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  Entering USA by Boat with NEXUS

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Author Topic:   Entering USA by Boat with NEXUS
jimh posted 08-18-2012 04:06 PM ET (US)   Profile for jimh   Send Email to jimh  
Several years ago Chris and I both got NEXUS cards. We have used the NEXUS card and the special NEXUS lane at automobile border crossings several times with great results. We saved hours of time and had no problems crossing into Canada or returning to the USA. This summer we used the card for the first time to enter the USA by boat from Canada.

We had been in Canada for six days. We returned to the USA at Drummond Island, Michigan from Thessalon, Ontario. At it happens there is a USA Point of Entry at Drummond Island Yacht Basin. We were in a fleet of six boats, and most of the boats were going to the yacht basin to report to the Immigration and Customs office located there. We decided we'd report via telephone to save time and ease the load on the Immigration Agents at Drummond. In this way the other boaters in our fleet could use the Port of Entry and we'd use the telephone call-in system. I had already looked up the telephone for the local district office in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and I had the number on my cellular telephone directory.

When we got in sight of the yacht basin, we slowed to idle speed and called the US Customs and Immigration in Sault Ste. Marie. After a short delay, an agent came on the line. The conversation went something like this:

Me: I want to report entry to the USA via boat at Drummond Island, Michigan. I have a NEXUS card. Everyone on the boat has a NEXUS card. There are just two of us.

Agent: Where did you come from?

Me: Thessalon, Ontario.

Agent: How long were you in Canada?

Me: Six days.

Agent: Where are you now?

Me: I am just a few minutes away from Drummond Island Yacht Basin.

The agent then asks me for my name, my birthday, and some other information, which I give her. Then she asks me this:

Agent: What is the number on your NEXUS card?

Me: (Looking at the card.) I don't see any number.

Agent: It's on the back.

Me: (Turning card over. There are several numbers on the card. There are numbers on the upper right and upper left--different numbers--and a very long number--about thirty digits--in the middle bottom and a shorter number, nine digits, in the center) Ah, there are a lot of numbers on this card. Which one do you want?

Agent: It's the card id number.

The numbers are printed in type that is about 6-point type. It was a good thing it was broad daylight as I could just barely make out these tiny little numbers. Some of the numbers are printed against a complicated background on the card (to make forgery more difficult) and they are hard to read. It is only by taking off my glasses and squinting that I can make them out. I look at the various numbers, trying to see which one might be the most appropriate. One of them says something in French, Spanish, and English and looks like it includes "PASSID." Again, this is all in about 6-point type, you know, like the smallest line on the eye examination chart, the one you can't quite read clearly anymore.

Me: Here is a number, this may be it: (I read off the number under PASSID which I can just barely make out due to the tiny print; it's on the upper left corner of the back of the card.)

This must have been the right number, because at this point the agent began to interview me for information about my crew. I give her all that data, including the NEXUS card "passid" number.

The agent then gives me a "reporting number" that I need to record. The reporting number is eleven digits. I jot this down in my notebook.

At this point the interview seemed to be over, and the telephone call ended.

I am not certain, but I don't recall getting quizzed about any customs items, if I was bringing anything into the USA, what I bought in Canada, and so on.

I think most of the time the Customs agents interact with a NEXUS card the card will be read electronically. For situations like this where the card holder needs to read data off the card, the card should have been made with the number much larger and the number should be clearly identified with its significance among all the other numbers.

Now cleared for entry, we proceeded to the yacht basin. We come over to the fuel dock and tie up. Chris jumps off the boat and heads for the marina office--I think she needed the bathroom. She walks past a US Immigration Agent coming down the dock. I step off the boat. The agent comes over to me.

Agent: Is she off your boat? (Gestures toward Chris walking up the dock.)

Me: Yes. We already cleared by telephone.

Agent: Do you have a reporting number.

Me: Yes. (I show him the notebook and the reporting number. He transcribes it into his logbook.)

A few minutes later another boat in our fleet comes in. The skipper and crew also have NEXUS cards. I go over to say hi. The skipper tells me he tried to report via telephone, too, but the office told him they were too busy, and he must go to the yacht basin and report here. The dock agent has come over to check the new arrival, and he overhears the comment that the office at Sault Ste. Marie was too busy to handle the call. The agent is bemused because he is running around checking-in six boats with twelve people (our fleet) that just arrived in a matter of five minutes, plus a couple of other boats that arrived before us. The agent says, "Oh, like we aren't busy down here!"

That's my first border crossing by boat with a NEXUS card. Today I transcribed the tiny numbers from the PASSID onto the card holder sleeves in large numerals; I'll be ready for the next time we cross.

dfmcintyre posted 08-18-2012 06:38 PM ET (US)     Profile for dfmcintyre  Send Email to dfmcintyre     
Jim -

If you call 810-985-9972 and ask the agent to email you the BR form (it's in pdf format), it's even easier than NEXUS.

Over a beer, I'll tell you more about that form....

Don

On Mackinac Island

jimh posted 08-19-2012 10:33 AM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
Oh yeah, sure Don, get myself into another government database...

:-)

wannabe posted 08-19-2012 11:51 AM ET (US)     Profile for wannabe  Send Email to wannabe     
I wonder how much travel by boat between the two countries has been affected? I used to go from Metrobeach to Sarnia(Canada) with a friend every year. Now we stay on the American side to to avoid my lack of the proper paperwork.


Drew

jimh posted 08-19-2012 05:07 PM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
There really has been no change for reporting entry into a Canadian port by boat by an American citizen. It works the same way it did 25-years-ago. They have their special telephones set up at most ports, even small recreational ports. What has changed is the entry into the United State of America by boat by a U.S. citizen. You now have to report to a port of entry if you are not pre-approved, that is, have NEXUS status. Years ago you could just phone in from anywhere and they'd most likely just tell you "welcome back." Even if you are in NEXUS, you can still be required to report to a port of entry when entering the USA, as I detailed in my narrative above.

Twenty-five years ago it was possible to run back and forth across the border and not report anything, but today if you try that you will very likely be detected and detained. It's not so much the procedures have drastically changed, but the monitoring and enforcement is much greater today. No doubt the casual border crossings by boat are now reduced because of the stricter enforcement.

Canada also seems to have stepped up their notion of what constitutes entering their country. Anchoring or even fishing in their territorial water is now, I believe, considered to be entering Canada. Your boat can travel through Canadian water if you are on the way to somewhere else, but if you stop, you have entered and need to report. But no matter how much hassle, it is still darn fun to travel to Canada and back by your own boat.

wannabe posted 08-19-2012 08:43 PM ET (US)     Profile for wannabe  Send Email to wannabe     
Yes, I know first hand that is harder to get back into our own country than to go to Canada. My friend(boat owner) was contacted months later after we last went to Canada by the U.S. agents after as to why we did not report back to the States. They had to get that info that we left the States from Canadian agents. This was about five years ago.

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