passport book number is listed on I-94 for ecuadorian seeking AOS

[lalatinga 1]

Hey all! 🙃

 

So my Ecuadorian husband and I are preparing for his adjustment of status from an F1 visa, through marriage to a US Citizen (me!). We tried to retrieve an electronic copy of his I-94 from the CBP website because Form I-485 asks for that info. When we typed in his 10-digit Passport Number (made up example: 0123456789) , which is the one labeled as ‘Passport No.’ on the actual passport, the website results showed an outdated arrival. At first we were panicking, thinking that his I-94 was never updated.

 

But then we noticed this weird number on the top of the passport biographical page, listed between the country code (ECU) and the Passport No. It had an A followed by 7 digits (made up example: A1234567). I read up a little bit and I’m pretty positive it’s called a Passport BOOKLET/BOOK Number, basically an inventory number for passports, and very commonly used in South American countries. They change with each passport. Since my husband has three passports, he has three different passport booklet numbers, but all three have the same passport number “0123456789”. (Also, if this helps, his visa also lists the same passport number “0123456789” thank God lol 😅.)

 

So anyways we were like - “OK, let’s try these!” When we typed in the passport BOOKLET/BOOK numbers, each booklet number (and NOT the Passport No.) brought up his different arrival dates, including his most recent arrival date. These booklet numbers were also listed as the actual “passport number” on the I-94s. That’s why the booklet numbers were bringing in the most updated results, I imagine.

 

Although our problem was temporarily solved since we could download his most recent I-94, I’m concerned that USCIS officers will have issues. They’ll see two discrepancies:

 

1. His passport lists both the booklet and passport number. But… his most recent I-94 lists the booklet number as THE passport number. They’ll be like “Uhm the passport number on the I-94 should be 012345678, and not A1234567, ma’am.”
2. His actual passport number, once entered, will pull up an outdated I-94 that lists a different arrival date than the newer I-94 that was retrieved with the booklet number.

 

Anyone have any ideas or knowledge about this, I know it’s super specific but I’m really trying to avoid making an appointment with them, if there’s technically nothing wrong going on and we’re just freaking out over something they already know how to manage. Maybe their system is way more integrated than what’s generating the forms on the website, and it won’t be a problem? I appreciate any insights!

[payxibka 10,045]

7 minutes ago, lalatinga said:

Hey all! 🙃

 

So my Ecuadorian husband and I are preparing for his adjustment of status from an F1 visa, through marriage to a US Citizen (me!). We tried to retrieve an electronic copy of his I-94 from the CBP website because Form I-485 asks for that info. When we typed in his 10-digit Passport Number (made up example: 0123456789) , which is the one labeled as ‘Passport No.’ on the actual passport, the website results showed an outdated arrival. At first we were panicking, thinking that his I-94 was never updated.

 

But then we noticed this weird number on the top of the passport biographical page, listed between the country code (ECU) and the Passport No. It had an A followed by 7 digits (made up example: A1234567). I read up a little bit and I’m pretty positive it’s called a Passport BOOKLET/BOOK Number, basically an inventory number for passports, and very commonly used in South American countries. They change with each passport. Since my husband has three passports, he has three different passport booklet numbers, but all three have the same passport number “0123456789”. (Also, if this helps, his visa also lists the same passport number “0123456789” thank God lol 😅.)

 

So anyways we were like - “OK, let’s try these!” When we typed in the passport BOOKLET/BOOK numbers, each booklet number (and NOT the Passport No.) brought up his different arrival dates, including his most recent arrival date. These booklet numbers were also listed as the actual “passport number” on the I-94s. That’s why the booklet numbers were bringing in the most updated results, I imagine.

 

Although our problem was temporarily solved since we could download his most recent I-94, I’m concerned that USCIS officers will have issues. They’ll see two discrepancies:

 

1. His passport lists both the booklet and passport number. But… his most recent I-94 lists the booklet number as THE passport number. They’ll be like “Uhm the passport number on the I-94 should be 012345678, and not A1234567, ma’am.”
2. His actual passport number, once entered, will pull up an outdated I-94 that lists a different arrival date than the newer I-94 that was retrieved with the booklet number.

 

Anyone have any ideas or knowledge about this, I know it’s super specific but I’m really trying to avoid making an appointment with them, if there’s technically nothing wrong going on and we’re just freaking out over something they already know how to manage. Maybe their system is way more integrated than what’s generating the forms on the website, and it won’t be a problem? I appreciate any insights!

You are way overthinking this.  Just include a copy of the i94 with the correct dates and move on.

[lalatinga 1]

12 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You are way overthinking this.  Just include a copy of the i94 with the correct dates and move on.

it's possible haha but better safe than sorry! any insight as to why this isn't something to be concerned about? 

[payxibka 10,045]

1 minute ago, lalatinga said:

it's possible haha but better safe than sorry! any insight as to why this isn't something to be concerned about? 

All you are trying to do is document the most recent entry..  The i94 document does that.  

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

3 minutes ago, lalatinga said:

it's possible haha but better safe than sorry! any insight as to why this isn't something to be concerned about? 

I can see how this could seem concerning at first sight. However, USCIS is asking you to provide documentation of your husband's most recent entry. Print it and add it to the pile.  

[lalatinga 1]

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

All you are trying to do is document the most recent entry..  The i94 document does that.  

I understand, I will definitely use the latest I 94, but now what passport number do I put on the AOS forms?

His following documents show these (keep in mind that his booklet number is ‘A12345678” and his passport number is ‘0123456789’):

 

Most recent I-94

Passport Number: A1234567 (clearly they are using the booklet number as a passport number)

 

Ecuadorian Passport

Has the A1234567

and also

Passport Number: 0123456789

 

Visa F1

Passport number 0123456789

 

Also just to confirm - so there is really no problem with the most recent I-94 if it has the booklet number listed as the passport number? They won’t raise an eyebrow or “invalidate” the I-94? Thank you!! 

[payxibka 10,045]

4 minutes ago, lalatinga said:

I understand, I will definitely use the latest I 94, but now what passport number do I put on the AOS forms?

His following documents show these (keep in mind that his booklet number is ‘A12345678” and his passport number is ‘0123456789’):

 

Most recent I-94

Passport Number: A1234567 (clearly they are using the booklet number as a passport number)

 

Ecuadorian Passport

Has the A1234567

and also

Passport Number: 0123456789

 

Visa F1

Passport number 0123456789

 

Also just to confirm - so there is really no problem with the most recent I-94 if it has the booklet number listed as the passport number? They won’t raise an eyebrow or “invalidate” the I-94? Thank you!! 

You are making a mountain out of this.  Put in either the real passport number or the booklet number,  it doesn't matter, as both can be linked directly to him.

[lalatinga 1]

13 minutes ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

I can see how this could seem concerning at first sight. However, USCIS is asking you to provide documentation of your husband's most recent entry. Print it and add it to the pile.  

thank you! i just responded to another commentator on this thread who had a similar opinion, lmk if you have any advice! i get that they're just asking for documentation of his most recent entry, but is it a problem if part of that documentation is a little bit "off" (namely, the passport booklet number being listed as the actual passport number?) Will that give them cause to dismiss the I94? 

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

2 minutes ago, lalatinga said:

thank you! i just responded to another commentator on this thread who had a similar opinion, lmk if you have any advice! i get that they're just asking for documentation of his most recent entry, but is it a problem if part of that documentation is a little bit "off" (namely, the passport booklet number being listed as the actual passport number?) Will that give them cause to dismiss the I94? 

You can always submit a copy of the passport and his entry stamp. I do not think there is an issue here. USCIS can access everything through the A#. 

[lalatinga 1]

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

You are making a mountain out of this.  Put in either the real passport number or the booklet number,  it doesn't matter, as both can be linked directly to him.

well i assumed an officer could figure it out, but i'd rather not leave any room for human error or misinterpretations in something so important/delicate and wanted to see if other people came across the same situation. thank you! 

[USC4SPOUSE 506]

lol, I will tell you I had not enough coffee to read your thread. 😝

[Rocio0010 5,579]

2 hours ago, lalatinga said:

something so important/delicate

If you look at the bigger picture, it is not so important. He has a valid passport, right? So that’s the number you want. 

[Rocio0010 5,579]

I’m from South America too. My passport has the number perforated on the upper part of each page, does his have that too? That’s the one I used and I had zero issues.

[lalatinga 1]

5 hours ago, USC4SPOUSE said:

lol, I will tell you I had not enough coffee to read your thread. 😝

hahaha well i definitely had to drink a lot of coffee to write it! thanks for taking the time to get through all the details  

[lalatinga 1]

2 hours ago, ra0010 said:

I’m from South America too. My passport has the number perforated on the upper part of each page, does his have that too? That’s the one I used and I had zero issues.

ohhh yep that's the booklet number I'm talking about. yeah they're perforated on the upper part and also there's a barcode with the number above it on page 3. Wow you even used it as his passport number on the forms and had no problems? Good to know you had direct experience with the same thing I'm talking about, really appreciated!