OT-Nexus Rant (or funny story, which I prefer)
DH and my Nexus cards came up for renewal Sept of 2021. I had reapplied for both. Mine was approved and new card sent. DH was approved conditionally, he had to go to the office for a new interview before it was complete.
As most know, the Nexus offices were closed due to Covid and only recently have a few of them opened. I had been keeping my eyes open and checked every month, finally at the beginning of November I was able to book him an appointment that didn't involve flying to Nebraska. I made the appointment, which was for today, gathered up everything he was requested to bring. The appointment was for 10:45. We left home for this 40 minute drive at 9:20 just in case the roads were bad or the weather turned.
We were there in plenty of time with the hope we might get in early. Nope, they were calling the times. 10:00, then 10:30, then some woman entered and thought she was going to just walk in. One gentleman was waiting very impatiently and asked her if she had an appointment, that everyone was waiting ahead of her. She said she was told she would not need an appointment, which annoyed the man. Out pops the CBP person to call the next person, which should have been us, and she said to him 'I called and was told I didn't need an appointment'. He asked if she was just there for information, she said yes. He said it was probably him that she had been talking to, come on into his office. That really pissed the man off. DH and I grinned at each other, after all, it was our turn she took, not his.
When they finished, she left his office, but he just closed the door and went back in, not calling anyone. When he came out again, he called 11:00. DH said, what about 10:45? The CBP person said that the 10:45 had called and said they would be late. Ummm, no we didn't. He asked if we had our appointment paper to prove we had an 10:45. Yup, here you go. He apologized and said it must be an error and a double booking happened, invited us into his office so he could see what happened. He looked up DH's info and said, 'oh, I see the issue'.
CBP had decided, after the appointment was made, that they would review and approve DHs application, canceled the appointment and just send his card out without telling us. The CBP person said we should get the card in the next few weeks. Sorry for the inconvenience.
We left, drove home, opened our mailbox and what do you suppose was there? A brand new Nexus card for DH. At least it turned out to be a lovely day for a drive.
There was a CBP agent who talked to the group who were sitting waiting for their interview. He told us there are 1.2 million outstanding applications, that's how far behind they are. He said that so few offices are open with appointments that they have had people fly in for their interviews from as far away as Miami. That's insane.
Anyway, it's a long story but I had to share with someone. Mission accomplished.
