Long Application Time
 

Has anyone else had to wait over 4 months for their application to be approved? I applied Feb 18th, and have been in the "Initial Enrollment" period ever since. I called GOES and the Canadian border patrol, both asked me to be patient.

I am beginning to lose hope. Has anyone else (with an Arabic name) had to wait this long and actually get approved?

I'm pretty sure your name would have nothing to do with it. But if you travel often to the parts of the world where your name originates, that very well might; absolutely anecdotal but I overheard a US agent asking a LOT of questions during a Nexus interview about travel to Israel in particular but other parts of the middle east as well to someone sitting beside us during my kids "interview".

This could quickly descend into an OMNI P/R type discussion and I don't want to take it there, but I did want to offer you another explanation for what might be taking some additional time to review the application.

I am of course speaking purely based on my own experience.

It's been taking awhile for me. I applied April 25 and still haven't heard back, it will be 6 weeks tomorrow. I have US citizenship, and the only other country I've visited is Canada. I have a passport/EDL. I have an Irish last name.

My main reason for wanting NEXUS is the TSA PreCheck status.

Sequester budget cuts seem like a plausible explanation for the delay.

Approval vs. Conditional Approval
 

Apologies if this has been answered in the previous 472 pages...

We are renewing our Nexus cards. Submitted the renewal application on GOES 6 weeks ago and received status updates today. My son's application was given "Conditional Approval" as had been described by many others. I set an interview appointment for him. However, my wife's notice says "Approved", not "Conditional Approval". The expiry date on-line now shows 2018 and there is no "Schedule Interview" button. I assume this means she does not need an interview.

Has anyone experienced this? Will they send a new card (with new expiry date)? No need to update photo? The FAQ section on GOES does not appear to address this. Would be great to bypass the interview.

4 months?! It should at the most 2 months. Might be time to contact the Obudsman. http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/tr...og_denials.xml

Not my personal experience but upthread there are posts indicating that they have decided that SOME renewals MAY not require an interview. They are reserving the prerogative to continue to interview renewals but from the previous posts, the approved renewal card should simply arrive in the mail.

I don't think the renewals don't require interviews was ever blanket for all (though some might have assumed or interpreted it that way). In the November 2012 Nexus News page, it states

That implies that anyone who has changes to any of their information is probably going to require an interview. And by using the term "the majority" it means there are going to be some who do require an interview.

My last renewal was before they changed this, so have no personal experience.

I am wondering if that means that if a nexus member obtained a new passport during their membership, they will need an interview before receiving a renewal approval?

I can't say for certain, but I don't think that would be an automatic requirement for an interview. Maybe it depends on which country issued the passport. I guess I'll find out in four years. My wife obtained a Canadian passport since joining, so when it's time for us to renew we'll see if I get approved right away and she gets scheduled for an interview!

Sounds normal. Interviews "may not be needed" for renewals. The fact that your son does need to be interviewed again is not a surprise, especially if he is still a child. Kids' appearances change quite a bit in five years and it's not surprising that a new photo will be needed.

Sometimes I wish my appearance would change a bit more than it has. I'm a very young looking 39. I still get ID'd at the liquor store sometimes. :rolleyes:

I applied on the 26th. No approval either.

Unlucky being recognized by iris scan
 

Anybody else having issues with iris recognition at Nexus terminals? Flew into YUL in April, took three attempts to be recognized. Two weeks ago in YOW, it timed out on me once. Yesterday in YYZ, tried five times at two kiosks before giving up. Others were able to scan and go with minimal fuss. Should I get re-scanned at the Nexus office? The Canadian agent at YYZ told me they were having lots of reports of of people being unable to get successful scans.

Yes, I have the same issue, likely because of wearing glasses. Takes 3 attempts. I much prefer the GE machines as they are fingerprint. might want to clean the glass on the machine before you start:)

I got my iris scanned in early April. I have flown back from USA back to Canada twice since then (most recently 2 days ago). Each time, it took me (I kid you not) one dozen times to do the iris scan.

I therefore went to the Toronto NEXUS office yesterday at 7 PM (I was flying from ORD to YOW via YYZ). I spoke to an agent; he tried to show me how to do it. One thing I was doing wrong was moving when it scanned my iris - I was told that the iris scan would not be successful in that scenario.

However, that one tip did not help me much - still over half dozen times required for success. So, the agent said that if I wanted it, he could put a "no iris" scan sticker on the back of my nexus card. I took him on the offer. However, I hope that I can get further advice from FT, on how to correctly do the iris scan on the first attempt - ideally, I would like to be iris scanned each future time; I suspect I am doing everything wrong that one can do to get scanned.

Is there a FAQ of the iris scan methodology?

PS-I am glad for now, there is no nexus iris scan when entering USA - there are no issues with getting one's fingerprints scanned on that GE machine.

What does having the sticker actually do? Not that I want one because I've had zero issues with the iris scans. I'm more curious than anything, because the machine identifies you based solely on the iris scan. I would think no iris scan means no NEXUS coming back to Canada.