Sounds like the renewal process is faster in central and eastern Canada than here on the west coast. I applied for renewal a little over a month ago.
I received approval notice today and have to go for an interview. The first interview available in Blaine, just across the border, is December 2.
The first available interview in Vancouver is in January.
My card expires in the middle of October.

Guess I'll keep checking for cancellations and will drop by the airport a few times a week to see if they'll take me.

How do you look for cancellations?

Is it by going to your page with your interview time and pushing the reschedule appointment button?

I would have gladly taken your September 19 date.

Just keep checking back regularly under the reschedule appointment button. I ended up finding a last-minute appointment in Toronto the day after my conditional approval and my fiancee got one about 2 weeks post-approval in Seattle which coincided with a trip out to visit family. People cancel all the time and then those appointments open up. If we had settled for what showed up when we first logged on, we would have been into Oct/Nov for appointments.

Don't be anxious about clicking "reschedule appointment". Your existing appointment is yours until you accept a new one. If nothing meets your needs (not sooner, conflict you can't make), just cancel and back out of the transaction. Just be mindful and give it your complete attention, don't multitask: read the buttons carefully before you click so you don't "cancel appointment" though! :eek:
Have your calendar open before you login because that earlier appointment will be GONE in the time it takes to open another window on your laptop to check.

These may be stupid questions sorry...

Buffalo/Niagara is the closest to me...from what I have read, the US sided stations do no have the IRIS scan. The IRIS scan is really only needed if you are entering CAN via the Air? If that is the case, if I got it in Buffalo and then went to Toronto down the road, could I do a walk in just for the IRIS scan or is that something you have to schedule? Is it easier just to do it all at once and try to do it on that trip into Toronto?

If I schedule for Niagara and it is lets just say 6 months out, so I continue to look for new cancelations daily as suggested on this site - can I look for other interview areas or am I stuck to searhing where I originally signed up for the interview at?

The iris scans are only needed for Air. You can go to any location that does iris scans later to get them done; no appointment needed.

You can reschedule at any location that has openings - you're not limited to your original location.

My renewal didn't have an interview attached to it... should I be worried?

I was really hoping for a new photo. I just got my new card in the mail (good through 2018) and it has my old frumpy just off a red-eye photo :(

Thank you for the quick response, really appreciate it! ^:D

Vehicle Registration?
 

I've been thoroughly confused throughout my investigation on whether my vehicle needs to be added to my wife and I's existing NEXUS cards for travel into and out of the US from Canada.

My hologram on my nexus card doesn't show a little car when I move it in the light and I never registered a vehicle when I enrolled.

Anyone have some clarification on whether vehicle registration is needed at all anymore? Most indications currently seem to be no.

Thanks!

It's not needed for NEXUS - you can drive any car you like through the NEXUS lane at a land crossing; AFAIK it's only needed for SENTRI.

Initial Enrollment
 

I applied initially for NEXUS on July 17 and received my conditional approval on August 25 with the first appointment in Detroit being September 20. I was surprised that my application was approved in 5-6 weeks and that appointments are available within a month in Detroit.

They're catching up. When I applied in late May, it took until late July to get conditionally approved.

I did my interview in Detroit and I was able to get an interview slot in less than two weeks from my conditional approval. They had slots open the very next day, if I wanted.

Keep checking back for cancellations. You can probably grab a slot sooner than September 20th.

Detroit Center
 

I was able to reschedule to this Friday afternoon. I am impressed with how fast this process is going. I may be able to use my NEXUS card in my next trip to Canada later next month.

What is your experience with the Detroit center? The directions say to take exit 192B from I-96, then to take the service drive and turn left at the Fort Street Cargo Facility sign. I have crossed the Ambassador Bridge before but am confused to exactly where exactly that turn is.

Being you're from Cleveland, you'll be coming in on I-75, exit 47B "Bridge to Canada".

The turn is immediately off the exit, to your left. (It's the CBP cargo processing facility) You'll actually go under the bridge to an automated gate. (If you get to the toll booths, you've gone too far.) Once the gate is opened, turn right, go down the two way "street" in the middle, parking for Nexus/FAST is on the left. (They even have electric car charging stations.) The Nexus/FAST office is to the left of the parking area.

I arrived 2 hours early and they took me right away. I was processed in about 15 minutes. The Canadian asked a few questions, the American took my fingerprints, picture and explained what I had to do be able to Precheck. Watched a video explaining how Nexus works and I was on my way. I had my approval email by the time I got back to my car.

You exit out to the street in the back of the facility. You don't have to pay a toll or go into Canada.

I am actually going to be coming from Grand Rapids as that is where I work. It looks like the exit ramp for I-96 and I-75 converge pretty quickly. That's good to hear that they are flexible as I am taking a half day and may be cutting it close if I get caught in traffic. I think I know where that turn off is by looking at the Google Maps satellite view. It looks like the turn off is just before the toll booths, under the bridge, which made it hard to find from the satellite view.

What else did you have to do to enroll in TSA pre-check? I am asking because that is one of the primary reasons that I chose to enroll in NEXUS.