by Caroline Tang, VISANOW’s Senior Manager of Legal Services
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP) has announced that it will begin electronically automating arrival/departure information for foreign nationals beginning April 30, 2013.
CBP will no longer require non-immigrant visitors (including, but not limited to, H-1B, H-4, L-1, L-2, F-1, B-1, B-2, and J-1) to fill out a paper Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record upon arrival into the U.S. by air or sea, as they will gather arrival and departure information from the travelers’ electronic travel records prior to the dates of travel. (Due to limitations in obtaining advance travel information for land travelers, CBP will continue to issue a paper I-94 to travelers crossing at land ports of entry.)
CBP has provided a transition schedule for paperless Form I-94 automation at various air and sea ports through May 2013. Foreign nationals will continue to receive a paper Form I-94 until automation reaches their port of entry. Automated I-94 records will be available at www.cbp.gov/I94 (CBP notes that this website will not be live until the end of April 2013).
After automation is implemented, foreign national travelers should retain their travel documents after entering the U.S., as CBP officers will stamp travel documents of each nonimmigrant visitor. This admission stamp will show the date of admission, nonimmigrant class of admission (e.g., H-1B, L-1, F-1, B-2, etc.), and the expiration date of the status.
CBP has provided a Form I-94 automation fact sheet, as well as a summary of I-94 automation and the automation rollout schedule, available on their website.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact the VISANOW team, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
