Mar 3, 2013, 10:24 pm
Last edit by: TWA884
Current NEXUS Information messages can be found in the following thread:
The NEXUS Information Thread
The NEXUS Information Thread
Welcome to the Travel Safety/Security Trusted Travelers Forum Nexus Information Wiki! This resource will appear at the top of every page within this thread to help users learn more about this program.
About NEXUS
NEXUS is designed to expedite the border clearance process for low-risk, pre-approved travellers into Canada and the United States.
The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) are cooperating in this joint venture to simplify border crossing for members while enhancing security.
Program benefits
If you are approved to participate in NEXUS, you will receive a membership identification card to use when entering Canada or the United States at all designated NEXUS air, land and marine ports of entry.
Membership will enable airline passengers to save time by:
- using automated self-serve kiosks in dedicated areas at designated international airports;
- using NEXUS/SENTRI lanes at land crossings when/where available. NEXUS lanes entering Canada will likely have a constant red traffic signal. This is to discourage non-NEXUS members from using the lane. Canada-bound NEXUS land crossing operating hours. All occupants must have NEXUS cards when using NEXUS lane entering Canada. At some locations, the NEXUS lane, the inspection booth is not staffed but there should be a call button. When entering US in a NEXUS/SENTRI lane, all occupants must carry either NEXUS, Global Entry, or SENTRI cards (or any combination thereof). Notable exception is Whirlpool Bridge which requires a NEXUS card to open the toll gate on the Canadian side to cross to the US..
- As of 17 MAY 2017 - NEXUS members no longer need to complete a paper CBSA Declaration Card (Form E311) when using a NEXUS self-serve kiosk at any Canadian airport where NEXUS is available. (Refer to post #10421)
- using the Trusted Traveller Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) Security Line at major and select medium-sized Canadian airports to expedite airport pre boarding security screening. For detailed information, please visit the CATSA Web site.
Join NEXUS
Here are the steps for becoming a member. There is a non-refundable processing fee of CAN$50 or US$50 per applicant for a five-year membership card.
About NEXUS
Eligibility
How to apply
Enrolment process
Key points about the program as found by forum members:
- NEXUS cardholders must advise of ANY changes to their vital information such as passport numbers/validity, visa status, legal names, primary residence, criminal convictions, and employment if it impacts your eligibility in the program.
- It's normal to find the first in-person NEXUS interview to be months into the future, but a little patience and regular checks on the TTP website almost always yields an interview date much sooner.
- Each person who wants to participate in the NEXUS program must fill out a separate application form. There is no fee for applicants under the age of 18.
- If traveling with non-NEXUS family members NEXUS cardholders are required to use the regular customs lines.
- There is a zero tolerance policy and membership can be terminated for infractions including not having your NEXUS card on you and using the NEXUS lane and not declaring items on your customs declaration card, though members have reported some leniency being granted for such infractions in the past.
- Private companies may offer services for submitting your application and charge an additional processing fee but these extra charges are not part of the official NEXUS application fee. Expedited services offered by such companies will not assist in speeding up the application process.
Updating Passport with Canada for NEXUS
As per CBSA website, updates to passport information can be handled on TTP.
Please note that NEXUS members are not required to report to an Enrolment Centre to update or change their passport information with the CBSA.
Some FT members don't trust instructions provided by CBSA and recommend the following:
Call the Canadian Processing Centre with responsibility for residents of the United States:
After going through the phone tree to reach a Nexus representative, advise them that you need to update your US passport with Canada.
The representative will give you an email address and instructions to scan your updated passport picture page (include your trusted traveler number on the scan) and then email it to a particular email address. I was advised to put the representative's name in the email message so that he could process the update on the Canadian side. He confirmed that any passport update in TTP does not reach Canada. NOTE: FT members have been able to enter Canada without any issues by updating passport online only.
He specifically requested that only the telephone number be posted (and not the email address).
In case the telephone number doesn't work, here's the webpage where the phone number is posted: Canada Border Services Agency - NEXUS - General Information
- 800-842-7647 --- Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm (Eastern Time)
After going through the phone tree to reach a Nexus representative, advise them that you need to update your US passport with Canada.
The representative will give you an email address and instructions to scan your updated passport picture page (include your trusted traveler number on the scan) and then email it to a particular email address. I was advised to put the representative's name in the email message so that he could process the update on the Canadian side. He confirmed that any passport update in TTP does not reach Canada. NOTE: FT members have been able to enter Canada without any issues by updating passport online only.
He specifically requested that only the telephone number be posted (and not the email address).
In case the telephone number doesn't work, here's the webpage where the phone number is posted: Canada Border Services Agency - NEXUS - General Information
US citizens/residents who have both Global Entry and NEXUS cards and who renew the Global Entry membership whilst their NEXUS card is active, will not be able to renew the NEXUS card until after it expires. The option to do so disappears from the TTP website.
Dear mxzblftspk,
Your NEXUS membership is not set to expire until July 11 2016.
As an approved NEXUS member, you added Global Entry for an additional $100. When you completed your Global Entry application, you received a Global Entry card. When you activated the Global Entry Card, your NEXUS Card was deactivated and the option to renew NEXUS was removed from your account.
If you wish to renew NEXUS, you will have to wait for your NEXUS membership to expire. Once it expires, you will have the option within your TTP online account to renew NEXUS. After you follow all of the steps to become a NEXUS member again, including the completion of an interview at a NEXUS Enrollment Center near the Canadian border, you will receive a new NEXUS card and will have Global Entry benefits at no additional cost.
When your Global Entry account expires 5 years after your application, do not renew it. Global Entry benefits are included with your NEXUS membership.
It is our goal to provide you the best information we have in response to your question. If you follow the information provided in our response, and still need assistance, please reply to this email and we will investigate how we may further assist you.
Thank you again for contacting the CBP INFO Center.
Sincerely,
CBP INFO Center
Your NEXUS membership is not set to expire until July 11 2016.
As an approved NEXUS member, you added Global Entry for an additional $100. When you completed your Global Entry application, you received a Global Entry card. When you activated the Global Entry Card, your NEXUS Card was deactivated and the option to renew NEXUS was removed from your account.
If you wish to renew NEXUS, you will have to wait for your NEXUS membership to expire. Once it expires, you will have the option within your TTP online account to renew NEXUS. After you follow all of the steps to become a NEXUS member again, including the completion of an interview at a NEXUS Enrollment Center near the Canadian border, you will receive a new NEXUS card and will have Global Entry benefits at no additional cost.
When your Global Entry account expires 5 years after your application, do not renew it. Global Entry benefits are included with your NEXUS membership.
It is our goal to provide you the best information we have in response to your question. If you follow the information provided in our response, and still need assistance, please reply to this email and we will investigate how we may further assist you.
Thank you again for contacting the CBP INFO Center.
Sincerely,
CBP INFO Center
Archived: The NEXUS Information Thread
Feb 8, 2019, 7:23 am
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHL
Programs: AA - Plat, HHonors - Diamond, IHG - Plat, Marriott - Gold, National - Exec, Amtrak - Select, NEXUS
Posts: 1,075
If you are getting "front of line" privileges, there will be a separate queue for NEXUS holders, and that just dumps you to the same security entrance point as the regular queue where you are supposed to get priority over normals. I've had this happen in YUL (only a portion of the time) and YYC (the one time I flew out of there), both in the US-bound terminal.
If there isn't a separate queue, flashing your card won't work and you get in line with everyone else.
If there isn't a separate queue, flashing your card won't work and you get in line with everyone else.
Feb 9, 2019, 6:29 pm
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 4
I've read through a lot, but not all, of this 746 pg thread...
I've been conditionally approved for Nexus and have my interview scheduled in a few weeks (US Citizen) but I'm primarily applying for the global/tsa pre benefits for other international travel. I've crossed to Canada once last year, and I'm sure I'll go again, but it's not a regular thing.
Do I tell them this at the interview? Or do I keep it vague about wanting the benefits when I travel to CA in the future? I don't want to have to go through the process again for Global, but I also don't want to be dishonest.
Thanks!
I've been conditionally approved for Nexus and have my interview scheduled in a few weeks (US Citizen) but I'm primarily applying for the global/tsa pre benefits for other international travel. I've crossed to Canada once last year, and I'm sure I'll go again, but it's not a regular thing.
Do I tell them this at the interview? Or do I keep it vague about wanting the benefits when I travel to CA in the future? I don't want to have to go through the process again for Global, but I also don't want to be dishonest.
Thanks!
Feb 9, 2019, 6:59 pm
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: PHL
Programs: AA - Plat, HHonors - Diamond, IHG - Plat, Marriott - Gold, National - Exec, Amtrak - Select, NEXUS
Posts: 1,075
Feb 9, 2019, 7:03 pm
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 4
Awesome! I wasn't sure since the main intent of Nexus was for US<>CA if they'd look at me funny. Thanks!
Feb 10, 2019, 5:38 pm
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 831
However, some time later, we went in to update documents, and interacted with a CBP officer of the type that gives CBP a bad reputation. I mentioned as part of a question that we wanted it mostly for PreCheck, and she said she would have denied us because "that's not what it's for". She also refused to answer another very simple and straightforward question and had an inappropriately authoritarian attitude about it. (I was eminently polite and friendly throughout the encounter.)
This was before TSA had its own background check and interview program; the only way to get PreCheck was by having Global Entry or NEXUS or by being one of the frequent flyers invited by participating airlines. So her comment made even less sense.
Since then, I've visited Canada slightly less than once per year and Mexico once. That's it. My wife traveled outside the US even less than that. But we both were approved upon renewal with no interview required.
Feb 10, 2019, 7:18 pm
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 4
Feb 11, 2019, 6:57 am
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 27
It is possible for your intent to change.. yes you're bending the truth a bit but it is possible to want a card that you are legally eligible for to travel betwen US and Canada. Then later you intend to travel less between USA and Canada, and use it more for PreCheck.
I got my nexus 10 years ago primarily to visit cross border relatives 6x a year and go cross border shopping once a month. Now with the US $ and less visits to relatives, I travel 2x across the border by land in a year (vs. 6x to visit relatives and 12x to shop = 18x a year previously)
I probably take 5 flights into the US every year now, so technically a card that I got for cross border land trips is now used for mostly air travel.
Feb 16, 2019, 5:34 pm
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: SkyPesos -> MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 680
lol TSA agent at BOS this week gave me a hard time for using my Nexus card as ID versus my passport.
Come on guys, the program has been out for like what? More than 10 years?
Come on guys, the program has been out for like what? More than 10 years?
Feb 16, 2019, 6:03 pm
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4
A Data-Point 15 years in the making!
Hi everyone. It's time for a data point (DP) about 15 years in the making!
Yes, I'm the guy who ordered an adult DVD movie from the USA and then had it seized from the mail by the CBSA. (I was in my early 20s and thinking with the wrong body part.)
And I finally got approved for Nexus. The interview was today.
After all this time, knowing for weeks that the interview was coming, I was really sweating it out. I was really nervous about what they would ask in the interview and how I would explain the situation with the DVD. And in the end, the interview was really straightforward and they didn't even ask about it. What a relief!
For anyone else who had the same situation as myself, here is the info:
1. At the time I submitted the Nexus application, it had been more than 10 years since the DVD movie got seized, and probably more like 15 years.
2. The movie was clearly declared on the shipping paperwork and I wasn't arrested or in any other trouble because of the seizure.
3. On the Nexus application, I did disclose what happened. Although I deliberately used some rather 'vague' language in my statement.
If anyone else has a similar problem and needs more information, feel free to PM me because I suspect a detailed discussion of adult topics is not approved on this forum.
Hmmm, I suppose that's open to interpretation on "properly declared"...
If I declare that I bring some prosciutto de parma from Italy that is marked "Certified for Export", and it's seized, it's reasonably certain that I made an honest mistake and said item is not illegal.
If the nature of the adult videos were not permitted (why were they seized) for some reason, then it may have been flagged/noted.
If I declare that I bring some prosciutto de parma from Italy that is marked "Certified for Export", and it's seized, it's reasonably certain that I made an honest mistake and said item is not illegal.
If the nature of the adult videos were not permitted (why were they seized) for some reason, then it may have been flagged/noted.
And I finally got approved for Nexus. The interview was today.
After all this time, knowing for weeks that the interview was coming, I was really sweating it out. I was really nervous about what they would ask in the interview and how I would explain the situation with the DVD. And in the end, the interview was really straightforward and they didn't even ask about it. What a relief!
For anyone else who had the same situation as myself, here is the info:
1. At the time I submitted the Nexus application, it had been more than 10 years since the DVD movie got seized, and probably more like 15 years.
2. The movie was clearly declared on the shipping paperwork and I wasn't arrested or in any other trouble because of the seizure.
3. On the Nexus application, I did disclose what happened. Although I deliberately used some rather 'vague' language in my statement.
If anyone else has a similar problem and needs more information, feel free to PM me because I suspect a detailed discussion of adult topics is not approved on this forum.
Feb 18, 2019, 6:35 pm
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,638
Why was it seized?
Feb 18, 2019, 7:02 pm
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 4
It was seized because there is certain content which they don't allow here in Canada, even though it may be legal in the USA or other countries.
If you want me to get into more detail then send a private message because I think this site should be family friendly.
If you want me to get into more detail then send a private message because I think this site should be family friendly.
Feb 24, 2019, 6:45 pm
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: CLE
Programs: NEXUS, MileagePlus Silver, Frontier Diamond, IHG Spire, Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Hertz PC
Posts: 264
In their defense (I don't normally defend TSA), depending on the airport they may have never seen a NEXUS card outside of training. I've used mine at small airports away from the land border and had them actually ask questions about how I got one and what it benefits it enables.
Feb 25, 2019, 5:37 am
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: SkyPesos -> MVP Gold 100K
Posts: 680
In their defense (I don't normally defend TSA), depending on the airport they may have never seen a NEXUS card outside of training. I've used mine at small airports away from the land border and had them actually ask questions about how I got one and what it benefits it enables.
Feb 27, 2019, 3:40 pm
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,639
Moderator's Action
For indexing and future search purposes, posts discussing NEXUS applications by current Global Entry members were relocated to the relevant thread:
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator
Last edited by TWA884; Feb 27, 2019 at 3:53 pm Reason: Typo
Mar 2, 2019, 1:04 pm
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 296
If I have a NEXUS card without an iris scan attached to it, can I still use the NEXUS card to bypass CATSA security lines at Canadian airports?
... and I should have just thrown out my contacts during my interview to get the iris scan done during the interview. Oh well.
... and I should have just thrown out my contacts during my interview to get the iris scan done during the interview. Oh well.