As part of an effort to rescue the beleaguered trusted-traveller program between Canada and the U.S., which is meant to fast track border crossing at land borders and airports, New York congressman Rep. Brian Higgins has launched a Buffalo based solution.
Canadian Nexus applicants can be interviewed by border agents in Buffalo, N.Y. which will help move the backlog of Ontario applications. The new procedure at the Peace Bridge crossing, which links Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, is an extension of a pilot project that began in SEP at the Thousand Islands crossing, reports CP24. In both locations, Canadian applicants perform two separate interviews, first on the Canadian side and then on the U.S. side. CP24 reports the pilot project is considered to be a partial, short-term solution to an impasse which has led to the U.S. refusing to staff Nexus enrolment centres in Canada, over what they consider “inadequate legal protection.”
