Form I-94 is the arrival/departure record, in either paper or electronic format, issued by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer to foreign visitors entering the United States. For more information on the I-94 automation process, visit www.cbp.gov.
Since April 30, 2013, most arrival and departure records have been created electronically upon arrival. Instead of a paper form, you will be provided with an annotated stamp in the foreign passport. If provided with a paper form, the admitting CBP officer generally attaches the Form I-94 to your passport and stamps the departure date on the form. In both circumstances, you must exit the United States on or before the date stamped on the form or in the passport.
If you depart the United States by a commercial air or sea carrier (airlines or cruise ships), your departure can be independently verified. It is not necessary to take any further action, although holding on to the outbound (from the United States) boarding pass – if you still have it – can help facilitate reentry when coming back to the United States.
If you depart by land and have a paper Form I-94, the document must be turned into a CBP officer at a land border when exiting the United States. If it is not turned into a CBP officer at the land border, you will be considered an “overstay,” and may be denied entry when you attempt to reenter the United States in the future.
For information on how to obtain Form I-94, please visit the Get-Connected documents page.
For information on how to correct your Form I-94, please visit the Get-Connected documents page.