Guests traveling to the NW Angle starting the afternoon of Saturday, August 12 will have another option to check into U.S. Customs. As you may have heard, Lake of the Woods has been chosen for the project zone initiative by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Rather than checking into Jim’s Corner, you can bypass it and check in at a number of other locations more convenient.

The same will be true if you touch land while fishing or recreating while over the border in Canada or for Canadians wanting to come over to the U.S. side. Visitors now will be able to check in at a number of resorts.

Many resorts will be participating as part of phase one, in which they will have tablets loaded with a program that enables guests to check in right at the resort vs an OARS phone.

Eventually, phase two of the program will allow travelers to load the program onto their smart phone.

Phase three will be the replacing of the current OARS phones at Jim’s Corner, Young’s Bay and Carlson’s Landing with new buildings which will be heated and cooled as well as new kiosks utilizing the new program and technology.

This new program will not only make the process of checking in with U.S. Customs safer (not having to travel from island resorts to Young’s Bay on the mainland) but more convenient as well.

The initial soft launch involves six resorts to start out with and will be installed at many other resorts once initial testing is complete. The soft launch is an effort to flush out any problems with the software, hardware, WiFi, etc so they can be fixed while IT expertise is still in the area. If you are up at the Angle on or after August 12, 2017, please try out the new system vs the traditional OARS phones. We need as much traffic on the tablets as possible for testing reasons.

Here is a list of initial locations and dates of install.

Aug 12, Jerry’s Bar and Restaurant

Aug 13, Flag Island Resort, Sunset Lodge, Angle Inn Lodge

August 14, Angle Outpost, Jake’s Northwest Angle

CBP project zone initiative, Lake of the WoodsJIM’S CORNER NW ANGLE BORDERNW ANGLE SCENERY

This is an exciting change for travelers. By law, anyone entering the U.S. who has touched land in Canada must check into U.S. Customs upon entering the U.S. The project zone initiative will make those efforts much easier.