Land border crossings are almost always more of a hassle than any other type of crossing. This has been the case since 9/11 and the Port Angeles bomb discovery way back when.

If you want to minimize the probability of being hassled at the border cross via air/marine terminals.

Not to mention that keeping you on your toes and changing up the procedures is the way they prevent the Bad Guys from figuring out ways to beat the system. At least, in their minds that's how it works.

Trust me, if you think that's bad, they're even more confused to see an American living in Canada. That just boggles their minds. The conversation always goes like this, even, as I'm handing them a US passport or Nexus card:

CBP: What's your citizenship?
Me: American
CBP: Where are you coming from?
Me: Toronto
CBP: What were you doing in Toronto?
Me: I live there
CBP: What's your citizenship???!???
Me: American
CBP: You live in Toronto?
Me: Yes
CBP: Why?
Me: I was offered a job there
CBP: [Blank stare]

astro, that's too funny (in a messed up way).

I hear you completely.. Canadian-born, but have American citizenship as well.. Having crossed hundreds of times, I've had some of the strangest encounters with this.

Driving an Ontario plated car, telling the guy I live in Canada, and he still asks me "how long have you been outside of the United States?". At the end of all of that, he said "Welcome home".

I had another one who couldn't quite grasp that I live here, and was really pushing for me to go to school in New York. Very very strange.

I've never ever ever understood this....Why do you care? Your goal regarding this interaction with USCBP is to have them allow you entry to their country, which is at their complete discretion. Their attitude is not important nor is it relevant. Keep in mind these people work in protection and security, not customer service. Part of the tactics of this line of work are to keep people off guard, so they don't know what to expect. Border guards are trained to operate in such ways. Just relax, jump through the hoops, and worry about more important things like whether or not your girlfriend is having a few "friends" over for a party while you're off at a real estate law conference in San Diego and you might find them in flagrante delicto when you ditch out and come home early.

If you are using a GE machine, you're traveling through an airport, and so have to be traveling with a passport (Nexus card is only WHTI-compliant for land, and I think, sea, crossing). So doesn't matter what you used to access the machine. My wife is a US PR, and the GE machine no longer accepts her passport (she was previously an H1-B), she has to scan her greencard. So technically, most of the time, she could probably technically get away on her transborder trips without her passport (though the airline usually insists on seeing passport...that's another thread/topic, though). She won't travel without it, of course, and I would never let her.

For the Nexus card demands at the airport - if you use the GE machine, a Nexus card isn't required - plenty of people have GE on its own standing, without Nexus, and without a GE card.

If you use a Nexus machine, technically, if not asked, you could get away without showing a passport, but you're still supposed to have it with you when traveling by air. Every once in a while, though its been a long time since I've seen it, we get someone with a question like, "my passport is at the embassy of country X to get a visa, but I need to fly to the US for a meeting...is it ok to travel without a passport." Everytime there is various answer, but you now have a specific example of why that answer is really no.

You can call it inconsistency, I guess, but really its just the officer asking for the documentation you need to have with you anyway. Yes, Nexus/GE is meant to expedite our crossings, but the program isn't designed for members to avoid questions/doc checks 100% of the time. Canadiancow, I'm not saying this is you at all, but there are definitely some who, despite signing onto terms that say just that, think that's the point of Nexus/GE.

where is the NEXUS number on the NEXUS card?
 

I'm asking what the NEXUS number is for the purposes of giving Air Canada my APIS information online. Air Canada refers me to the following link:

I can't find my NEXUS number

This link claims that "it may appear in either of the shaded areas illustrated below". However only one shaded area appears below making the claim a bit suspect. Moreover this one diagram points me to the PASS ID--I seem to recall that in the past a different number was referred to.

Specifically, on the back of the card, on the right below the barcode, there are four lines of text directly below the barcode with between 1-9 characters (letters/numbers) in each line. The bottom of these four lines is a 9-digit number in much larger font than the three lines above it. I believe it is that 9-digit number (which is different from the PASS ID) which Air Canada referred to in the past.

So the question is--which of these two 9-digit numbers should be entered when entering a NEXUS number in APIS? And does entering a NEXUS number in APIS add any value if I've already entered a passport number? The Air Canada website allows me to enter both a passport number and a NEXUS number in APIS. But I'm not clear if entering both adds any value--will it speed up any process at the airport (eg at the check in desk, the kiosk, security or customs/immigration)?

I think if you input your NEXUS number prior to online check-in, you won't be able to do online check-in before your flight.

I know this was a problem before, and I'm not sure if they've fixed it. I have a flight coming up in August and I didn't bother to put my NEXUS number in for that reason. I just used my passport number. I don't see any advantage to using NEXUS in this particular case.

Until we get something like TSA Pre✓, I don't think there's any good reason to do it.

I boarded a flight out of YVR, showing my NEXUS card. It took the guy far too long to verify it.

Unless there is explicitly a NEXUS line that is shorter than the regular line, I'm no longer even telling anyone I have NEXUS. It just confuses them and makes things take longer.

I had no trouble checking in online during my most recent trip to Canada even though I provided both my NEXUS and passport numbers in APIS. However I used the 9-digit code on the right, NOT the PASS ID--as the old instructions seemed to suggest this. Possibly the NEXUS number was rejected and only the passport number was used (?)

I've never had a problem checking in online for the return flight. In the past checking in online for the flight to Canada has not been an option as they didn't allow online check at SEA. That has changed recently.

I'm always kind of curious why people often seem anxious to use a NEXUS card for some purpose other than its primary purpose if they could. Is the reason that if you could use the NEXUS card (solely) you could leave the passport at home, thereby reducing the risk of having all valuable documents lost/stolen at once?

Showing a NEXUS card to a gate agent seems to me a bit like showing a Chinese passport--rather than an Ontario DL--to a cop if pulled over for speeding in Toronto. It just isn't the relevant document for the occasion.

Providing NEXUS info in APIS, though, seems a bit different because the website explicitly provides an opportunity to do so. But I'm asking whether it really adds any value to do so.

I was under the impression that all they do at the gate is verify that your document matches what you entered online. I entered NEXUS online, so I showed it.

Also, NEXUS fits in my wallet. I wanted to keep my passport in my bag unless I really needed it. I've lost things that were sitting in my back pocket in the past :(

If your itinerary has domestic US segments on UA or US, this number is likely transmitted to give you Pre access. At least this happened for me on a UA booked itinerary with US segments.

Other than entering the NEXUS number before OLCI, I have had no problems using NEXUS, including inputting NEXUS as APIS for OLCI, using the NEXUS lane, photo-ID for boarding the aircraft, or other uses and privileges. At YYZ transborder which is my main crossing, the NEXUS lanes are faster (machine vs. man snake and parallel scanner lanes). Both leaving home and leaving US, offering NEXUS with boarding pass has always worked. The only one who wanted passport instead was AC bag-check desk. I've even successfully offered it as "government issue photo ID" in other settings. It's been a winner for me.

I could be completely wrong on this, but because APIS is completely behind the scenes and 99.99999% of the time no one sees a result from it, I'd say putting your NEXUS info will have no effect whatsoever.