If I happen to be in the nearby area, I would still fill up my tank in the US. But as far as cross border shopping is concerned, be it done physically or online, I can no longer justify buying from the US. And the real shxtty thing is, for some reason, I just had to come across this glut of stuff that I wouldn't think twice and buy had the exchange rate been close to parity...

:okay:

Bellingham Costco was abandoned today. I actually saw five tables at the deli completely empty. There was no line up at the pumps, either and this was at 4:00 pm.

Coming back into Canada at 7:00 pm, line up with four lanes open was less than 10 minutes.

Far cry from last week when I went. Heading to Bellingham from Sumas, I think I saw one, maybe two cars with BC license plates on Guide Merridian, LOL.

Bellingham will be a ghost town if the exchange rate falls some more.

Anyone with knowledge about Wavier forms for crossing boarder..

is it annual renewal?
how much $$?
how long does it take for it to be approved?

What's the waiver form for?

criminal background (involving marijuana)

6-8 months from submission to approval...longer if you have multiple convictions.

$585 USD fee for waiver application/submission

first one is only 1yr..after that, you can 'ask' for 3yrs or 5yrs on your renewal.

there are also other fees:
-court documents
-RCMP fingerprinting

I helped someone complete this and it is a bit exhaustive but he got approved and is up for renewal soon...and yes, the renewal is the exact same procedure with same fees involved.

more info at this thread:

http://www.revscene.net/forums/677713-us-waiver.html

Fricken hell.......... exchange rate continues to drop. It is now at 91....... please don't go into hte 80's.

Why oh why did I not convert some CAD to USD back when our dollar was above par? I thought I had learned my lesson from 35 years ago, LOL.

Analysts are predicting .85 then stabilizing at .92 for 2014.

I'm curious about the effects on border-towns in the US. Will it shutter all those mail centers? Bellingham Costco and the Airport were planning expansions this year but will it be cancelled. Poor guy who built that giant La Quinta hotel across from the airport.

not that im that old but i remember when i was going to the states and it was in the low $0.60 - $0.70 range back in 2000

i will still keep buying car parts at $0.80 on the dollar cause id still end up on top

My NEXUS appointment for the interview is in march at Blaine. I was wondering if the interview place is actually the border crossing office? Will there be parking? Also is there another interview on Canadian side at yvr, or there is just 1 interview, but people can choose to do it at YVR?
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is much easier to do it at YVR. I just park my car at riverrock and skytrain over.

When I was scheduling, it was either at Blaine in March or at YVR in June.

You should have an address for it when you're viewing your appointment time from the website and I'm sure once you're there you can ask around or find signs. CBSA will be there on site or they will send you back to the Canadian side but note that you probably won't be able to get your retina scan unless you're at YVR.

You'll have to cross the border, take the first right on the overpass you go up and then another right to get back to the border office. Yes there is parking there. There's only one interview just two different locations to do it
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Does that means i will end up scheduling a YVR appointment anyways? Or let say I passed the interview in Blaine, then, I am allow to cut in lines to get my retina scanned first(have priority) in YVR?

Then after I shall have my NEXUS roughly 10 business days? So pretty much no delay, maybe 1 day (day after interview to get retina scanned in YVR)

You'll only really need to retina scan if you do air crossings and not land crossings. This is a by-pass/express line for security at airports to cross from Canada to US or vice versa. This will be seldom by used most people.

As for priority, I have absolutely no idea as I did my interview at YVR. Your wait time, should you be approved, to get your nexus card should be about a week or less.

The retina scan is done by the receptionist at the front desk for the YVR Nexus office. So yes, you can do your interview at Blaine and then go to YVR for the retina scan, you wouldn't need to schedule an interview for the retina scan.

A year ago today, the Canadian buck was worth more than the American buck. Close to 1.02.



All time high:

November 7th, 2007

Canadian Loonie was worth 1.1030 USD


All time low:

January 21, 2002

American Dollar = 0.6179 Canadian

When you go back at the truck crossing, check how big (or small) the iris scan line up is....might be free from any lineups
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FYI -

i was looking at the GOES website online and I found out they opened a new interview premise at Canada Place. It must be fairly new as the address is not posted on the website but the interview dates are as early as January 20th. For those of you on the 6 months wait..it may be time to reschedule your interview!

^Wow thanks so much! I was going to go March 9th at Blaine, but this makes everything so much easier.

If you sign up for a spot here, does the letter confirming your appointment say the address? I'm assuming it's where the cruise ships dock, but I wouldn't know where to go to find the NEXUS office.

I would check back later in the week to see if the website is updated. Worst comes to worst..call another enrollment office (YVR) and see if they can give you more information.

Thanks so much.

I am going to just check back until they post an address and location. I have a pretty good interview date for blaine (march 3rd, I think), and don't want to lose it if the canada place one falls through.

Pretty sure I can still get an earlier date if I waited.

^That's probably a good idea.

Though I remember when the Downtown Vancouver one was posted. It was something like "Downtown Vancouver Location A" for a while before getting updated with the Dunsmuir address. It's somewhere in the NEXUS thread here.

But March 3 (and 9th for me) is pretty close already to risk having Canada place fall through. You would think that if it did, they would reschedule you at the exact same time for another location.

Wow. At Costco on willingdon ave. the place is jam packed. Way more than usual. People are buying here now, I guess. Good for our economy.
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