etworld

How do you find out if your NEXUS privilege has been revoked other than being informed in the mail?

I have been approved and passed my interview at Pearson, except that I have not yet received the card because it is still in the mail.

I ask because I have reasonable concern that my NEXUS privilege has been revoked due to a misunderstanding at the border at Niagara Falls coming back to Canada. The receptionist at the NEXUS office at Pearson seems to think it's okay since I have not yet activated my NEXUS card.


HOWEVER, how is it possible to be flagged in the system (after being given a warning at the CBSA and told that it will be in my record) and still be able to use NEXUS?

flyquiet

"misunderstanding"? We are not officials here, just people who have been through the system. As such, everything we write here is based on speculation and experience. I think you're going to have to share more information about the "misunderstanding" before people will get into the speculation.

etworld

Sorry, obviously it's my judgment to call it a "misunderstanding."


I have been living in the States with F-1 for the past 4 years and have two more years on my current I-20. I have been advised, lectured and sometimes even scolded by both the US officers and the Canadian officers that whenever I travel back to Canada (98% by air), I should enter Canada as a visitor, and NOT a citizen.

I am currently in Canada temporarily during my off-time from school and my F-1 is still active. My friend and I drove to Buffalo for the first time for fun for a day trip recently and did some shopping at the outlet. I bought some clothes that was meant for my field of studies in the US and have every intention to bring it back to the US. In my mind set, I am entering Canada (albeit only a 10 hour visit) once again and did not think that the value declaration applied to me.

I answered "no" when the officer at the Rainbow Bridge border asked if I had purchased anything to bring back to Canada. After a few more repeated questions, we were sent to an inspection and all went downhill. I did not have a chance to explain myself and the officer who lead the inspection of the car said it was too late to say anything and that I had obviously lied. My friend and I were both given a warning, notes have been entered in our records in the system, and both paid what was owed without additional penalty fee.


I was approved of Nexus on the 28th of June and still haven't received my card in the mail. It is definitely coming, but is there any chance of finding out whether my NEXUS status has been affected?


Also, is there a chance for appeal due to my misunderstanding of being Canadian with F-1? I made some calls via the office numbers found online and some agents understood my concern and perhaps even thought I could have a chance for appeal; consequently, they gave me a direct line to the Rainbow Bridge Office that would connect to an officer. Unfortunately, the officer was less than thrilled to hear my story and said that there is not such thing as entering as "visitor" as long as I am Canadian. "You are entering Canada by RIGHT," she stated repeatedly. This is obviously not what I have been told the past 4 years of traveling between USA and Canada as an F-1. She said they were very busy and that I can speak to them in person, then hung up.

vernonc

You should wait for your card or a letter saying it has been declined. If your nexus membership has been revoked there is a appeal process. Seems like a minor issue and not one where you were deliberately smuggling in huge amounts of tobacco, liquor or other contraband. A lot of these decisions are base the view or tolerance of the officer. For example I have gone to BUF and returned the same day and sometimes get charged duty on $150 worth of purchases and at other times wave thru even after declaring.

etworld

Would it be worth the trip to the same border and appeal in person, requesting the warning to be removed from my record? Even if at best my NEXUS is untainted, the next officer would be alarmed when I begin using NEXUS to cross the border, and will subject me to secondary inspection all the time, OR worst case scenario, confiscate my NEXUS right away.

flyquiet

I suggest wait for the card or letter. Don't stir up the muck by calling (any more than you already have). They may have made the comments and stern warnings to make sure you understood the seriousness of the rules, but want it to go away as much as you do. The decision on the card or no card has been made and the border people likely cannot change it.

I don't understand why you wouldn't have done the traditional Canadian folkdance of the scissors in the trunk in the parking lot prior to driving to the border. ("What, these old things??") Not that I am advising you to do that. Or anyone. But had you bought those same items in February, and brought them home with you for the summer, you wouldn't have had to pay duty. If you bought them last week and shipped them from Buffalo to your US residence and later brought them with you in your suitcase, you wouldn't have paid duty on them. The only thing that distinguished them from your personal effects from your temporary abode in the U.S. is the tags and shopping bags.

My daughter had her interview recently also and has not got her card yet either. I know for a fact that she has not offended any official personnel on either side of the border.

They have had federal personnel cutbacks in the US, as I am sure you know, and some people are reporting processing times that are a little longer than they have been. In addition, it's the big holiday weekend and perhaps they have more staff on holidays the week before and after.

My advice would be to sit down and hush up about it. Deal with it if they do send you a denial letter but don't get ahead of yourself.

However, be aware, if you have dodged this bullet and get the card, take the rules of NEXUS absolutely at face value because officers on both sides can be quite understandably humourless about it. I will declare a Halls cough drop before I will lose my NEXUS over undeclared "food".

etworld

Thanks for the advice! I completely understand... None of the people I talked to on the phone have my information, not even my name. I am dreading the letter from NEXUS because... I JUST RECEIVED MY CARD TODAY!

hazcaddy

+1. Mrs Haz had her renewal interview this afternoon, was informed upon arrival that her driver's licence was one of the required documents (even though that wasn't on the list of Documents To Bring) but the CBP agent never looked at it and in fact removed all vehicle data from her record.

And to answer a previous question - no, you can't walk across the Whirlpool Bridge, there's some serious razor wire to stop you.

jackal

I guess the real question is whether there is a way for the NEXUS folks to learn about your non-NEXUS border transgressions after the review. (That is, is there an automatic periodic review of your history or some kind of name-matching alert thing that pops you up in their system? Or is it all manual and thus less likely to be noticed?)

Obviously, when your NEXUS application is being reviewed, they research any previous incidents at the border and include them in the decision of whether to approve or deny.

And if you violate NEXUS's terms and the agent discovers you have NEXUS (either because you're in the NEXUS lane or you show your NEXUS card or whatever), they can probably send a message to the NEXUS administrators to properly deal with you.

But if the border agent doesn't know that you are NEXUS, will NEXUS have a way of knowing about your incident? I suppose it might come up when you apply to renew in five years, but for now, I would hazard a guess that you're reasonably safe from any immediate repercussions because the left hand probably has no way of knowing what the right hand is doing as long as the right hand doesn't specifically tell the left hand.

flyquiet

Congratulations on the card. You may find that this notation on the file gets you sent to secondary inspection a little more than other NEXUS users. It will be interesting to hear what your experience is.

If I was in this situation and they notified me that it had been cancelled, I would protest ... and if it came to that, I would also ask for my duty refunded, claiming it was wrongfully collected and I paid only under duress. I would say I was a Canadian citizen legally residing in the USA, taking an extended vacation in my homeland, as I am entitled to do as a citizen (and which I presume is not prohibited by the terms of the US visa). During that vacation, I accompanied a Canadian resident friend on a brief day trip to the USA, purchasing some personal effects as a USA resident. (Making the purchases on a USA credit card with a billing address in the USA would be a good reinforcement of the point.) My argument would be that it was unlawful to subject me to the payment of duty and tax on personal effects as though I was a Canadian resident importing those personal effects. I am merely a US resident on vacation, no different than a Michigan resident passing through Ontario from Buffalo bringing shopping from the same outlet mall.

I'm thinking that the border crossing interview went wrong not on the "are you bringing anything?" but the "where do you live?" question.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but logically, I don't understand why duty and taxes would have been payable given the information in the story.
That said, I would not stir the pot on the duty issue now, but I would not throw out any records relating to this event until my NEXUS renewal five years from now (or whatever) has gone through!

vernonc

FYI, I got sent to agricultural screening and they added comments to my record before I applied for Nexus. Every time I crossed, US CBP read the comments and kind of ignored it because it was so lame - home made sandwiches. I applied and got Nexus after this happened and no one brought it up. Lesson learned and I declare everything to the point of silliness.

payam81

Just wondering what the recent process is regarding passport renewals and NEXUS:

Just had passport renewed and immediately updated the pertinent data on GOES but do I still need to pop in to the nexus office? Would one visit take care of both US and Canada side? And finally, do I still need to get the CBP sticker?

Many thanks for the help.

etworld

I read somewhere that being given a warning doesn't always mean your NEXUS is automatically revoked, but still highly likely.


Since my newly arrived NEXUS only needs to be activated within 30 days of receiving, I am thinking if I delay the activation, will this also delay the cancellation letter, if there is one?

This brings another issue, assuming my NEXUS is cancelled: if I want to appeal the duty tax and subsequently the warning being taken off my record, and perhaps even get my NEXUS status back, I only have 30 days to do so. This means I would have to activate my NEXUS card asap.


I spoke with the NEXUS receptionist at the Pearson airport office over the phone about my situation before I received my card. I don't think he has the authority to change anything in the system necessarily, but he is there to answer questions, schedule walk-in interviews (even though the automated phone system says they don't accept walk-in), and even access an individual's record on the computer. He told me that my card was definitely coming my way already, and since I have not yet activated my card, and did not have a NEXUS card present at the border when given the warning, I should still be clean. He also said the officers cannot confiscate my NEXUS that time, since it was still in pending (not activated), but they can definitely see it in their system. I am not certain how accurate his information is... but it did make me feel better.

HOWEVER... just because they didn't mention my NEXUS nor my friend's almost 5-year old NEXUS membership, it doesn't mean it won't be revoked.


(Side note: I spoke with the same receptionist when I was dropping a friend at the airport on June 28th and went in by chance hoping I'd get a cancellation the same day. Even though I got an interview spot that was 4 hours later, the officers there were happy to see me right away without having to wait for the newly allotted slot.

So yes, they do walk-in's if they aren't busy, but check with the receptionist first!)



The warning record is only supposed to last for two years, so hopefully it will be gone by the time I renew my NEXUS five years from now... My friend from the trip also has NEXUS. His F-1 had just expired so he definitely has no way out of his duty tax. Also, his NEXUS is expiring in August so I am assuming that if he isn't receiving a cancellation from NEXUS in the next month, that means I am okay as well?

NA-Flyer

The guys at the CBP are quite tough these days with nexus members:

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/...6282013_11.xml

flyquiet

I don't know what you gain by delaying the activation. You can't use NEXUS until you do (GE is activated immediately if you got that), and the longer you wait, the more likely they decide you don't want it or it wasn't delivered.