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Travelers who use a NEXUS card to speed across local land borders can now use the card at airports and when traveling between the U.S. and Canada by boat.

In a December 14 press release U.S. Customs and Border protection announced that NEXUS privileges would be extended to all points of entry where NEXUS is currently accepted.

“This program is a true success story and demonstrates the strength of our relationship with Canada,” said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commissioner W. Ralph Basham. “Since its inception in 2002 NEXUS has grown to over 110,000 members, a tribute to the benefits that this program offers. I appreciate that NEXUS improves security while encouraging and facilitating cross-border travel and commerce between our two countries.”

NEXUS is a trusted-traveler program operated jointly by CBP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The program cost has been and will continue to be $50 or CDN$80 for five years and anyone that can “satisfy CBP and CBSA of their low risk status” is eligible for the program, according to information on the CBP website, www.cbp.gov.
Current NEXUS highway members will need to go to either the Vancouver airport or Seattle enrollment centers for an iris scan before they can use their NEXUS cards for air travel. In the future all NEXUS enrollment centers will include an iris scan as they process new applications.

Members of the pilot NEXUS air program will receive new harmonized NEXUS cards in the mail so they can start using the NEXUS lanes at land borders. Boaters in both programs can phone a reporting center to report entry at marine ports.

NEXUS is also expected to be an acceptable form of identification for crossing the border once the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative starts to go into effect at airports in 2007, and in 2009 at land borders. Under the initiative everyone crossing the border into the U.S. will need a passport or a travel document the federal government deems as secure as a passport.

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