Apply for NEXUS from Canada: the Trusted Traveller Program application, the $120 USD fee, conditional approval, the two-agency interview, and renewal.
Applies in: CA
NEXUS is a joint Canada–United States trusted traveller program, run by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), for travellers assessed as low-risk and pre-approved. Members use dedicated lanes and kiosks at participating air, land, and marine ports of entry. You apply online, pay $120 USD per adult, wait for both countries to assess you, then attend an interview with both agencies. Membership lasts 5 years. This guide covers applying from Canada, as CBSA and CBP describe it. It is not a passport guide, and a NEXUS card does not replace a passport.
NEXUS is designed to speed up border crossings for pre-approved, low-risk travellers. It is available to citizens and permanent residents of Canada and the United States who are admissible in Canada and the United States and who pass risk assessments by both countries. It is jointly run: CBSA and CBP each run their own assessment, and both must be satisfied.
Three distinctions matter, because the agencies draw them sharply:
Before paying the non-refundable fee, confirm you meet the published eligibility conditions: you are a citizen or permanent resident of Canada or the United States, you are admissible in both countries, and you can pass the risk assessments both agencies run. The application asks for your full residence, employment, and travel history, and discrepancies or undisclosed information are the usual reason an application fails at assessment. CBSA's program memorandum describes a three-year period of residence in Canada and the United States preceding the application as part of the program's regulatory framework; read the current eligibility wording in the Trusted Traveller Program system at the time you apply, since the system wording is what governs your application.
Children under 18 must apply on their own application and be admitted on their own merits, at no fee, and each person travelling with you needs their own card. A family crossing together in a vehicle cannot use a NEXUS lane unless every occupant is a member.
Applications are submitted in the CBP Trusted Traveller Program (TTP) System, at the TTP website. Create an account, complete the NEXUS application, and pay the $120 USD application processing fee. The fee is non-refundable, even if the application is refused. Save your application number and check the dashboard for updates; CBP also sends an email when the status changes.
Do not pay any other website. The only fee published on the CBSA program page is the $120 USD processing fee, and the application itself lives in the TTP system. If a third-party site offers to apply for you for an extra charge, it is not the program, and it cannot improve your chance of approval.
Once both agencies complete the risk assessment, the result appears on your TTP dashboard. If you are successful, the status shows as conditionally approved, and you are invited to schedule an interview. Conditional approval is not membership. It means the paper assessment passed and the interview is the remaining step. If the application is refused, the CBSA program page links a route to request an appeal; read that page for the appeal route rather than starting a fresh application, which would mean a fresh fee.
The interview is with both agencies. The CBSA portion takes place at a NEXUS enrolment centre, and the CBP portion takes place at a CBP enrolment centre or, for travellers arriving by air, through Enrolment on Arrival at a participating airport. Bring the documents the interview invitation lists, which centre on the identity and status documents you used in the application, and answer the officers' questions about your application history. Identity checks at the interview confirm the person who applied is the person standing there.
The interview deadline changes on April 1, 2027. If you are conditionally approved on or after April 1, 2027, schedule your interview within 2 years of the conditional approval date. If you were conditionally approved before April 1, 2027, the deadline is 5 years from the conditional approval date or April 1, 2029, whichever comes first. Book as soon as you can: enrolment centre appointments fill, and missing the deadline ends the conditional approval.
Membership is valid for 5 years. Use the card only as the program describes: present it at NEXUS lanes and kiosks at participating ports, and always carry your passport or proof of permanent residence with it. At land crossings, every occupant of the vehicle must hold a card to use the NEXUS lane. A card that is lost, stolen, or damaged is reported through the TTP system, and membership can be revoked if the program's conditions are broken, including by failing to declare goods or by letting someone else use the card.
Renew through the Trusted Traveller Program system. The program pages state that renewal runs through the TTP system and that membership lasts 5 years, and they do not state a renewal fee, a renewal window, or a grace period while a renewal is pending. Read the renewal instructions in the system and start well before expiry, because a renewal may require a fresh interview, and an expired card does not give NEXUS privileges while you wait.
No. A Canadian passport is a travel document that proves your identity and Canadian citizenship, and it is accepted at every border. NEXUS is a membership in a trusted traveller program that gives faster processing at participating air, land, and marine ports of entry. A NEXUS card is not a passport, and it does not replace the passport or proof of permanent residence you must carry. Members travelling to Canada should always carry their passport or proof of permanent residence as well.
No, because an eTA is a different thing: an electronic travel authorization that airlines check for visa-exempt foreign nationals flying to Canada, tied to the passport. Canadian citizens do not need an eTA to enter Canada. One narrow exception is published by IRCC: United States lawful permanent residents who are NEXUS or CANPASS members do not need an eTA to fly to Canada, but they must present a valid passport and a valid green card or proof of United States status. Everyone else follows the eTA rules for their own nationality and travel route.
The application processing fee is $120 USD per adult, and it is non-refundable whether the application is approved or not. Children under 18 must apply and, if eligible, are admitted free. The fee is paid when the application is submitted through the Trusted Traveller Program system. No renewal fee figure appears on the CBSA or CBP program pages, so check the fee shown in the system when you renew.
It depends on when you were conditionally approved. Applicants conditionally approved on or after April 1, 2027 must schedule their interview within 2 years of the conditional approval date. Applicants conditionally approved before April 1, 2027 must schedule it within 5 years of the conditional approval date or by April 1, 2029, whichever comes first. The change takes effect on April 1, 2027, when the temporary 5-year extension of the interview deadline ends.
Membership is valid for 5 years. Renewal is done through the Trusted Traveller Program system. Do not assume a grace period or a renewal window: no renewal-window or grace-period figure appears on the CBSA or CBP program pages, so read the renewal instructions in the system and start early enough that the interview, if one is required, can be completed before expiry.
Yes, permanent residents of Canada can apply, and the program is open to citizens and permanent residents of both Canada and the United States. You must be admissible in both countries and pass the risk assessments both agencies run. The regulations behind the program include a three-year period of residence in Canada and the United States, as described in CBSA's memorandum of understanding on the program, and the application asks about your residence history, so check the current eligibility wording in the Trusted Traveller Program system before you apply. As a permanent resident, you still travel with your passport and proof of permanent residence even as a NEXUS member.
No renewal fee, renewal window, or grace-period figure is stated in this guide, because none appears on the CBSA or CBP program pages; read the renewal instructions in the Trusted Traveller Program system. No interview-centre list is stated, because centre locations and Enrolment on Arrival availability change; use the scheduling tool in the system after conditional approval.