4/15/13 Update: CBSA’s press release is available here, and the joint report is available here.
Yahoo!Finance highlights the significant progress made on Canada and the United States’ Entry/Exit Initiative.
The Entry/Exit Initiative, part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, is a joint initiative “to facilitate exchanges of entry information such that an entry into one country is considered an exit from the other.”
The end-goal? According to a joint report released today by Canada Border Services Agency and the Department of Homeland Security:
When fully implemented, the Entry/Exit Information System will support the integrity of U.S. and Canadian immigration programs by allowing for improved access management to either country; increasing the effectiveness of border management; and enabling targeted policy development and implementation. Both countries have a need to know when third country nationals and permanent residents enter and depart their country in order to be able to determine whether domestic immigration laws are being followed. Exchanging entry data between Canada and the United States allows both countries to obtain the departure data needed to achieve this objective without requiring expensive new infrastructure and procedures that would slow down travel, trade, and commerce between the two countries.
The report’s findings? Pretty solid.
- “The results significantly exceeded expectations in terms of the ability of both countries to reconcile (referred to as match in the U.S.) entry and exit records.”
- “Based on the results of Phase I, both Canada and the United States are optimistic about the success of the future phases of the Entry/Exit Information System.”
From Yahoo!Finance:
Today, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a joint report on the findings of Phase I of the Entry/Exit Initiative. The report demonstrates progress in establishing a coordinated Entry/Exit information system that enhances border security. This report also demonstrates that Canada and the United States (U.S.) are continuing to deliver on key commitments under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.
As part of Phase I, the CBSA and DHS exchanged routine biographic entry information – collected between September 30, 2012, and January 15, 2013 – of third-country nationals (those who are neither citizens of Canada nor of the U.S.), permanent residents of Canada and lawful permanent residents of the United States at four land ports of entry in British Columbia/Washington State and in Ontario/New York. Phase I tested the concept of an Entry/Exit system for both countries through the exchange of information, such that a record of entry into one country becomes a record of exit from the other.
Posted by beyondtheborderobserver 
