Additional NEXUS Lane Opens at Pacific Highway, British Columbia

SURREY, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 19, 2013) - The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) today announced the opening of an additional NEXUS lane at the Pacific Highway border crossing located at Surrey, British Columbia and Blaine, Washington, providing more efficient border clearance for low-risk travellers. Doing this will enhance our throughput capacity and reduce wait times.

Canada and the United States agreed on a plan to implement NEXUS technology at nine border crossings as part of the Canada/U.S. Action Plan on Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness (Action Plan). Under that commitment, two new NEXUS lanes in British Columbia, one at Douglas and one at Abbotsford, opened on November 8, 2012.

The existing NEXUS lane is open from 7 a.m. until midnight, seven days a week, for entry into Canada. The second lane, announced today, will be used to process NEXUS members during high-volume periods. The new lane at the Pacific Highway port of entry is the fourth NEXUS lane in Canada to officially open as part of the Action Plan commitment.

Action Plan achievements for NEXUS to date include:

• conducting enrolment blitzes to assist with increasing application volumes;
• streamlining the membership renewal process;
• lifting the three-year residency requirement for Canadian and American citizens to apply to NEXUS;
• expanding Trusted Traveller Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) security screening lines in pre-clearance areas as well as for domestic and select international flights at Canada's eight major airports;
• expedited clearance through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Pre-Check lanes at 27 participating airports for U.S. domestic travel; and
• delivering on our commitment to expand NEXUS lanes and booths by June 2013 at nine agreed upon locations.

Currently there are over 790,000 NEXUS members who expedite their travel across the Canada-U.S. border at designated land, air and marine locations.

For more information on NEXUS, go to www.nexus.gc.ca.

For more information on the Action Plan on Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, please visit the Web site www.borderactionplan.gc.ca.

Follow the Canada Border Services Agency (@CanBorder) and Public Safety Canada (@Safety_Canada) on Twitter.