How to Check Your I-94 Status: Retrieve, Read, and Fix Errors

You can check your I-94 status for free at the official CBP site, i94.cbp.dhs.gov, or through the CBP Link mobile app. Enter four fields from your passport, and your current admission record appears on screen in about two minutes. The I-94 is your proof of lawful admission to the United States and controls how long you’re allowed to stay, so pulling it up shortly after every entry is one of the smartest habits you can build to protect your status.

What You Need Before You Start

The lookup asks for four pieces of information exactly as they appear on your passport’s biographical page: your full name, date of birth, passport number, and country of issuance. Exactly is the word that matters. If your passport spells your first name “Mikhail” and you go by “Michael” day to day, type “Mikhail.” A single character out of place can prevent the system from finding your record.

You don’t need to know your date of entry or visa category to run the search, though having your most recent admission stamp visible helps if something in the result looks off. The site is available around the clock. No account, no login.

Retrieving Your Record on the CBP Website

Go to i94.cbp.dhs.gov.¹ Two options sit on the landing page. “Get Most Recent I-94” pulls your current record and admission number. “View Travel History” shows arrivals and departures over the past ten years. Choose one, accept the terms, and enter your passport details in the form.

After a short security check, submit. Your I-94 appears on screen. Print it or save it as a PDF. That printout is your official record of admission and carries the same weight as a paper I-94 stamped at the border.¹ When an employer, a university, or a state DMV asks for proof of your immigration status, this is the document you hand over.

The CBP Link mobile app offers the same functionality and can be quicker when you need your admission number while filling out paperwork away from a computer.²

Older Records

The travel history tool goes back ten years, though certain kinds of travel may not appear in it. CBP maintains I-94 records themselves going back to 1983 for most admission categories, and indefinitely for certain classes like diplomats and travelers admitted under the Compacts of Free Association.¹

Reading What the Record Shows

Your I-94 contains a small number of fields, and each one carries specific weight.

Admission (I-94) Number. An 11-character identifier assigned to each entry. Since May 2019, these numbers are alphanumeric: nine digits, then a letter, then a digit. You’ll use this when applying for a Social Security number, a driver’s license, or completing employment paperwork.²
Date of Entry. The date CBP admitted you.
Class of Admission. Your nonimmigrant category, such as F-1 for students, H-1B for specialty occupation workers, or B-2 for tourists.
Admit Until Date. The date by which you must depart, or the marker that controls how long you’re authorized to stay. This is the single most important field on the record.

What “D/S” Means

For some visa categories, most commonly F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors, the Admit Until Date field shows “D/S” rather than a calendar date. That stands for Duration of Status, and it means your authorized stay lasts as long as you keep meeting the conditions of your visa. For an F-1 student, that means staying enrolled full-time and making normal academic progress. The moment those conditions lapse, your authorized stay ends, regardless of what the visa stamp in your passport says. If your record shows D/S, your designated school official or program sponsor is the right person to confirm you’re still in status.

When Your I-94 Comes From USCIS, Not the Border

Not every I-94 is created at a port of entry. If you change your visa status or extend your stay from inside the United States, USCIS issues a new I-94 as part of the approval notice, attached to Form I-797A, the Notice of Action.³ The replacement shows your updated class of admission and a new admit-until date reflecting what USCIS approved.

This is where people get worried for no reason. The I-94 attached to your I-797A may not appear in the CBP online system, because that system is built around port-of-entry records. If your current I-94 doesn’t show up after an approved change of status or extension, that alone doesn’t mean anything is wrong. Your I-797A with the attached I-94 is your valid record.⁴ Keep it somewhere safe. Losing it means filing Form I-102 with USCIS for a replacement.

Checking That Your Departure Was Recorded

The I-94 tracks your exit as well as your entry, and a missing departure record can create real problems on future visa applications. When you leave the United States by air or sea, CBP records your departure electronically from the carrier’s passenger manifest.² Nothing extra is required from you.

If you were issued a paper I-94, which still happens at some land border crossings, you should surrender it to the airline, to Canadian Border Services, or to CBP when you leave.² If you don’t turn in a paper I-94, the record can look as though you never left, and CBP may treat that as an overstay. After your trip, run the travel history tool on the I-94 website to confirm your departure was captured. If it wasn’t, gather your boarding passes, passport stamps, and any other proof of departure, and contact CBP to correct the record.

Fixing Errors or a Missing Record

Mistakes on I-94 records happen more often than you’d expect: a misspelled name, a wrong date of birth, or an incorrect class of admission. Small errors ripple outward. A name that doesn’t match your passport creates trouble with employment verification, benefits applications, and future travel.

Corrections go through a CBP Deferred Inspection Site. Some locations accept email requests, in which case you’ll typically send a brief description of the error along with scans of your passport biographical page, visa page, and most recent admission stamp.⁵ Others require an in-person visit. Check the CBP page for the specific procedures at your nearest site.

If your I-94 simply isn’t in the online system, and you haven’t recently had a USCIS-issued status change that would explain the gap, you can file Form I-102 with USCIS to request a replacement or initial arrival/departure record.⁴ Don’t let a discrepancy sit. An inaccurate I-94 that goes uncorrected for months becomes harder to fix and can complicate everything from a visa renewal to a green card application.

Why the Admit-Until Date Deserves Your Attention

Checking your I-94 is not paperwork for its own sake. The moment your authorized stay expires, your nonimmigrant visa becomes void, even if the visa stamp in your passport shows a later date.⁶ Extended unlawful presence also triggers re-entry bars: more than 180 continuous days followed by a voluntary departure carries a three-year bar, one year or more carries a ten-year bar, and more than one year followed by an illegal re-entry or attempted re-entry can trigger a permanent bar with limited waiver eligibility only after ten years. Time spent unlawfully in the United States while under 18 does not count toward these bars, and certain pending asylum applicants are also exempt.⁷

If your admit-until date is closing in and you can’t leave in time, filing a timely extension of status application with USCIS before the date expires may pause the accumulation of unlawful presence while the application is pending, provided you haven’t worked without authorization. That’s the whole reason checking the record matters. You can’t act on a date you haven’t looked at.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. I-94/I-95 Website – Official Site for Travelers Visiting the United States
2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94 and I-94W
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797: Types and Functions
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record Information for Completing USCIS Forms
5
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Deferred Inspection Sites
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1202 – Application for Visas
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens