Vancouver airport ties Nexus outage to U.S. partial government shutdown

Several Canadian airports say people wanting to use NEXUS or Global Entry at U.S. pre-clearance are out of luck, as both programs are currently unavailable.

On Sunday, the X accounts for multiple airports including Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal posted advisories that access to the programs for U.S.-bound flights were closed.

“Passengers travelling through U.S. Customs at YYC should allow for extra time to pass through security checks,” Calgary International Airport wrote in an X post.

Toronto Pearson International Airport also advised on X that travellers were encouraged to use the Mobile Passport Control app to expedite processing at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In a statement, Vancouver International Airport indicated the suspension of access to both pre-clearance programs is due to the ongoing partial government shutdown south of the border.

“Please be aware that access to NEXUS and Global Entry pre-clearance programs for U.S.-bound flights at YVR are currently suspended until further notice due to the partial U.S. Government shutdown,” a post on the airport’s website says. “This change may impact processing times for travellers departing for the U.S.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Sunday it would shut down the Global Entry program as long as the partial shutdown was in effect.

That announcement came a day after DHS said it planned to shut down both Global Entry and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck program. DHS later cancelled the PreCheck closure.

The shutdown began Feb. 14 after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach a deal on legislation to fund DHS. Democrats have been demanding changes to immigration operations core to President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.

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The NEXUS program speeds up border crossings for frequent travellers from Canada and the U.S., according to Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs officials. It works by expediting the crossing of pre-screened travellers and allowing border officers to focus more attention on stopping illegal activities and criminals.

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the United States from abroad. There’s no specific government data that shows how much time passengers save at airports or other ports of entry from Global Entry but travel industry experts estimate that Global Entry cuts the amount of time passengers spend getting through customs to 5 to 10 minutes, from an average of 30 to 90 mins for regular customs lines.

Those who have Global Entry also receive TSA PreCheck. The Department of Homeland Security said in 2024 that more than 20 million Americans had TSA PreCheck, and millions of those Americans have overlapping Global Entry memberships.

—with files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea and The Associated Press

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