Odd, when I went for the interview last year, the US guy said that the only fruit allowed are bananas.

The last time I was at YYZ T3, the person at the entrance of pre-clearance was not a border agent, but a contracted security guard. Even after showing my Nexus card and verbally saying I have GE, the person still wanted to see the CBP sticker to prove it. I still had a blank form just in case the GE machine was down.

Does anyone even do the TDC at the Peace Arch crossing? I've had my Nexus card since early January, and I've made a few day trips across to get some groceries. I'm always at around $100, and twice have brought back 1 case of beer. Each time, I've been waived through. (I do verbally declare everything)... but I've never seen this TDC drop box anywhere. Does it even exist, or is a verbal declaration the norm now?

It seems to weird to read about people getting in trouble over fruits at the airports, but I can buy fruits and bring them back via land, no problem.

This was like 15 years ago. My memory is fuzzy. It may have been an orange.

Are you verbally declaring any of the fruit or the beer? Or are you just saying "$100 worth of groceries" without being specific?

You've been really lucky with the beer. Import duties on alcohol are something like 150% if you've been out of Canada for less than 24 hours. Some friends (with NEXUS) declared a bottle of wine they bought on a day trip, got sent to secondary to pay the duty, and let the CBSA agent just confiscate the bottle because the duty was so high it wasn't worth it to pay it. I personally wouldn't risk it with alcohol on a <48 hour trip.

If you do the TDC you just hand it to the CBSA agent. No drop boxes anymore.

Try Niagara Falls on the US side. Worked a lot quicker for me. You go across the Lewiston bridge. Do your interview at the Nexus office right next to the Nexus bridge and then come across to the Cdn side for iris scan. Unless things have changed and they have a iris scan machine on the US side. You can also add the iris scan later at Pearson with no appt once you physically have the Nexus card.

I had my interview at fort erie center and it was a fast and pleasant experience for me from both sides.

Can you post your timeline please ?

thx

I say "I have $85 worth of groceries, and that includes 1 case of beer"... and they so far have just said "Have a nice day" and off I go.
I know there is a chance I'll have to go in and pay duty, but so far, I haven't.
They never ask me to specify what groceries I have. I've brought back apples, bananas, meat, and everything else.

I am sure if I buy clothing, and I declare, I'll be sent in to pay duty, but so far I guess I've been lucky. I'll just stick with verbal declarations. I don't want to do paperwork. lol!

So my paper application was apparently approved in December but the letter they sent never got to me. They claim there's some kind of 6 month deadline and I have to be interviewed by then or it lapses but hopefully that's not true because I may not be able to arrange an interview by then. I have booked an interview slot in June online though just to hold the application.

So a few questions.

1) How long is the longest anyone here has actually gone between being conditionally approved and being interviewed? Has anyone actually pushed past 6 months?

2) How important is it to bring the acceptance letter? I never received it so it would be hard to bring it.

3) Other than YUL and YYZ are there any interview locations that could reasonably be reached by someone who is just connecting through Canada on the way to NYC from Europe? That's my next likely trip and would probably be sometime in April. In a pinch I could stop over in Montreal and rent or borrow a a car and drive down to Champlain I suppose.

4) Has anyone written a script to check for appointment availability automatically?

That's another disadvantage of the recent inquiry about paper vs GOES. If you apply in GOES, the letter is "delivered" via GOES download.
How do you know you were conditionally approved? Presumably you phoned. Can you get them to generate another letter?
They DID ask for my letter. They held it until the end of the appointment. No idea why.

I went roughly 8 months. My conditional approval was granted in May 2012 and I had my interview late January 2013. Was in and out of the country so couldn't find a good time.

I've only used Nexus at a land crossing once, and I'm a little confused, so bear with me. I had assumed that if you use the Nexus lane and hand in the TDC form you would automatically get whacked for the duty and taxes. So on returning with ~$92 in goods, I used the regular lane (short line at the time) hoping I would get waved through, and I did.

Are you saying that even in the Nexus lane you got waved through without handing in the form?

Pretty much, yes.

Handing in the form is not necessary. Verbal declaration is fine in the NEXUS lane, even if over your personal limit.

Yup. TDC stopped being required in the Nexus lane over a year ago.