As of April 2013 most foreign nationals who enter the U.S. will no longer be required to fill out and submit the paper version of Form I-94 when arriving in the U.S. and will not be issued an endorsed Form I-94 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (”). Instead, they will be able to print the new record of admission by visiting www.cbp.gov/I94. This printed record will be necessary to prove to employers who must complete I-9’s to verify their employment eligibility and for government agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Social Security Administration when they seek certain licenses, benefits or registrations.

At the time of entry, the CBP will place a stamp in the passport which should include the port of entry, date of entry, authorized period of stay, and class of admission.

The reason for these changes and the new automated procedure, in addition to offering significant savings in costs, should make the admission process simpler and quicker thereby helping to eliminate the long lines at the airports. In addition, now if someone loses their record of admission (old paper Form I-94) they can simply go on line and reprint the proof of admission.

It is possible for errors to occur when CBP enters information into the I-94 system upon a foreign national’s entry into the U.S. If this occurs, it will not be possible to retrieve the I-94 document from the online system. If this occurs, the foreign national may be required to present their passport to the CBP office where the initial entry was made to rectify any issues in the system.

Feel free to contact Berd and Klauss in New York City if you have any further questions on this or any related topic.