Meetings to explain NEXUS

By Meg Olson

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service will start a series of meetings next month to familiarize people with the NEXUS system and the enrollment process, set to get underway later in June.

The first meetings will be in Point Roberts on June 8 and with several non-governmental organizations. Point Roberts residents will be the first allowed to enroll in NEXUS and local organizations are being primed to smooth the enrollment process. “They’re going to help us with the processing,” said district chief of inspections Ron Hays. “We haven’t worked out the details yet but they would hand out applications and scan completed ones. They aren’t adjudicating or collecting data, just making sure the application won’t be sent back because of a mistake filling it out.”

Applications will also be available at the ports of entry, Hays said, possibly to be handed out in the primary inspection lanes. Completed applications would be mailed to the Canadian processing center which would forward it to the U.S. side. Successful applicants would be called to the port for an interview and, if cleared, be photographed, fingerprinted and issued a card.
Hays said the lanes would open as soon as applicants were approved. A recent change has been a hike in the proposed NEXUS fee. “We’ve decided $50 Canadian doesn’t work so now it’s $50 American,” Hays said. The cards are valid for five years.

Unlike PACE, there is no telephone information available on the NEXUS program but Hays said the Canada Customs and the INS web sites would be putting up information about the program. “As we get closer to the opening we hope it will be updated to include applications,” he said.

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