US paper customs card.

Huge queue at YYZ yesterday a.m. and when I went to the expedited lane to get into the customs hall, realized that for some reason even after posting about this very subject on the weekend, I had forgotten my Nexus card on Monday in Chicago. I talked her into letting me through anyway, and joined the very long queue. After one lap, noticed the Global Entry machine, and thought, hey, I've got that. No need for the Nexus card, I have a CBP sticker on my passport. Ducked under the rope, scanned and tapped, and was through in no time. Would never have made my flight otherwise.

We also have GE via Nexus but no sticker. Is the sticker a requirement?

You don't need the GE sticker to use the kiosks, but sometimes, US Customs officials expect you to have the CBP sticker to let you into the lines or out of the Customs hall. It seems more probable to happen at ORD than at other airports, but no one asked to see my CBP sticker on my one GE clearance at GE in May.

My parents just experienced the same thing going through the Surrey, BC office. They took their renewal applications in on Wednesday and their new passports arrived in the mail the following Wednesday. Funny thing is, my mom wanted to pay the extra for faster service but my dad said no way!

YYZ T1 this morning - the first time I ever saw a HUGE line for the Nexus machines...must have been at least 30-40 people in line, and it took a good 15 minutes to get to an open machine.

A CBP inspector was helping people with the lone GE kiosk - but it appears you need finger prints to use it. If Nexus is now automatically GE, but only our eyes were scanned for Nexus, how can we use the GE kiosk?

When I had my NEXUS appointment in YEG, the Canadian officer scanner my fingerprints before taking my photo. Did they not do it to you?

Not us Nexus *old timers*, this is something new-ish.

I am planning to get my fingerprints the next time I am in the USA—SFO in my case. I asked if I could at YYZ last week, and it was a "no-go".

Brian

You need to get your fingerprints scanned. Any Nexus office or GE office in the US will do it.

When I got my Nexus, they only took one fingerprint from each hand, so I got it done at ORD on a long-ish layover earlier this year. Easy, and the fingerprint scanners are much better than the old one finger ones.

GE is a breeze too, used it last time I left YYZ, and it was great.

Go to NEXUS at YYZ, no appointment needed, at 9 a.m. or later. Put your name on the clipboard, put Global Entry as the reason and they'll enroll you and take your prints.

That's funny, as when I went to YYZ just to get a CBP sticker the US guy thought I was enrollling and went through to the point of taking my fingerprints and when the system said I was already in GE, then he gave me the sticker.

Fort Erie does the fingerprints as well as I enrolled in NEXUS and GE there and they did it for me all at the same time (with Iris scan).