As there's a significant and active thread on Global Entry in the Travel Safety/Security forum here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...orthwhile.html

please follow as the thread moves to the hosting forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

Newbie question here...

I'm researching NEXUS vs. Global Entry and trying to decide which is better for my needs.

I'm leaning towards NEXUS - it seems that it has all of the benefits of Global Entry plus the benefit of NEXUS kiosks in Canadian points of entry. Nexus costs $50 for 5 years, and Global Entry costs $100 for 5 years. Am I missing something here?

Thanks for any advice.

Nexus is nicer IF you can get close to a Nexus center. I would have wanted Nexus, but I didn't have any trips planned up north in a while.

NEXUS is much better. The only downside is if you have to make a special trip to get it. I'm in Canada every 2-3 weeks, so it makes a ton of sense.

Remember that NEXUS also gets you dedicated lanes (or even whole bridges) on land borders and also can be used in SENTRI lanes coming from Mexico.

Seattle is a cool place to hang out for a few days. Taking a trip to Niagara Falls is also nice.A

Yeah. I've gone to Seattle a few times and am planning to go to Niagara in a few months, but I needed GE a few months ago. :)

Are you a US or Canadian NEXUS holder? I'm Canadian, got the same post-card. On the GOES site it says I'm automatically enrolled in GE, but there is no option to join. However, apparently it does not matter as you can still use the GE kiosk anyway. A bunch of ppl on the AC forum are saying the same thing HERE.

I'm curious -- is the code a full match or is it something like "if code ends with a 9, then secondary check"?

When I enrolled they gave me an extra sticker "in case the other one fell off", I have no idea where I'd find it today, however.

If you do get NEXUS when you go to Niagara, don't go to the Enrollment Centre in Niagara Falls, NY, which is at the Whirlpool Bridge. They don't have an IRIS camera. Go instead to Ft. Erie, ON (at the Peace Bridge, right across from Downtown Buffalo) or YYZ.

That's weird. Technically, the only people who can put stuff like that in your passport are government agents.

The only issue some Canadians may have is if they got their NEXUS cards prior to the move to a common, 10 fingerprint live scan. In that case, they need to go to a NEXUS or GE office and get the prints done. It takes all of 5 minutes. At some people, you should get the CBP sticker as well, as it can help if the machines are down.

I got my NEXUS in 2010. I had my 10 fingerprints done and apparently these get automatically placed in the GE database so we can now use the kiosks. Yes, and it has been recommended that we obtain the CBP passport sticker.

I think that the GOES website is just not updated correctly. Before this a Canadian was not eligible for GE (only US and some Dutch citizens). I suspect the programming is lagging behind the policy.

There is no need to enroll, which is a step up for those of use who had to actually click a few buttons before. You can just start using GE if you have the 10 prints (as you do), or you can go into a NEXUS or GE office and get the 10 prints done (though, some of the CBP people are stupidly uninformed and might try to say all of this is a fantasy), which takes less than 5 minutes.

Too late for that now. I already paid my $100 to GE.

Yep, same with me! The officer said "here's an extra one for good luck!" It's a plain white sticker with the letters "CBP" in blue.

I guess he recognized that it's not the sticker that matters, but instead what the CBP systems have on record about the passport.

As I noted above, I've never been asked to show the passport anywhere except ORD. At ORD, I'm asked about 50% of the time to show the sticker.

When they say bring your conditional approval to the interview, is that just the page where you log in and they say it has been approved? I did not get any mail/email.