I tend to overdeclare when I cross. I even declare fast food! The way I see it, better to have that sort of mentality rather than take a chance with an agent on an off day. Especially with NEXUS.

I'd be careful with cheese. As mentioned above, inconsistency is common, and if you do get sent to secondary and they see cheese, the next agent may not be so kind, and may not think twice about revoking the membership. After all, dairy is clearly specified on the form, and unlike my chocolate example, cheese very clearly fits in that category.

Also, not sure how much you bring in, but I actually did call in to find out about dairy allowances to Canada (we were thinking of bringing some really good local US ice cream back) - you are limited to $20 worth of dairy total.

I've been told that I have to declare it at DTW, MIA, and YYZ. The joys of CBP.

I got dinged coming off a cruise ship in Miami (ok. at the port, not the airport). They asked if I was sure I didn't have any food. I said I had some chocolate and he lectured me on it. I verified at dtw and yyz after that.

As I said, I was told to declare chewing gum as I was told by the NEXUS agent that some officers can be quite anal about all this. Declare everything if you value your NEXUS card.

Thanks to all for the replies. So I guess if I am bringing any kind of food, to be on the safe side, I should answer "yes" to the "Meat/meat products; dairy products; fruits; vegetables; seeds; nuts; plants and animals or their parts/products; cut flowers; soil; wood/wood products; birds; insects" question even if it doesn't fit in one of those categories, then hope that the secondary inspection is quick once they realize why you were sent there. I agree completely that there should be more clarity and consistency in how the rules are applied.

Can someone tell me what the kiosk questions are?

They are worded slightly differently for CDN v. US entry to reflect the paper forms, but essentially

1 - Did you answer Yes to any of the questions in section 1?
2 - Did you surpass any of your limits in section 2?

Declare in value, yes, I agree. But if you are talking about declaring by checking the "yes" box on the customs forms, I only do it if I have one of the ingredients specifically listed (or very well-related - i.e. if i have nuts, or if I have a fruit). The Canadian customs form doesn't even have the word "food" on it at all, so not sure how you would even check yes to anything except the products/ingredients listed.

I declared that I was bringing in nuts, which were chocolate covered and when I got to the exit, the officer asked me what kind of nuts, told him chocolate covered, he said no problem on your way. It's strange because when you cross the border in a car and fill out the customs form, you are not asked specfically what items, and after you drop it in the box, you are generally waved through by the customs agent or he might chat with you but has never gotten specific about what exactly I had put on the form.

Last year I asked the CBSA Guy on FT how to declare potato chips I was planning to bring from Europe. He told me to declare it on the declaration card, but touch "no" to the kiosk questions. I did that and I was not questioned at the airport.

On another note, how do you people manage to travel between the US and Canada by plane using your NEXUS card only and not bringing or having your passport with you? When I travel to the US the gate agent wants to see my passport upon boarding, and when I travel back to Canada, the gate agent calls me up for a document check since I check in online. They all don't care that I show them my Nexus card, even though my passport is not needed at customs, only occaisionally my card for swiping into their system.

Bad advice. You have to say at the Kiosk what you are declaring on the card. If you are randomly secondaried, you're SOL.

We gave up trying long ago and carry our passports.

Oh boy, probably best for you to scan back through this thread, this has come up ad nauseum on about every 2nd or 3rd page back in this thread. I have brought up your exact point at least once, possibly more.

A good plan is to always bring your passport with you. Hope you don't need it when using Nexus, if you do, its there (and then you can show it to the airline, because you do need it there). In addition, if (more like, when, because it will happen at some point) you get a random secondary, or if the kiosk's aren't working, you will have it for the agent. More often than not I have been asked for a passport if I need to go to secondary (answered yes to a question, or been randomed). My guess is, you don't want to be in front of the wrong agent who is insisting on seeing your passport, no matter what the official rule is. Based on previous exchanges here, the the rules on documentation and whether a Nexus card alone is sufficient is still unclear at best.

I always carry my passport with me and would not think of not carrying it. But I'm lazy and don't feel like taking it out of my bag most of the time, hence why I'm asking how people manage to get away with it when I'm not able to if I try. Although I must say that the TSA people accept the new card as ID now which is nice to see.

I carry my passport whenever I travel. By plane, car, train or bus, no sense inviting problems.

At one point, you had to declare a personal laptop as a business item (I don't remember the exact checkbox) but you wrote "Laptop" next to it. You then could hit "no" on the kiosk.

Now, a personal laptop doesn't have to be declared. This was years and years ago (pre-nexus. This was CanPass) when most laptops were business items.

Thanks.

Another question: according to YVR's website (http://www.yvr.ca/flightinfo/fastrackborder.asp), NEXUS members can use the priority lanes at the security checkpoints.

How does this work? Do you just line up in the priority line and show them your NEXUS card, or do you have to do something else (such as get your boarding pass stamped or something)? Anyone done this?