NEXUS interviews to return at Canadian airports
Posted March 20, 2023 10:20 pm.
Last Updated March 21, 2023 2:53 pm.
People will be able to book NEXUS interviews at Vancouver International Airport starting Apr. 3.
YVR is just one of eight airports to reopen enrolment centres. The first two are set to reopen in Halifax and Winnipeg on Mar. 27.
On the Government of Canada’s website, the NEXUS program itself is described as a program “designed to speed up border crossings into Canada and the United States (U.S.) for low-risk, pre-approved travellers. It is jointly run by the Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
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The Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) says it is honouring a prior commitment to bring back all NEXUS enrolment centres at Canadian airports by the end of spring 2023.
The reopening process concludes in Toronto and Ottawa on Apr. 24.
According to the CBSA, applicants in Canada are able to choose from three options for their NEXUS interview process, with one option not requiring the applicant to head over the border.
NEXUS issues began during the pandemic. While enrolment centres in the U.S. have been open since April 2022, most of the centres in Canada remained closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The closures were in place because Customs and Border Protection would not send U.S. agents to staff the centres unless they got the same measure of legal protection agents have at existing ports of entry.
In January, the Canadian and U.S. governments announced a set of measures to address backlogs.
On Monday, March 21, federal Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino said NEXUS presents a “win-win for Canada and the United States.”
“The reopening of NEXUS airport enrolment centres in Canada is making a major difference – reducing the backlog, expanding capacity and helping more people get NEXUS cards,” he said.
Mendicino adds NEXUS will continue to receive support as it generates “billions in economic activity” in both countries.
The CBSA says over 300,000 NEXUS enrolments have been completed since October of 2022.
