Just a question regarding interview appointments, if anyone has experience:

My family of 3 (me, wife, infant daughter) are all conditionally approved. Right now, we are signed up to interview in late july at YUL because that was the first day that 3 slots were open. What I'm wondering is, for a family, do we need to each book a separate interview, or if we see one slot open up sooner, can just one of us sign up for it and we all 3 go to that one?

I don't have a direct answer, but maybe an alternative. If an airport location is most convenient for you and you want to get it done ASAP, availability at Halifax (YHZ) is very good. It's a nice place to visit, too. Just throwing that out there if you want a less crowded place that would make a nice weekend trip too.

Otherwise, here are the locations as listed by the CBSA:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/prog/nexus/location-eng.html

The ones with a * have the iris scan available. Windsor isn't listed at all, and Detroit doesn't have the iris scan.

Not my experience, but it's been posted upthread that as long as you all have individual interview times booked on the same day, they will see you consecutively even if the appointments are not consecutive.

If one member of the group has a single interview time slot on a different, earlier day, I do not recall reading any reports that the rest of the family was seen on a day earlier than their appointments.

Even if someone had posted that experience, if I were in your position, I would worry that even if they did that for someone once, they would never commit to that principle and when it came to me, they wouldn't do it. It would through their workload out of whack, particularly as there are a lot of families bigger than yours, and the cutoff would be arbitrary.

I think your last point is a good one. I was just hoping for a good reason to visit Montreal before hockey ended :)

How do I change my interview appointment?
 

I wonder if anyone has any advice - I schedule my Nexus interview at YYZ for Dec 7, 2012. When my travel plans changed it was inside the 24 hour window to make changes to the appointment on line. I called the YYZ Nexus number as instructed on the web site, got an answering machine, and left a message asking Nexus to cancel my appointment. Now when I go into GOES my Nexus appointment for Dec 7 is still shown as scheduled. I am unable to cancel it (there is no cancel button) and when I phone the Nexus office at YYZ the recorded message just says that you have to cancel 24 hours prior to the appointment so that you do not get locked out of your account! So I am now in no-man's land, unable to do anything online and the message at the YYZ office says everything must be done online. Is there a telephone number out there where I can talk to a Nexus employee about this?

BTW, I did leave a message on the answering machine, but as with my previous message it did not have any effect.

Thanks for the advice. I've been to Halifax, many years ago, it is a really nice city.

I ended up playing the "look for an opening every two minutes" game this morning, and scored a weekend appointment at Fort Erie for early May, so I'm all set.

Answers from nexus officers at yow airport
 

My wife went in today, to ask some questions on nexus.

Question 1- can nexus be used at the global entry machines? A: NO (passport must be used).

Question 2- can nexus card be used in lieu of passport in either direction, when crossing Canadian-US border by land? A: Yes

Question 3 - if one goes to USA with nexus, what food items should one declare, and what items need not be declared? A: "anything that can be put in one's mouth should be declared". She likes to carry a small bottle of tobasco for the airplane food (in business class) - she was told that too had to be declared.

It is obvious that the same requirements (for declaring food items) are there for the non-nexus/non-GE pasengers who go through US preclearance, but perhaps they are more lenient in such circumstances?

More lenient in what circumstances? If she has food, she should declare it. Why risk losing NEXUS over something so silly?

I recall the GE questions pertaining to food to be more selective - ie. really the stuff they care about as opposed to all food. Just answer the questions asked and you will be fine.

I read FlyerGoldII's post as referring to "more lenient" examination of "food" for those crossing WITHOUT NEXUS / GE. You still have to say you have food, but you're having an in-person conversation anyway. You say "I packed granola bars" and they say "oh, buh-bye." The last time I crossed with NEXUS and Mr. Flyquiet went the civilian way. He said the purpose of travel was the Disney Marathon and he had peanut butter because... and the officer said "for breakfast before the marathon". No big deal. They just want to know. "Food" could have been uncooked beef, or oranges. Clarification, and all's good.

With the Trusted Traveller, you have to basically opt in to Secondary if you have food, unless you want to risk having your card revoked.

I suspect the officer advising Mrs. FlyerGoldII was the Canadian one because the NEXUS questions do embrace "anything you put in your mouth". This is the exact advice I received from the Canadian officer. I asked about hypothetical gummy worms, which are 99.9% chemical as far as I can tell, and nothing "food" about 'em. But what about Tylenol? cough drops? toothpaste? I seem to recall some posting they were told to declare gum as food. My officer said, if there is any potential misunderstanding or difference of opinion, why risk it? (Thanks for being helpful and specific. Standing in a long line for secondary is a really good reason why someone might say "gum is not food".)

GE asks about specific types of food which allows the traveller to mince words and think "the food in my possession is not one of the listed types so I am free to choose not to click "YES" on this interface". Theoretically, then, passing IN to the USA, the Canadian officer's advice is more conservative than necessary.

Nevertheless I am still reluctant to carry food even with the GE hair-splitting. I don't want to be the one that tests the boundaries. I once had a mini-freak-out when I was exiting the security hall and found an old MLL mint in my coat pocket that I had not declared! I ate it right away so I did not have it in case they chased me and searched me! Then I went up to the MLL and got another.

You're not opting into secondary. In my experience, when you declare food, you just have to mention it when you hand the card over. My last time at pre-clearance, I had some candy. Said I had food, handed the card to the CBP officer, he said "what happened?" Told him I had candy, was done. Same as going through the regular line. I'm the same as you though, I avoid it if I can. I agree as well that the GE questions are more specific.

So just to clarify, I have, say, a granola bar and decide that it is a plant product because it has some oat flakes in it, or a pack of roasted almonds, which are plant seeds in their former life, and on the GE screen I say "food", I proceed to the same place as I do now, the guy at the funnel point, and instead of just handing the card and the boarding pass to be stamped, I hand the card and the boarding pass and brace for an oral question "what food is it?" and that's it?

That's my experience.

The blue US customs card includes "food". I think the questions are the same on the GE kiosk. So you have a granola bar, it's food.

The official GE FAQ has the following question:

Seems pretty unambiguous. And anyway, if your options are declaring it and possibly getting secondary, or not declaring it and having GE/NEXUS revoked if you get chosen for secondary, why would you take the risk?

Exactly - civil disobedience is not my jam.
My ambiguity is that the word "agricultural" to me would clearly include almonds and oats and peanut butter. The agricultural product is inherent in the name or appearance, but "agricultural" wouldn't necessarily include gummy worms or chewing gum, although perhaps you would counter-argue "but where does the sugar come from?" That said, the A is not on the kiosk, just the Q. The question says "food items or products" and I would err on the side of caution and include gummy worms even though I think it is beyond silly.

I wonder whether medications (which I do carry with me) have to be declared as food.