Apply for a Canadian Border Nexus Pass Online in 2022

It is amazingly easy to cause the border police to take away your Nexus cards and ban you from participating in the Nexus system. There are many rules, and even one small violation can cause them to revoke your privileges (no, they don't refund your fee). Listen carefully to the rules and read all of the materials they give you, and then still it is best to be extra cautious because they take away Nexus very, very often and don't always even give any explanation. Go here to get Nexus

Last year we were very frustrated by the Nexus system. As you approach the border, you have to make sure you are positioned so you can move into the Nexus lane as soon as it becomes accessible. If we knew it was always on the right or left, that would not be terribly difficult but they keep changing the lanes and moving the Nexus. Sometimes after waiting in the long backups and getting close, we discovered we were too many lanes away and couldn't cross the backed up traffic to get to the Nexus lane. That was very frustrating. Also the Nexus lane has a light that is very dim and not visible from far away. We can hardly tell if it is lit (Nexus is open) or not (Nexus is closed). If you make the mistake of thinking it is open, only to find it closed, the people in the lined up cars treat you as if you were trying to cheat and cut the line. They simply won't let you back in. We once waited for an hour before someone would allow us to re-enter the regular line. There is a discussion forum full of similar stores here. Go here to get Nexus

Many of our friends with Nexus passes don't know this, but we have had some very stern reproaches from Nexus border guards on this one, including a promise that if we let this happen we will lose our Nexus cards. The Nexus rules include a requirement that you do not have anything in your car that belongs to someone who is not in your car. That sounds fair at first, but is actually very difficult for a family to comply with. If my son leaves his sweater in the back seat or in the trunk, and I go through Nexus alone in the car, they can take away my Nexus for violating this rule. The border guard told me that if my husband drives through the Nexus lane alone and they decide to spot-check his car and find my lipstick in the glove compartment, they will cancel his Nexus! We decided it was worth the effort to keep our car cleaned out during hockey season, to avoid this trouble. It is a total hassle for us and we're close to deciding the Nexus convenience is not worth it. Go here to get Nexus

If the border control people decide that a member of your family is not worthy of being a "trusted traveler" (even one that doesn't live with you), they may also decide you are not trustworthy and revoke your Nexus pass privileges. They don't have to tell you anything. They simply notify you that your Nexus has been cancelled, and you are ineligible for re-applying. It happened to a close friend, who eventually discovered the reason and argued to no avail. A family member had a problem with a cross-border business dealing and the government decided the whole family could no longer be trusted. Go here to get Nexus

One small violation of any rule and you can lose your Nexus pass, making you ineligible to ever re-apply for it. When beef was prohibited (it is now cleared), we crossed the border with a car trash bag that included a half-eaten Wendy's hamburger. That was enough to cause an alarm at the crossing. We were waiting for our Nexus pass approval at that time, and were told that in we had been Nexus card holders they would have cancelled the Nexus for that mistake. Go here to get Nexus

The Nexus Pass can only be used in the designated Nexus Lanes at the border, which are not always open. Check the schedule carefully, because we found that many if not most times we wished we could bypass the border backup traffic, the Nexus lane was closed and we had to wait with everyone else even though we had paid for Nexus and complied with all of the rules. Go here to get Nexus

This may be related to the construction projects at the Pacific Truck Crossing and Peace Arch, but we find that the traffic backup almost always blocks access to the Nexus lane. We spend forever stuck with everyone else in regular border backups, until we were 6 or 7 cars away from the check point and can finally drive in the Nexus lane. That's not howit is supposed to work, but that is how they have it set up right now. Go here to get Nexus

Even with Nexus passes, you are required to have all of your documentation ready (passports, drivers license or original birth certificates, etc) with you in case they decide to check your papers. So don't think that the photo ID Nexus pass replaces your need to carry the required documents. We were told that if we are checked and don't have everything, they will cancel our Nexus passes. Go here to get Nexus