Returning I-94s

[thomachan72]

1) Old (white) I-94 valid till Feb 09.
2) Got extension (I-94) along with I-797 till Feb 10
3) went to canada Oct 09 and got new (white) I94 till Feb 10.

Now planning to go to India next month. Do you return all these I-94s while leaving US? or do you just return only the last issued I-94 (white) till Feb 10?

[wandmaker]

Originally Posted by thomachan72

1) Old (white) I-94 valid till Feb 09.
2) Got extension (I-94) along with I-797 till Feb 10
3) went to canada Oct 09 and got new (white) I94 till Feb 10.

Now planning to go to India next month. Do you return all these I-94s while leaving US? or do you just return only the last issued I-94 (white) till Feb 10?

You must have returned the old-white i-94 when you went to canada. If not return old white, new white and the one came with 797 when you exit the country. Remember to make a copies all I-94 for your records.

[thomachan72]

Originally Posted by wandmaker

You must have returned the old-white i-94 when you went to canada. If not return old white, new white and the one came with 797 when you exit the country. Remember to make a copies all I-94 for your records.

Wandmaker, while going to canada nobody collects the I94s. I have travelled many times in the past and never had the I94 taken. Once I sent I94s to kentucky for correction of departure records. That is why I raised this question; whether older ones need to be sent to kentucky or could it just be dropped off at the airport while leaving?

[dealsnet]

It is better to give all I-94 (keep a copy of all) while leaving. It will go to the USCIS and enter into the system. You can post it directly also. Main I-94 is the latest one with white or extension approval paper (green). You can cut it and staple into your passport.

[thomachan72]

Originally Posted by dealsnet

It is better to give all I-94 (keep a copy of all) while leaving. It will go to the USCIS and enter into the system. You can post it directly also. Main I-94 is the latest one with white or extension approval paper (green). You can cut it and staple into your passport.

Good to know that you keep visiting and posting even after being greened!!

[dealsnet]

If you fail to surrender the I-94, you need to send it to USCIS direct. Address is

DHS - CBP SBU

1084 South Laurel Road

London, KY 40744


If you returned home with your Form I-94 (white) or Form I-94W (green) Departure Record in your passport, it is possible that your departure was not recorded properly.

If you departed by a commercial air or sea carrier (airlines or cruise ships), your departure from the U.S. can be independently verified, and it is not necessary to take any further action, although holding on to your outbound (from the U.S.) boarding pass - if you still have it - can help expedite your reentry next time you come back to the United States.

If you departed by land, private vessel or private plane, you will need to take steps to correct the record. If you do not validate your timely departure from the United States, or, if you cannot reasonably prove you departed within the time frame given to you when you entered, the next time you apply for admission to the U.S., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may conclude you remained in the U.S. beyond your authorized stay. If this happens, your visa may be subject to cancellation or you may be returned immediately to your foreign point of origin.

Under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), visitors who remain beyond their permitted stay in the United States cannot reenter the U.S. in the future without obtaining a visa from a U.S. Consulate. So if you are a Visa Waiver Program visitor who traveled by land to either Canada or Mexico for an onward flight, it is particularly important for you to register your timely departure if your green I-94W was not taken when you exited the U.S. If you fail to do so and you arrive at a U.S. port of entry seeking admission under the Visa Waiver Program without a visa, CBP Officers may order your immediate return to a foreign point of origin. If you are a VWP visitor and you left the U.S. by an air or sea carrier, you don't need to worry.

If you failed to turn in your I-94 Departure Record, please send it, along with any documentation that proves you left the United States to:

DHS - CBP SBU

1084 South Laurel Road

London, KY 40744


Do not mail your Form I-94 Departure Record or supporting information to any U.S. Consulate or Embassy, to any other CBP Office in the United States, or to any address other than the one above. Only at this location are we able to make the necessary corrections to CBP records to prevent inconvenience to you in the future. The London, Kentucky office does not answer correspondence, so please do not ask for confirmation that your record has been updated.

To validate departure, CBP will consider a variety of information, including but not limited to:

Original boarding passes you used to depart another country, such as Canada, if you flew home from there;
Photocopies of entry or departure stamps in your passport indicating entry to another country after you departed the United States (you should copy all passport pages that are not completely blank, and include the biographical page containing your photograph); and
Photocopies of other supporting evidence, such as:

Dated pay slips or vouchers from your employer to indicate you worked in another country after you departed the United States,
Dated bank records showing transactions to indicate you were in another country after you left the United States,
School records showing attendance at a school outside the United States to indicate you were in another country after you left the United States, and
Dated credit card receipts, showing your name, but, the credit card number deleted, for purchases made after you left the United States to indicate you were in another country after leaving the United States.
To assist us in understanding the situation and correct your records quickly, please include an explanation letter in English. Your statement will not be acceptable without supporting evidence such as noted above. You must mail legible copies or original materials where possible. If you send original materials, you should retain a copy. CBP cannot return original materials after processing.


We strongly urge you to keep a copy of what you send to DHS-CBP and carry it with you the next time you come to the United States in case the CBP Officer has any questions about your eligibility to enter. Carrying those materials with you will also allow your record to be corrected at the time of entry if, for some reason, the London, Kentucky office has not yet done so.

If taking short trips (30 days or less) to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean Islands during the course of your visit to the U.S., hold onto your I-94 or I-94 (W); it should only be turned in when you leave the U.S. to return home.
Delays beyond the traveler's control, such as cancelled or delayed flights, medical emergencies requiring a doctor's care, etc. are not considered unauthorized overstays, however, you will need to bring proof of the cause of your overstay next time you travel to the U.S. in order for it to be forgiven. For airline delays, ask the airline for a letter affirming the delay or a copy of your cancelled boarding pass.




Read the link.
https://help.cbp.gov/cgi-bin/customs...i=&p_topview=1

[wandmaker]

Originally Posted by thomachan72

Wandmaker, while going to canada nobody collects the I94s. I have travelled many times in the past and never had the I94 taken. Once I sent I94s to kentucky for correction of departure records. That is why I raised this question; whether older ones need to be sent to kentucky or could it just be dropped off at the airport while leaving?

Make a copy, staples all I-94 together and return it in the airport since you are leaving shortly.

[nagio]

It is better to hand over all the I-94's.

[kondur_007]

This is a very interesting question. You must verify this with your attorney.

My opinion is different from above (I am not a lawyer).

If I understand correctly, your I94 #1 and #2 (as numbered in your original post) shold have the same I94 numbers. Now that "entry" is "done" and you "exited" from it when yoy went to Canada. Eventhough you did not surrender I94 at that time (which is very common when you visit Canada), that entry in USCIS record is "already terminated".

Now your I94 # 3 (white one that you got when you returned back from Canada, is your "current entry" record. So when you leave, THAT IS THE I94 that you must surrender and not the first two. (You are exiting from entry on card #3 and not card#1 and 2).

If you surrender all three, there is a chance that they will confuse your "exit date" for the I94 card (#1 and #2), which should be the day you went to Canada.

Keep your travel record (some evidence of travelling to Canada and coming back: dates) and of course keep copies of all I94s.

Also please post your lawyers advise here so it will be useful to everone in future.

Good Luck.

[TeddyKoochu]

Originally Posted by thomachan72

1) Old (white) I-94 valid till Feb 09.
2) Got extension (I-94) along with I-797 till Feb 10
3) went to canada Oct 09 and got new (white) I94 till Feb 10.

Now planning to go to India next month. Do you return all these I-94s while leaving US? or do you just return only the last issued I-94 (white) till Feb 10?

Think of a scenario that the airline staff submits (Not true in your case) your stapled I-94 and the extension I-94 separately and somebody is manually entering them into the system separately, it might just cause confusion. In my opinion its best to staple the extension I-94 to the existing I-94 on the passport so that anybody looking at them looks at them enters them together (If they enter the first I94 data it might just cause confusion in the sense that the original I94 is expired). In the ideal world the system should know that you have another valid unexpired I94 by virtue of your extension, but then there is a real world! So best to make things as simple as possible. If you received a third I94 I believe that you should staple that also to the other 2 and all of them should be with your passport. Your employer must file your I9 based o the latest I94, next time whenever you travel to your home country just handover all of them if they are all stapled to each other they will reach together. My 2 cents.

[krishnam70]

Originally Posted by thomachan72

Wandmaker, while going to canada nobody collects the I94s. I have travelled many times in the past and never had the I94 taken. Once I sent I94s to kentucky for correction of departure records. That is why I raised this question; whether older ones need to be sent to kentucky or could it just be dropped off at the airport while leaving?

keep copies drop in airport

[we_r_d_world]

Originally Posted by TeddyKoochu

Think of a scenario that the airline staff submits (Not true in your case) your stapled I-94 and the extension I-94 separately and somebody is manually entering them into the system separately, it might just cause confusion. In my opinion its best to staple the extension I-94 to the existing I-94 on the passport so that anybody looking at them looks at them enters them together (If they enter the first I94 data it might just cause confusion in the sense that the original I94 is expired). In the ideal world the system should know that you have another valid unexpired I94 by virtue of your extension, but then there is a real world! So best to make things as simple as possible. If you received a third I94 I believe that you should staple that also to the other 2 and all of them should be with your passport. Your employer must file your I9 based o the latest I94, next time whenever you travel to your home country just handover all of them if they are all stapled to each other they will reach together. My 2 cents.

I agree with TeddyKoochu, that is exactly what I did in 2002, I had changed company and hence had a white I-94 and one issued with new I-797 notice. In 2000 I had traveled out of country and being unaware ( FOB) and flying out first time, I did not submit I-94 at the airport and nobody asked about it either. Flying back in 2003, I stapled all together(old and new) per guidance from attorney and gave it at the airport.

since then, I have traveled 4 times out of country, did not have any issues at PoE. I drove to Canada as well, did not have any problem at CBP.

Two things I will share though, please make sure Inspector at CBP stamp both the passport and I-94. I had two bad experiences, 1st one was that the CBP just stamped "admitted till...." only on I-94 and not on my passport, I had to visit a local office to get back dated stamp stamped on my passport (once I-94 has been submitted during next travel, I would not have any proof that I got back into USA and that I was authorized to work "till...")

2nd experience, The IO was very rude and in bad mood at JFK PoE, someone ahead of me in line, had pissed him off and he had called security to escort off the person - don't know what the reason was though, I couldn't hear anything, just could see that they were having some argument. So... I felt that he took his anger on me, He stamped everything well, asked me lot of questions and grilled me in rude language and composure, but I answered all his questions satisfactorily, even his silliest ones. He stamped my passport and I-94 etc. Later after a year or so, when I applied for extension, my attorney got RFE that I-94 that I had, did not match with what they had in their database, attorney had to file a "lost i-94" and then apply for my extension. Later, we complained against the IO at PoE and got an apology letter (I had noted his name and ID# as he was very rude to me, I asked for his name and ID# after he stamped my passport etc. He gave me lot of crap about how foreigners were screwing his country etc...that's another story though.)

good luck.