To access your I-94 arrival/departure record, go to i94.cbp.dhs.gov, select “Get Most Recent I-94,” and enter your name, passport number, country of issuance, and date of birth exactly as they appear in your passport. The whole process takes about two minutes. The same record is available through the free CBP Link mobile app, which can scan your passport instead of making you type. Both are run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and both are free.
Retrieving Your Record on the CBP Website
Open i94.cbp.dhs.gov, accept the terms-of-use screen, and choose “Get Most Recent I-94.” The portal asks for four things, and each one has to match your passport precisely.1U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions
- Full name. Enter your last name and first name as they appear in the machine-readable zone (MRZ), the two lines of text at the bottom of your passport’s photo page. The system rejects tildes, accents, and umlauts; use only the English spelling shown in the MRZ. Where the MRZ uses chevrons (<), replace each one with a space.
- Passport number. This is in the MRZ or at the top right of the photo page, and it can contain both letters and digits.
- Country of issuance. Pick the country that issued the passport, matching the country code in the MRZ. That’s your country of citizenship on the passport, even if you collected the passport at a consulate in a different country.
- Date of birth. As printed on the passport.
If the fields match, the portal shows your current arrival record with the 11-character admission number, class of admission, and admit-until date. Save it as a PDF or print it. You’ll be asked for it when applying for a Social Security number, starting a job, opening a bank account, or enrolling at a university.
Retrieving It Through the CBP Link App
The CBP Link app, available for Apple and Android, pulls the same record.2U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP Link Mobile Application Install it, create a free account through Login.gov, and select “Get Most Recent I-94/I-95.”1U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions You can scan the MRZ with your phone camera or type the same four fields by hand. The scan is quicker and skips the most common source of failed searches, which is a typo in the name field.
What’s on the Record and Why the Admit-Until Date Matters
CBP issues the I-94 as evidence you were inspected and admitted.3eCFR. 8 CFR 235.1 – Scope of Examination The record shows your admission number, class of admission (the visa category you entered under, like B-1 for business or F-1 for students), and your date of entry. CBP is moving admission numbers from all-numeric to alphanumeric, but they stay 11 characters long.4U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94 and I-94W
The line to check every time you pull the record is the “Admit Until Date.” This is your deadline to leave the country, and it often does not match the expiration date on the visa in your passport. The visa controls when you can arrive at a port of entry and ask to be let in. The I-94 controls how long you can stay once you’re inside.
Stay past the admit-until date and you start accruing unlawful presence right away.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility More than 180 days but less than a year of unlawful presence, followed by a voluntary departure, triggers a three-year bar on reentry. A year or more triggers a ten-year bar.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens Your existing visa can also be revoked. Checking the date online, right after entry, is the cheapest insurance you can buy.
Viewing Your Travel History
The same portal offers a “View Travel History” option showing your arrivals and departures over the past ten years, with the date, port, and record type for each.1U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions It’s useful when a visa renewal form asks for prior U.S. entries or when a government agency wants your travel pattern. The feature isn’t available to U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; it’s built for nonimmigrant visitors.
When the Search Comes Back Empty
Most failed searches are name mismatches. The system reads the MRZ, which sometimes truncates or reorders names differently from the printed text above the photo. Copy your name from the bottom two lines of the passport, not from the visual text.
If you entered on a passport that’s since been lost, stolen, or replaced, the search still needs the passport number tied to that entry, even if the passport has expired.1U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions Without that old number, submit a request through the CBP Information Center’s “Ask Us a Question” portal: pick “I-94/Traveler Compliance,” then “Issue with my I-94/Travel History,” describe the situation, and upload what documentation you have. If you were admitted on a Border Crossing Card or Alien Registration Number instead of a passport, put that number in the document number field.
When USCIS Updates Your I-94 Without a Border Crossing
Your I-94 can change without you leaving the country. When USCIS approves a change of status or extension of stay, it issues a Form I-797A Notice of Action, and the bottom of that notice is your replacement I-94, with a new class of admission and new admit-until date.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797 Types and Functions Keep it attached to your passport.
If you then travel abroad and reenter, CBP issues a fresh electronic I-94 at the port of entry. Your authorized stay from that point on runs to whichever date comes first: the one on the new CBP-issued I-94 or the one on the I-797A. An approved extension does not automatically survive a trip abroad if CBP admits you for a shorter period on your return.
Fixing Errors on Your Record
A misspelled name, wrong visa class, or wrong admit-until date needs to be corrected quickly, because Social Security, employers, DMVs, and schools all pull from I-94 data.
CBP runs more than 70 Deferred Inspection Sites, generally at or near major international airports, and any of them can help you regardless of where you originally entered.8U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Deferred Inspection Sites You can also go to a CBP office at any international airport. Contact the nearest site to set up an appointment, and bring your passport, boarding passes or itineraries from your entry, and anything showing what the correct information should be. Officers can update the database and print a corrected record while you wait.
If USCIS issued the I-94 (through a status change or extension), you can’t fix it at a Deferred Inspection Site. File a Form I-102 with USCIS instead.1U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Frequently Asked Questions For inaccuracies in the broader travel history rather than the current I-94, CBP points travelers to the DHS Traveler Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP), a redress system for correcting government records about you.
Making Sure Departures Are on File
Access problems often trace back to a missing departure. Air and sea departures are captured automatically through carrier manifests. Land departures often are not recorded at all, and an unrecorded exit can look like an overstay next time you apply for a visa or try to enter the U.S.9U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94 – Reporting Arrival/Departure If Entering by Air and Departing by Land
If you’re leaving by land, register your departure through the CBP Link app. You can also ask for an entry stamp from Canadian Border Services when crossing into Canada, or from Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Migración when crossing into Mexico; either stamp is independent proof you left on time.9U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94 – Reporting Arrival/Departure If Entering by Air and Departing by Land If you’ve already left and think your exit wasn’t recorded, carry evidence on your next trip: foreign entry stamps, transportation tickets, pay stubs from a foreign employer, or similar documents placing you outside the U.S.