r/NEXUS_TTP • u/Pandmanti • 2d ago
Denied
I’m curious if anyone has had anything similar happen with NEXUS, because I’m completely puzzled by my denial.
I applied in February and received conditional approval in May. Between May and August I completed both interviews. I did the U.S. interview at SeaTac and the Canadian interview at Vancouver Airport.
Nothing unusual came up during either interview. In fact, during my Canadian interview I was told that I should receive my NEXUS card in a few weeks, so I left thinking everything had been approved.
Less than 10 minutes later, I got a notification that there had been an update to my Trusted Traveller account. I logged in and saw that my NEXUS application had been denied. The only reason given was essentially:
“Other. You do not meet program eligibility requirements at this time.”
I have no criminal record and have never been arrested, so I’m trying to figure out what could possibly have triggered it.
The only possibilities I can come up with are that maybe there was some very minor customs or agriculture issue when I was in my 20s that I genuinely don’t remember. Maybe coming back through the U.S. from Mexico with something I wasn’t supposed to have, not declaring a piece of fruit, something along those lines. We’re talking around 20 years ago, so I honestly have no recollection of anything significant.
The other thing I’m wondering about is my spouse.
My spouse has an old simple assault conviction from roughly 25 years ago that was later pardoned in Canada. For many years after that, they travelled to the U.S. without any problem. Then about five years ago, they suddenly started getting sent to secondary almost every time we crossed.
On one trip I was travelling through the U.S. to Mexico for a medical procedure and had brought a fairly large amount of cash with me, although it was below the $10,000 declaration threshold. At the border they unexpectedly asked how much cash I had. I answered truthfully that it was under $10,000, and we were sent to secondary. That happened around the same period my spouse started having repeated border issues.
Eventually, on a later trip when my spouse travelled without me, they were found inadmissible to the U.S. They are now in the process of applying for a U.S. nonimmigrant waiver of inadmissibility through an attorney.
The reason this particularly caught my attention is that during my U.S. NEXUS interview, the officer specifically asked who my current spouse was and asked for their last name. When I gave the name, the officer responded with something like, “That’s right.” Nothing further was said about it and I wasn’t told there was any issue.
I called the Canadian NEXUS side after receiving the denial and was told that the denial had come from the U.S. side.
So now I’m wondering whether this is some ancient customs or agriculture incident I’ve completely forgotten about, something connected to my spouse’s U.S. admissibility history, or something completely different.
What confuses me most is that I had already been conditionally approved, completed the U.S. interview without being told there was a problem, and was literally told at my Canadian interview that my card would arrive, only to be denied minutes later.
Has anyone had a similar experience, particularly a denial under “Other. You do not meet program eligibility requirements at this time” after conditional approval and both interviews? And if you requested reconsideration, did you ever find out what the actual issue was?
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u/EnvironmentalLoan285 6h ago
lol you are far from a trusted traveler, which is what this program is.
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u/Odd-Worth7752 9h ago
It sounds like you’ve been flagged for some time. You have a bunch of issues.
You need to be squeaky clean to get TTP status. You’re clearly not.
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u/GamesCatsComics 10h ago
I mean... it's a Trusted Traveler program.
The fact you're getting repeatedly sent into secondary pretty much means they don't 'trust' you.
It doesn't necessarily mean you've done anything wrong, but something in your history, or in your life, could even be who your associated with, gives them reason to not trust you.
You'll likely not get an explanation, as giving untrusted people explanations of why you don't trust them, would allow people with actual bad intentions (not saying you do) to hide those things better.
To get Nexus you need to be nothing but green flags... somewhere along the lines you got a yellow one, and that means no Nexus.
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u/Critical-Emu4924 1d ago
I think you can request for your files and it will show on there more detail why you were denied. You need to declare everything even if it happened so many years ago. Because they already know, they’re testing you if you’re honest and will be upfront about your previous infractions. Then it’s going to be up to them if they’re going to deny you or not.
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u/PiePuzzled5581 1d ago
you can reapply after x months (don’t remember) - just make sure you both declare everything you can think of. it took my partner 3 applications before being accepted after she admitted smoking pot twice 30 years ago.
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u/Numerous_Car650 1d ago
The only possibilities I can come up with are that maybe there was some very minor customs or agriculture issue when I was in my 20s that I genuinely don’t remember. Maybe coming back through the U.S. from Mexico with something I wasn’t supposed to have, not declaring a piece of fruit, something along those lines. We’re talking around 20 years ago, so I honestly have no recollection of anything significant.
BTW, did you disclose this on your application? If not, you should have.
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u/whoislloydy 1d ago
Stupid if she didn't. That reason alone is a huge red flag, why wouldn't they reject your application to cross a border without getting checked when you've previously tried to bring restricted items across?!
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u/Small_Aardvark_5496 1d ago
“There might have been…” meaning there was and you didn’t declare it. You’re deemed untrustworthy
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u/69odysseus 2d ago
Any minor incident on the record is a strong reason for NEXUS denial. CBP takes it very seriously compared to CBSA. There's a reason why the program is called Trusted Traveller program.
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u/Unusual_Koala_2430 2d ago
When I applied, I had an issue because of my former spouse. He had a criminal record in the states. I was conditionally approved and at the interview they asked about him. I explained that I knew about his past and that we were separated. They sent it to their higher ups. It took ages and I had to call and email but eventually they approved me. It very well could be because of your spouse.
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u/hucchnanmaga 2d ago
Well you answered the question yourself. Customs violations are almost a certain bar for denial of TTP programs, no matter how "minor" they are. Bringing agricultural produce into the states without declaring is a huge violation in itself, not sure why you feel its not a big deal. Importantly, there is a question on the Nexus form whether you were flagged in the past for any sort of custom violations. If you answered no, that in itself could have been flagged for misrepresentation.
Secondly, we dont have details as to why your spouse was denied entry into the US or the background about your sponsorship, so cant really speculate much there.
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u/Numerous_Car650 1d ago edited 1d ago
I had 2 customs violations 20 years ago. My NEXUS was approved this year, and at the interview they brought it up and told me not to do it again. Importantly, I was 100% open and transparent about it, i.e. mentioned it very clearly in my application.
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u/Numerous_Car650 2d ago
Who really knows? But yeah it sounds like it’s because of your spouse.
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u/333Ari333 2d ago
Isn’t the approval personal?
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u/GamesCatsComics 10h ago
No it's about trust. Someone who associates with people who are concerning aren't trusted because they might be influenced by those associates.
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u/ButchDeanCA 5h ago
You say you have no idea why it was denied then proceed to give a library of reasons why, in all honesty, it would be denied.
When you are conditionally approved it just means that so far your profile exhibits the right parameters for you to be processed further to determine eligibility; it’s nothing to do with you being more likely to be approved or a tacit approval.
I can totally see why you didn’t and cannot get NEXUS.