News for Nexus - repost from Windsor Star
Nexus is just like passport
Card all you need at land border, says U.S. official
Trevor Wilhelm, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, May 16, 2007
On the day Mayor Eddie Francis got a Nexus card, U.S. customs officials said having it will eliminate the need for passports when strict new border crossing rules take effect next year.
"It's going to not only expedite your crossing at the border, but it's going to be your document for crossing the border," chief Ron Smith of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Detroit said Tuesday."
If you're not flying, you don't need that passport. You can get the Nexus card, or one of the other alternatives we're anticipating will be there."
Francis joined U.S. Consul General John Nay and border officials for a news conference at the Nexus enrolment centre at the U.S. mouth of the Ambassador Bridge. After some speeches in the lane of a border guard booth, Francis and Nay went inside to get their own Nexus cards.
"I carry a passport, but even with the passport, you have to wait in line," Francis said after showing off his new card for the cameras.
"We all know the issues of getting a passport today. The long lineups, the long delays.
"Something very simple as the Nexus card accomplishes the same thing and perhaps may have better future utility given the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative that they're planning."
The WHTI will take effect in 2008, requiring people to have specific documentation to cross the border. Much of the focus has been on passports. But Jim Foster, press attache for the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, said Nexus cards will be a suitable alternative.
Nexus, in operation since 2002, is designed to expedite border clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travellers through specially designated lanes at crossings. Smith said travellers can clear the booth in seconds with the card. It costs about $80 for five years.
Nay said Nexus is expanding to airports across Canada and can also be used at some marine border crossings.
Getting the card requires fingerprinting, a personal interview and a background check. Not everyone qualifies.
Smith said about 120,000 people use Nexus cards to cross the border between Canada and the U.S., with 14,000 in the Windsor-Detroit area. FAST is a similar program for commercial vehicles.
Some provinces are also working on enhanced drivers licences with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that could replace passports, said Smith.
But Foster warned not to put off getting a passport or Nexus card thinking enhanced licences are a sure thing.
"We're talking about something that doesn't exist yet," he said. "If you want to be safe, get a passport."
Even before the new rules take effect next year, Francis said wider use of Nexus is a good thing for our economy.
"It's good for tourism, it's good for the economy," he said. "It's an opportunity for people to cross the border more easily and with less hassles. If more people understood this program and more people were enrolled in this program, you would have the barriers that may be in place now to people coming over removed."
Having a Nexus card would also make life easier for Windsorites who have to cross the border regularly, said Francis.
