U.S. Customs and Border Protection Rolling Out Electronic Travel Records
Written by Maryanne Kline
In April 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) introduced electronic Forms I-94, enabling nonimmigrants entering the U.S. via air and sea to easily access their Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Records online. As of May 1, 2014, this electronic system has been expanded to provide access to an individual’s full arrival and departure history for the past five years.
According to CBP, this expansion to include travel history may allow travelers to obtain their complete arrival and departure history without having to file a time consuming Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. .
To access travel records, a nonimmigrant U.S. visitor will need to provide their name as indicated on their passport, as well as their birth date, passport number, and passport country of issuance. Please note that a visitor may need to enter both current and prior passports to access five years of arrival/departure history. Although the arrival/departure history will not provide the status in which a visitor entered, it will provide the dates and the ports of entry/exit.
As errors can be commonplace with any new system rollout, nonimmigrant U.S. visitors accessing this information online should double-check these arrival/departure dates with the stamps in their passport(s).
This expanded access to entry and departure records will be particularly useful for H-1B and L-1 nonimmigrants seeking to “recapture” time spent outside of the U.S. when filing to extend H-1B or L-1 status.
Electronic I-94 and travel history can be accessed by clicking here.