CBP to Eliminate the I-94 Form

[bigdog 376]

CBP to Eliminate the I-94 Form - The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that they plan to stop issuing paper I-94 forms to immigrants entering the U.S. and to instead use an automated arrival database. This change will impact I-9 filing, E-Verify, Social Security, and the issuance of driver’s licenses. Stay tuned! This was Per Shusterman Attorney at Law, monthly updates.

CBP announces plans to eliminate Form I-94

Greenberg Traurig LLP

Nataliya Binshteyn and Laura Foote Reiff

USA

August 22 2012

Greenberg Traurig LLP logo

Nataliya Binshteyn Author page » Laura Foote Reiff Author page »

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced plans to eliminate Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record. The form documents the proper admission and maintenance of status for foreign nationals present in the United States, and helps to establish employment eligibility during the Form I-9 completion process, among other key uses. Although the CBP originally planned a gradual transition to paperless Form I-94 data gathering, current plans call for an imminent and wholesale elimination of the paper form.

According to CBP, eliminating the paper Form I-94 has two primary causes. First, the agency notes that it has access to same data gathered on the form in non-immigrant visa applications submitted by applicants at U.S. consulates overseas. Furthermore, CBP receives information from the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), an electronic system used by commercial carriers and the private aviation community to provide CBP with required information such as arrival/departure details and traveler manifests. Second, the agency estimates that eliminating the manpower and mailing costs associated with the use of a paper Form I-94 will save over $35 million per year. It is also expected that the incidence of CBP database errors will decline with the introduction of an electronic non-immigrant alien admissions process that includes a database automatically populated with information provided during the non-immigrant visa application stages and in APIS. However, since alien category and admission date figures will continue to be entered by hand, the likelihood of errors is inevitable.

In lieu of the current Form I-94 process, CBP plans to issue an admission stamp in the passports of non-immigrant aliens, including a handwritten notation to indicate the individual’s status and authorized period of stay in the U.S. During the transition, non-immigrant aliens arriving at air or sea-based ports of entry which use APIS will receive non-functioning Forms I-94, or those with numbers unrelated to an official government record of the foreign national. Individuals arriving by land and certain classes of foreign nationals, such as refugees, will continue to receive valid Forms I-94.

The proposed change has caused consternation among state motor vehicle bureaus and private employers who rely on the Form I-94 as evidence of non-immigrant alien status and employment eligibility, respectively. Changes to the regulations governing proper Form I-9 and E-Verify procedures, as well as to state motor vehicle bureau databases which link the verification of non-immigrant alien status to the Form I-94, will likely become necessary in the near future. In addition, the speedy implementation of paperless Form I-94 data gathering may run into statutory challenges such as the REAL ID Act, which precludes the use of a foreign government document to verify a foreign national’s immigration status, and administrative requirements across various U.S. government agencies.

[Pitaya 2,577]

HALLELUJAH!!!

All I can say is that it should have been done months ago!

My wife and son are currently stuck in the Customs and Burro Patrol (CBP) limbo of not having their I-94 information inputted into the CBP I-94 database for over 30 days now! As a consequence, my wife cannot get a SSN, and neither of them are able to get state ID cards, et cetera,....et cetera....... The current CBP "Rube-Goldberg" scheme of 'a piece of cheap white paper stapled into the passport' process and subsequent input system FAILURE has put my new family's American-lifestyle integration at a standstill!

I hope that similar future immigrants will be spared the stress that the current scheme induces.

Thanks for sharing, bigdog.

[TBoneTX 46,118]

The paperless system may cause horrible and widespread problems.

[Indykittykeilah 18]

I hope it doesn't cause us problems because I looked up the topic because of what I read was acceptable documentation to use for idenity purposes for the SSA and our Bureau of Motor Vehicles. We need to apply for the Social Security number first thing according to the tutorial and my fiance' will need a driver's license or state issued photo id for me to add him to my bank account even. He'll be here the 25th and I was planning on going to get the marriage license, SSA and the BMV the 26th if possible.

[N M 96]

I hope it doesn't cause us problems because I looked up the topic because of what I read was acceptable documentation to use for idenity purposes for the SSA and our Bureau of Motor Vehicles. We need to apply for the Social Security number first thing according to the tutorial and my fiance' will need a driver's license or state issued photo id for me to add him to my bank account even. He'll be here the 25th and I was planning on going to get the marriage license, SSA and the BMV the 26th if possible.

A paperless system would actually help people like you who need an SSN stat, as the i-94 would be "in the system" (or hopefully accessible by the SSA) the moment his passport is stamped at the POE.

The way things stand at the moment, it can take up to 2 weeks for the paper i-94 to be recorded on a database that the SSA can access. Your hope of going to the SSA within 24 hours of landing might be counter productive.

From the VJ guide to getting an SSN:

"You should wait 2 weeks after you arrived in the US before applying for a SSN. If you go too soon your record of arrival will not be in the SAVE-ASVI system yet, and it will require manual verification from USCIS. As this will add weeks to the period it takes to process the SSN, it is advisable to attempt to wait the two weeks to be safe."

Link: http://www.visajourney.com/content/ssn

Highly frustrating when some states require an SSN for the marriage license (damnation to title iv-D and those who withhold child support).

EDIT - Think I'm correct in saying that visitors using the VWP haven't received a paper i-94 for a couple of years now, so the system has had a chance to be tested (on a large scale) and for bugs to be ironed out. I haven't heard any horror stories of electronic i-94s not been recorded properly (people could face huge problems trying to re-enter the USA if there had been glitches affecting their electronic i-94).

Edited September 15, 2012 by N M