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CSA TRAVEL INFORMATION GUIDE
How Long Will I Wait to Cross the Border?
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) provide
wait time information to travellers who wish to determine how long it will take to cross a border
point.
To determine how long it will take to cross the border into the U.S. from Canada or Mexico log on to
your computer and visit the CBP web page at
http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/
. Wait times are divided
into northern and southern points of entry, and commercial, passenger, and alternative inspection
wait times. A version of the CBP border wait times site is also available for mobile wireless devices
such as cellphones and smartphones at
http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/mobile.asp.
In addition, border
wait times are made available via RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) - a
format for delivering regularly changing web content to whoever wants it. You can even customize
your RSS feed to receive information on only the ports of entry of interest to you.
CBP also offers an Airport Wait Times feature on their website which functions similar to their Border
Wait Times service. CBP closely monitors the flight processing times, commonly referred to as wait
times, for arriving flights at 23 of the busiest international airports. The flight processing time is
the length of time from flight arrival to the time the last passenger on the flight is screened by CBP
officers in the primary processing area. This service does not have information for Canadian airports
that have U.S. CBP preclearance facilities.
To determine how long it will take to cross the border into Canada log on to your computer and visit
the CBSA Border Wait Times web page at
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/bwt-taf/
.
Each border location updates its estimated wait times at least once per hour, and the web page is
refreshed every ten minutes. The standard wait times the CBSA has set for travellers are:
10 minutes -- Monday to Thursday
20 minutes -- Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and holidays
In the Border Wait Times table, “No delay”means less than 10 minutes.
A wireless version of the CBSA Border Wait Times web page is available as part of the
Government of Canada’s Wireless Portal Prototype. Access the Wireless Portal through
your Web-enabled mobile device at
wap.gc.ca
. Select “Services“, then “Border Wait
Times” to access the estimated wait times for crossing the Canada – U.S. land border at
specified locations.
NEXUS
NEXUS is a joint frequent border-crossing program of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The program was designed to expedite border clearance for low-risk, pre-approved travellers enter-
ing (or re-entering) the United States and Canada. The program currently operates in an air, land and
marine mode with a special harmonized photo ID card.
NEXUS is one of the approved alternatives to carrying a passport in order to enter or depart the
United States by air.
To enter the United States by air from a Canadian airport that has U.S. pre-clearance facilities, you
may access a self-serve kiosk in the pre-clearance customs hall instead of lining up with the other
travellers to be interviewed in-person by a CBP official.
Cellphone
Only