NEXUS Urban Enrollment Center in Vancouver Won’t Reopen Post COVID-19
Vancouver will be losing its Urban Enrollment Center for NEXUS and FAST interviews once the pandemic is a thing of the past, as it will not be reopening at all.
In an email sent to NEXUS members today, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced the Vancouver location will not be reopening once COVID-19 restrictions are eased:
Vancouver Urban Enrollment Centre for NEXUS and FAST interviews
will not be re-opening to the public once COVID-19 restrictions are eased.
Interviews may be scheduled at any of the other enrollment centres after they
re-open, including at the nearby Vancouver International Airport or in Birch
Bay, Washington.
COVID-19 Claims Another Victim
The Vancouver Urban Enrollment Center was centrally-located and was along major commute routes. From now on, the only location where one can conduct NEXUS and FAST interviews in the Metro Vancouver area is the Vancouver International Airport (YVR) location, which, while also serviced by the light rail system, requires a 3-zone ticket (most expensive) and a $5 CAD YVR AddFare. Unfortunately, the airport is considerably more expensive for a regular folk to commute to.
But Wait... Didn't The CBP Announce This Already?
Upon further research, it appears the CBSA made the announcment more than 2 months after the US’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced they will no longer conduct Trusted Traveler Program interviews at the Vancouver Urban Enrollment Center. This is the catalyst of why the CBSA is closing the location: without its US counterpart conducting interviews, the enrollment center serves only 1/2 of its purpose. It is the logical outcome once the CBP made its announcement dated July 8:
CBP personnel will not resume operations at the Vancouver UEC when the other Trusted Traveler Programs enrollment centers reopen.
So in true Canadian fashion, we waited 2 months to find out from our own government. As Robin from How I Met Your Mother puts it, the 80’s didn’t come to Canada ’til like ’93:
