I-94 thinks I left the USA.....

[Dave&Roza 748]

I have a similar issue, when I saw this thread my jaw dropped to the floor and my heart started pounding.

I went on a round-trip cruise to Bahamas with my then girlfriend/now wife on Valentine's day last year from Port Canaveral, Florida for 3 days.

I applied for AOS from H1B last month (May 2015) and when I checked my I-94 online it states that I have departed the US on 02/14/2014 and never came back. My last port of entry was 01/20/2014.

So I called CBP at JFK and spoke with a male customs officer. I Informed him that i-94 travel history online says I have departed US on 02/14/2014 and never arrived when I actually arrived on 02/17/2014.

Asked him if I will have problems with AOS.

He asked for my passport info and informed me that since my first H1-B visa was valid until 04/04/2014, H1-B extension approval notice date was 02/11/2014, my travel was Feb 14-17 2014 and my H1-B extension is valid until 03/04/2017 the extension approval i-94 overrides any travel/status issues and I must use that number for the AOS (which I did). He also mentioned that a cruise to Bahamas, especially a closed-loop one, is not considered a meaningful departure and that I should be all set and there will be no issues with AOS.

So yea call/visit CBP, they are very helpful and it's good to have peace of mind when hundred other things that you have absolutely no control on can go wrong.

Good luck everyone!

The real problem with this issue is you are dealing with two seperate departments under the DHS. The USCIS does all things immigration and CBP controls people coming and going from the US. So for a CBP person to tell you you will have no problems with anything the USCIS is in charge of is a load of #######--they mean well, but it is the USCIS' domain to determine if you left the country and have abandoned your AOS. Unfortunately, the USCIS must rely on the CBP for that information via the I-94. It would appear that the new electronic process relies on the airlines to do their job in getting the manifest correct and submit that to the CBP. So you need to get the CBP to correct the I-94 or you need proof from the airlines you were not on that flight. USCIS will ask for the I-94 information, and if it is not correct, the USCIS will be the ones that you have to convience that you did not leave the US if this rises to that level. To my mind, it goes to an individual's risk acceptance and how they want to handle this. Be pro-active and deal with it so you do not have to worry about it if it becomes and issue; or wait and deal with it when it becomes an issue. YMMV.

Dave

[raghucbz 18]

The real problem with this issue is you are dealing with two seperate departments under the DHS. The USCIS does all things immigration and CBP controls people coming and going from the US. So for a CBP person to tell you you will have no problems with anything the USCIS is in charge of is a load of #######--they mean well, but it is the USCIS' domain to determine if you left the country and have abandoned your AOS. Unfortunately, the USCIS must rely on the CBP for that information via the I-94. It would appear that the new electronic process relies on the airlines to do their job in getting the manifest correct and submit that to the CBP. So you need to get the CBP to correct the I-94 or you need proof from the airlines you were not on that flight. USCIS will ask for the I-94 information, and if it is not correct, the USCIS will be the ones that you have to convience that you did not leave the US if this rises to that level. To my mind, it goes to an individual's risk acceptance and how they want to handle this. Be pro-active and deal with it so you do not have to worry about it if it becomes and issue; or wait and deal with it when it becomes an issue. YMMV.

Dave

My AOS (2015) is waaaay after this incident (2014). From what I have heard yea a rountrip flight to your home country that you missed is riskier and needs a fix than a closed loop trip to the Caribbean. Since my i-94 is issued by USCIS and the CBP classifying my departure as not meaningful I'm not going to worry about it right now, I'll deal with it if I get an RFE or this gets bought up in the interview. I'll probably bring my cruise ticket and affidavits to the interview to be safe. But yea please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Hypnos 6,576]

H-1B is dual-intent, and so belongs to a special class of visas that do not require AP in order to leave the US and return without abandoning their AoS application.

[allyalexandra 1]

Hi guys, just want to make an update. Today I decided to look at my i94 form online, just for the hell of it, and the last entry was gone!!! (My I94 thought that i left the country in march, which I didnt). I dont know what happened, because when I called CBP they told me that they couldnt do anything and our lawyer also told us not to think about that.

That is a miracle

[TBoneTX 45,305]

Interesting. Thanks for your update!

[NPM 3]

My return flight is tomorrow night and when I called the airline company to cancel, the lady said I couldn't! She said I can reschedule it (and pay a 200 dollar fee) but not cancel. I told her I've heard that a lot of people who don't show up for their flights still have their names in the list that says they left the country, I don't want this to happen to me. She said she has no idea about that, she's never heard of it.

I was insistent about canceling my ticket, but apparently the conditions under which I bought the tickets (with miles and super cheap) only allows me to reschedule the flight and not cancel it.

So what I'm gonna do now is keep on checking my I-94 around the time the flight is supposed to depart. I'll probably keep checking it daily for a week just to make sure. If my departure shows, I'll get in touch with CBP right away.

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Another thing that you can do is somehow prove that you were still in usa the day of your flight and perhaps after.

[Teddy B 17,252]

My return flight is tomorrow night and when I called the airline company to cancel, the lady said I couldn't! She said I can reschedule it (and pay a 200 dollar fee) but not cancel. I told her I've heard that a lot of people who don't show up for their flights still have their names in the list that says they left the country, I don't want this to happen to me. She said she has no idea about that, she's never heard of it.

I was insistent about canceling my ticket, but apparently the conditions under which I bought the tickets (with miles and super cheap) only allows me to reschedule the flight and not cancel it.

So what I'm gonna do now is keep on checking my I-94 around the time the flight is supposed to depart. I'll probably keep checking it daily for a week just to make sure. If my departure shows, I'll get in touch with CBP right away.

If you need to show that you didn't leave the US, why not just reschedule the flight for a later date?

Your timeline says your going through the K1 process, so I'm not sure why you would need to show that you haven't left the US.

[Hypnos 6,576]

At $200 I wouldn't be paying to reschedule it either.

[Teddy B 17,252]

At $200 I wouldn't be paying to reschedule it either.

I guess it depends on how important it is to the poster. To me, if it's going to affect my petition or chances for a future visa, I'd pay the $200.

[Unidentified 2,930]

All the airlines do the same. It happened to me with Aeromexico and I tried to contact them but NEVER will do nothing. They don't even know what I'm talking about.

Who in the world is going to leave the country with a PENDING AOS and come back risking their LIFE thru the borders. If somebody has an emergency they would just go to field office and get issued Emergency AP.

I'm just going to explain this at the moment of the interview. I have nothing to worry about. It's too much stress already with all this waiting game to keep up with more stress about something EVERY airline do. If they really want to find out that someone left the country they just need to look at the bording gate camera for less than 30 minutes which is the boarding time.

Also my country stamp passport each time I go there. So there's no stamps for that day.

And you seriously think that they store security recording that long?

BritInMA, on 15 May 2015 - 9:12 PM, said:

With respect, TheCaptain, my own experience says otherwise. It was around 24 hours from discovering the mistake to having it completely sorted; It took 1 5 minute phone call, a drive to my local CBP, and 30 minutes sitting around waiting.

There was no appeal process; I simply stated it was wrong; He said he would make some calls; He did - I believe one of the calls was to BA - and then he deleted the incorrect record; By the time I got home - less than an hour later - my online I-94 was corrected.

USCIS has no part in correcting this; they cannot; it has to be done by CBP.

But for the people who don't try to do anything to rectify the problem it will be a long outdrawn appeal process.

ilovethebeach310, on 02 Jun 2015 - 9:16 PM, said:

I travelled an hour and a half to the Los Angeles CBP after refusing to believe what I heard on the phone, and spoke to the supervisor when I got there. His words were..."We cannot do anything, we know you didn't leave the country. It wont effect your AOS. The i-94 is a relatively new system and it still needs ironing out. you don't need to worry"

I tried to argue my case for a good 20 mins but to no avail. Frustrating, as the 20mins we were 'arguing' he could of rectified the mistake.

I have filled out a feedback form on the airlines website to send me proof i wasn't on the flight but apart from that I have done everything I can do. Its all well and good saying that we should of done that and should of done this..but we all make mistakes and unfortunately mine was not canceling the return flight. I have gone through the whole process without a RFE but if a simple mistake like this where you are caught up in the excitement of things effects the whole process, its unfair.

I wouldn't call something that is at least 5 years old "relatively new"

[avrora9002 21]

Guys, just wanted to let u know, since I never found anyone to drive me 4h to the nearest CBP office, i never got it fixed really. But I checked it out of curiosity today, and just as allyalexandra the last departure has disappeared Now the last thing it shows is my arrival on January 26th Maybe they finally started fixing this stupid mistake xD Also, my AOS was approved last week, and this never came up.

[Marco&Bettina 502]

Guys, just wanted to let u know, since I never found anyone to drive me 4h to the nearest CBP office, i never got it fixed really. But I checked it out of curiosity today, and just as allyalexandra the last departure has disappeared Now the last thing it shows is my arrival on January 26th Maybe they finally started fixing this stupid mistake xD Also, my AOS was approved last week, and this never came up.

Good to know & congrats!

[Marco&Bettina 502]

Thought you guys might wanna know. My wife's I-485 was approved yesterday. So I got curious to check I-94. It no longer shows she departed after arriving to her POE on the K-1. So someone removed that even though I never asked anyone to remove it. Nevertheless, that's a good thing.

[TBoneTX 45,305]

Interesting -- thanks, Marco.