U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced that foreign visitors arriving to the United States via air or sea no longer must complete the paper Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record or Form I-94W Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Record. Such travelers who need to prove their legal-visitor status to employers, schools and universities, or government agencies, can now access their CBP arrival/departure record information online. CBP said it is gathering travelers’ arrival/departure information automatically from their electronic travel records. Because advance information is transmitted only for air and sea travelers, CBP will still issue a paper I-94 at land border ports of entry.
If travelers need the information from their I-94 admission record to verify immigration status or employment authorization, the record number, and other admission information, CBP encourages them to obtain the I-94 number at https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home.
Upon arrival, a CBP officer stamps the travel document of each arriving nonimmigrant traveler with the admission date, the class of admission, and the date until which the traveler is admitted. If a traveler would like a paper I-94, one can be requested during the inspection process. All requests will be accommodated in a secondary setting, CBP said.
Upon leaving the U.S., a traveler previously issued a paper I-94 should surrender it to the commercial carrier or to CBP upon departure. Otherwise, CBP will record the departure electronically via manifest information provided by the carrier or by CBP.
The notice is at https://www.cbp.gov/travel/international-visitors/i-94-instructions. A related fact sheet is at https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2016-Mar/i-94-automation-fact-sheet.pdf.