Finally approved for NEXUS! (And how I was almost denied)

As I said in my previous post, I was able to snag an August appointment in Blaine, WA after using Appointment Scanner. Previously, I was only able to schedule a September appointment. I made the trek this past Friday for my interview. I was almost denied for NEXUS, but eventually I was approved. Keep reading to see what I mean by that.

The enrollment center

The interview was at the Blaine Trusted Traveler Enrollment Center. The center is located in the Birch Bay shopping plaza, which was kind of weird. Blaine is the border town right on the Canadian border. It is a 2 hour drive from Seattle, but with traffic, it took me almost 3 hours to reach it.

When I drove to Blaine, Google Maps kept saying my arrival time would keep being delayed. That made me very concerned and I feared I’d miss my 4pm interview slot. However, I gave them a call and they reassured me I’d be seen even if I arrived late. They were very nice about it!

The center is very well run. Just like the person who answered my call, all of the other staff were very nice. The check in process was straightforward. They asked me to provide them with my printed interview letter, birth certificate, U.S. passport book, and driver license. (The latter is used to prove my current residence address.) They took them from me to give to the CBP and CBSA officers who’d interview me.

They do not want copies of any documents; only originals. Of particular importance is the fact they asked me for my birth certificate. I was about to skip bringing it, since the interview letter did not include that requirement, but someone who interviewed in Blaine told me I need to bring that too.

The interview

After about 20 minutes of waiting, I was called to a counter to interview. There was a CBP officer and a CBSA officer sitting side by side. The CBP is U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while the CBSA is the Canada Border Services Agency (or in French, the ASFC: l’Agence des services frontaliers du Canada). Both officers are present for the interview because this is a bi-national program that requires approval from Canada and the U.S. Although the officers sat next to each other, there was a partition on my side such that I could only see one of them at a time. I would have to move to the other side to talk with the other officer. On their end, they had no such partition. This was a weird setup because they ended up both talking to me at the same time. Furthermore, they talked with each other extensively throughout my interview. The partition only served as an impediment to communicating with them.

The interview here at Blaine is to finalize the application to make sure everything on my application is accurate, to collect my biometrics, and to ensure I am who I really am. Other than that, it is pretty low pressure. The officers did not grill me on why I need NEXUS; in fact, they did not ask me that question at all. They were very nice to me and I chatted with them casually yet respectfully. Part of their job is to see if I am lying about anything on my application. Of course, I did not lie, so I was relaxed and acted like my usual self. That meant they could focus on completing the enrollment process instead of grilling me intensely.

CBP interview

The first half of the interview was with the CBP officer. He reviewed my application to make sure everything was still accurate, such as my employment history and my place of residence. In practice, both the CBP and CBSA officers were looking at my application. They noticed a few things needed correcting, such as the phone number of my current employer. Unfortunately, because of how large my employer is, I had trouble producing an appropriate phone number. I finally ended up just giving the Microsoft Visitor Center phone number. Then, the CBSA officer said “funny, that’s not what I found online”. Oops! Oh well. They said “as long as you give us a phone number that can point us to the right place, that’s fine with us“.

The CBP officer took my photo and took my fingerprints, much like my Global Entry enrollment process. I was able to smile for my photo this time. Unlike my Global Entry enrollment interview, I did not have this NEXUS interview immediately after a 10 hour flight from Paris. The CBSA officer said I looked a lot better here than my previous photo, which made me very happy to hear.

After my biometrics were collected, I was given a chance to ask questions about using NEXUS when returning to the U.S. For instance, I was able to confirm that I could bring my friends with Global Entry into the NEXUS lanes when returning to the U.S., although obviously not when entering Canada. (More on that in the next section.) He also confirmed that my PASSID wouldn’t change. He also told me to shred my Global Entry card as soon as I received my NEXUS card in the mail and activated it online. After that, I was passed over to the CBSA officer.

CBSA interview

The second half of the interview was with the CBSA officer. While the CBP officer focused on information confirmation and biometrics collection, the CBSA officer taught me how to use my NEXUS card. She told me how I would pull up to the NEXUS lane and scan my RFID-enabled card in both the U.S. and Canada. (The two countries have a slight variation in their process.) If I had multiple NEXUS members in the vehicle, I would need to take all of the cards and fan them out at the scanner. This was very helpful, since I was never taught this during my Global Entry interview, despite my Global Entry card giving me access to the U.S. NEXUS lanes.

We then moved on to the warnings. She then informed me that I would have to take the regular lane if I went with people who were not also members of the program. I could not drop them off to walk across the border and pick them up while I used the NEXUS lane. Lastly, she reminded me that the number one reason for revocation of NEXUS cards is for customs violations, so it was important that I declare everything I had with me and try to avoid bringing “healthy foods” (i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables).

At the end, I got the chance to ask her questions about what she said. I asked her a few questions, such as clarifying the fact that the NEXUS card scanning process is different in Canada compared to the U.S. When I asked if I could use my NEXUS card alone to fly into Canada, she told me that was not allowed and I had to take my passport with me. Also, I wondered if my iris scan would be collected. She said that was no longer done because both countries use facial recognition now, which apparently works a lot better than iris recognition.

After I finished talking with her, she handed me back my documents and the interview was completed. I asked if I was approved, and she said “I don’t know, maybe you will receive a card in the mail in two weeks”. I assumed this was their sarcasm and that all was fine. But then I left the enrollment center and my TTP portal didn’t update its status.

Almost denied?

I began to get concerned. Usually, the application updates with the approved status immediately after the interview. That’s what happened for my Global Entry interview and that’s what everyone else says for their NEXUS approvals.

After two days, my application status still hadn’t changed. Concerned, I decided to go ahead and call the Blaine TTP Enrollment Center again. I explained to them how I interviewed two days ago and didn’t see any status updates.

The CBP agent who took my call asked me whether I was calling about NEXUS or Global Entry. Then, he asked me for my PASSID and my name. He spent a solid 3 minutes looking at my application to see what was wrong with it. He then told me “your residence information is incomplete”. Apparently, only my current address was in the system, but the other places I lived in the past 5 years weren’t on there. I then told him over the phone where I lived before moving to my current address. He typed it in, told me “the system liked that answer” and then informed me my application was now approved. “You should get an email right away with your approval notification, and you’ll receive your card in the mail in 7-10 business days.”

Sure enough, I checked the TTP portal and my application was finally approved. (And with that, my Global Entry membership disappeared from my portal, since NEXUS includes Global Entry.) My membership expires on my birthday in 2029, which means I get roughly 6 years before I have to renew.

I am so glad I called to ask about what happened. Not having a completed application would have resulted in a denial. That being said, I was a Global Entry member already, which means they already had that information on file. The fact that they lost my previous residence history astounds me. I would highly recommend anyone whose application isn’t immediately approved after their interview to call their enrollment center to ask about what happened, before the application moves to a denied status.

Final thoughts

My interview process itself was straightforward and pleasant, but because their system messed up, I was almost denied! It was inconvenient to have to call back and check why my application was still not approved. While I would highly recommend the Blaine Enrollment Center for anyone looking to do their NEXUS interviews, I would caution people with complex employment or residence histories to be careful when clarifying their situation with the CBP officer interviewing them.

Regardless, I am so excited to be finally approved for NEXUS! As a teenager, I always wished I had access to this program because I wanted to visit Canada more often and skip the long border waits. NEXUS would have allowed me to go to Canada without needing to time my border crossings. Global Entry already gave me a taste of the VIP life, allowing me to use the NEXUS line when returning from the U.S. by land and skipping waits that used to take me between 1 to 2 hours. The feeling of not being interrogated in the NEXUS lane was awesome. I am absolutely ecstatic to do the same with entering Canada.