The requirement is for U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. as U.S. citizens. Period. The implicit expectation is more than validated by searching through U.S. government sites.

Quick search brought me to:
https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/det...y-into-the-u.s.

That is a Canadian concept, not an American concept.

californiadreamin,

I would just like to point out that this isn't always the case.

My sister in law came to visit us in Canada several times and despite everywhere saying you NEED a passport, a US citizen is not actually going to be denied entry into the United States if they're actually a citizen. Providing a driver's license and birth certificate satisfied this. Not only did they let her in, they didn't even hassle her.

And just an FYI, Canada doesn't care if you have a passport or not. If you have an Canadian or American birth certificate you're fine.

*This is for land travel, of course.

To split hairs, for air, that does say a "valid" passport, not a U.S. passport.
By land and sea, it does say "U.S. passport".

I guess she should get a NEXUS, since that is acceptable in lieu of US Passport in both air and land subheadings.

The kisoks in the US connections hall are now Global Entry machines.

It's international law, actually. A country cannot deny entry to one of its own citizens. (UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13.2, of which both Canada and the US are signatories).

They can hassle you for any reason they wish, but ultimately they have to let you in if you can prove you are a citizen.

Beat me to it. Thanks.

So the US has axed the nexus machines in all CAN preclearance airports ^

Would Canada do the same thing soon and both US and CAN merge the two systems into one system using GE kiosks?

Probably not. Canada still needs to run the CANPASS system which uses the same Nexus kiosks.

No, or at least not yet. The usual combo of NEXUS and GE was still at YUL pre-clearance on Thursday.

The NEXUS card will not be acceptable to the US if the person is identified as a US citizen and the information in the NEXUS file does not contain the US Passport number. As noted earlier in the thread, a CBP agent did not see my Canadian passport number in my NEXUS file and demanded to see my passport. It was not a matter of my telling her that it was in the file (which it was). She held all the cards at that point and told me that I could not enter Canada with proof that I was a legal resident. I had my passport with me because I expect these things to happen - and they do, frequently.

Hi All,

I tried searching this thread but couldn't find a conclusive answer. I have Nexus/GE and almost always clear at YOW or YYZ. I'm connecting to the US tomorrow via YVR and I've seen mention of no Nexus and/or GE machines if you follow the Domestic -> USA connection signs. Is the best plan to exit out of security when I land in YVR and then go back through the US Departure area (with all non connecting USA departing passengers) so that I can leverage the kiosks?

Thanks!

That's what I always do, although it's one of the US entry points where you end up with an agent anyway. It's a long time since I used the connection route, and had given that up after a couple of experiences with very long lines for connections.

Well, we will see what they say. I put in her application and will cross that bridge when we come to it. In my limited time with NEXUS, I have never had any conversations with CBP at all, so can't visualize the dispute. However the CBP website link posted by californiadreamin' clearly says for air a VALID passport (not explicitly US passport, as it says for land/sea) or NEXUS. Not and NEXUS but or NEXUS. In her application, I have used birth certificate, not passport, as proof of US citizenship and admissibility, and used Canadian passport for Canadian admissibility. There was no provision in the application to require a US passport, nor were there any instructions indicating that one is required even though I indicated her US citizenship. The site could easily force the use of passport for citizenship and admissibility, but it doesn't.

I appreciate that, as Kiraly said, they can hassle you for any reason they want, so I hope to get more authoritative directions directly from CBP when her interview comes along.

But wait, your experience refers to CBP telling you that you couldn't enter Canada? CBP doesn't control admission to Canada. Am I misunderstanding your situation?

I think he incorrectly referred to CBSA as CBP.

I wouldn't stress over it. I've gone in to the US with an Ontario enhanced license as an American and they haven't questioned it. I've also come back in to Canada with a US passport claiming to be Canadian, and they usually hassle me a bit, but never enough to make me change the way I travel.

I feel I'm in the same situation as your daughter except reverse. When I applied I gave my birth certificate as proof of Canadian citizenship and my US passport number for US citizenship. It has never been a problem. Ask questions during her interview. I'm not saying what the previous person said is not factual (or at least happened to them), but my experiences and understanding go against what they're saying.