In an effort by our American cousins to improve security a new program has started. It is a broader program introduced after 9/11 that attempts to improve the monitoring of trans-border visits, i e land, air, and sea. The US/Canada border program is called NEXUS. The Canadian website gives a brief overview of the new border regulations, a commitment that Canadian privacy laws will be respected, and a warning that if you click "Next" you will be transferred to the US government website. The US site does allow you to register in French but the tab link is the only French wording on the site. (The program for the US/Mexican border is called 'FAST', an acronym clearly the result of a bureaucratic mind.)
The NEXUS website allows you to apply on line. You have to set up an account profile with a password. In this account you register your passport number, vehicle, residence, employment history, and driver's license. I found some of the questions redundant, i. e. documents. I had to enter my passport twice: first, to register the passport and second, as the principal document to be used when I cross the border. The FAQs were very vague. Of course you have to pay a fee, $ 50 US. The registration has to be renewed every five years. The next phase in the application process is to be interviewed by border patrol personnel.
My own take on the application process is that it was designed by a former IT professional from a Canadian bank; a bureaucratic exercise which can not avoid being arbitrary and somewhat detached from the exigences of real life. Basically our American cousins are just as prone to bureaucratic inefficient government programs as Canadians are. While Canadians develop costly and inefficent programs for securing adequate health care, our American cousins opt for costly and inefficient programs to secure their border. From the same family tree but on different branches?
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