NEXUS offices reopen at YVR, but applicants warned of 2-step process | Globalnews.ca

British Columbians hoping to get their hands on a NEXUS card to ease cross -border travel finally have an enrolment option in Metro Vancouver, though the process might not be as easy as some were hoping.

The NEXUS enrolment centre at the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) reopened on Monday, and the Canada Border Service Agency says it hopes the facility will help clear a massive backlog of applications that’s piled up over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re going to have more interviews opening up from May onwards and our operation will be running seven days a week,” said CBSA Acting Chief of Operations at YVR Manbir Moore.

“So slowly but surely this will help with the backlog and we will catch up.”

Would-be applicants, however, are being warned that the airport enrolment centre operates as a two-step process.

Applicants must have a valid flight ticket to a U.S. destination booked on the same date as their interview with CBSA officers. They must then proceed through security as normal, and conduct a second interview with a U.S. official in the U.S. pre-clearance area of the airport.

NEXUS enrolment centres have been closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic, and as of March 1 the estimated NEXUS waitlist sat at 269,000.

The U.S. fully reopened its 13 NEXUS enrolment offices last April, but Canada’s 13 facilities have not resumed joint interviews with U.S. and Canadian officials amid a dispute over legal protections for American customs officers in Canada, including the authority to be able to carry a gun.

For the last year, that has left would-be applicants in B.C. with a single option — attending the U.S. border crossing at Blaine for a joint interview with U.S. and Canadian border officials.

Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer based in Blaine Washington, told Global News the reopening of airport enrolment centres may help to chip away at the backlog, but that he’s already hearing a lot of confusion about the two-step process.

“You first have to book a flight on the same day as your Canadian NEXUS interview, time that out, then you have to go through security. That may take an hour or so because you don’t have a NEXUS card. You then go and speak to an American officer,” he said.

“So you’re waiting for your second interview after you’ve gone through customs, your plane may be taking off soon, and now you have to do that second interview and hopefully not miss your flight … seems like a lot of jumping through hoops.”

Saunders said the two-step process will likely work for people who travel frequently to the U.S. and have flexibility about when they can book their flights.

But he said he had questions about how many people may end up completing their Canadian interview, but not the second part in the U.S. pre-clearance area.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to those people, if they’re going to be put at the back of the line and have to reapply,” he said.

“I think it’s going to make a lot of people frustrated.”

Moore said anyone booking their appointment at the YVR NEXUS office will get an email with clear directions, and urged them to read the information all the way through.

You can learn more about how to apply for or renew a NEXUS card at the CBSA’s website.

— with files from Emily Mertz

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