Canadians are about to start paying a heftier amount to get a Nexus pass.
If you’ve been looking to replace or renew your existing Nexus pass or apply for a new one, you might want to get your documents together in the next few days.
A substantial fee increase will take effect on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced the upcoming fee changes in April.
The Nexus program allows Canadians who travel to the U.S. often to cross the U.S.-Canada border more quickly and easily. The application fee currently stands at $50 USD ($67.42 CAD), but according to the CBSA, it will more than double in just a couple of weeks to $120 USD ($161.80 CAD).
The agency said the Nexus program is in “high demand” and that the current $50 USD fee has been in place for over 20 years and “no longer covers the cost of the program.” As of April, the CBSA said Nexus had over 1.8 million members, most of whom were Canadians.
An alert on the federal government’s website warns applicants of the forthcoming change.
The price increase would help keep up with the volume of applicants, cover the cost of administering the program, and further invest in and improve technology and infrastructure.
The new fee would be $24 CAD ($32.36 CAD) per year for the five-year Nexus membership.
However, the fee increase is subject to approval of regulatory amendments in the U.S. and Canada.
Between April 2023 and April 2024, the CBSA received over 510,000 applications and conducted over 10,000 interviews every two weeks.
During that time, the CBSA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) expanded hours of service at enrolment centres in both Canada and the U.S. to add more interview appointments. Canadian airport enrolment centres were also reopened across the country.
Nexus backlog still has over 270K Canadians waiting for application approval https://t.co/uA9B0LVQw5 #Nexus #Canada
— blogTO (@blogTO) June 13, 2023
The CBSA said it anticipated an increase in applications between April and October 2024 and encouraged applicants to book their interviews as soon as possible. More information on the application process can be found here.
If you’ve submitted your application and paid the current $50 USD fee but haven’t completed your enrolment interviews by October 1, 2024, you will not have to pay the $120 USD fee.
With files from Simran Singh
