I-94 Number on Your Visa: How to Find, Use, and Fix It

The I-94 number is not printed on your visa. The red number on the visa foil in your passport is the visa number, a separate identifier for the document that let you travel to a U.S. port of entry. Your I-94 number is an 11-digit admission number that U.S. Customs and Border Protection creates when you actually enter the country, and you retrieve it electronically from the CBP I-94 website after arrival.¹ The distinction matters because the I-94, not the visa, controls how long you can stay and what you can do while you’re here.

Visa Number and I-94 Number Are Not the Same

Both numbers attach to the same trip, so it’s natural to assume the visa sticker carries everything. It doesn’t. The visa gets you to the door. The I-94 records that you walked through it. Federal regulations define the I-94 as the collection of arrival, departure, and admission information by DHS, in paper or electronic form.²

Each time you enter the United States, CBP generates a new I-94 with a fresh 11-digit admission number. A visa can be valid for ten years and you’ll still receive a different I-94 number on every trip.

How to Retrieve Your I-94 Number Online

CBP gathers arrival and departure information automatically from electronic travel records, so most travelers do not receive a paper document at the airport.¹ To look up your number, go to i94.cbp.dhs.gov and select the option to retrieve your most recent I-94. You’ll enter your name, date of birth, passport number, and country of issuance exactly as they appear on the passport you used to enter.³

The CBP Link mobile app pulls the same record. It lets you sign in through Login.gov and scan the machine-readable zone of your passport to populate the search fields automatically.⁴ Either way, you can save or print the result as a PDF.

If You Get a “Record Not Found” Error

This is almost always a name-matching problem. The system compares your entries against what the CBP officer scanned from your passport’s machine-readable zone. If your passport lists two first names or two last names, enter both exactly as printed. Don’t add a middle name that isn’t in the machine-readable zone, and don’t skip a name that is.⁴

If the record still won’t appear after you’ve checked every field, the last option is a Freedom of Information Act request through CBP’s FOIA page to obtain your admission record manually.⁴ That process takes weeks, so spend the extra time matching your entries to the passport first.

What the I-94 Record Shows

Once retrieved, the I-94 displays several fields that immigration authorities, employers, and schools rely on:

Admission Number. The 11-digit number identifying this specific entry. This is what employers ask for and what most people mean when they search for their “I-94 number.”
Date of Entry. The date CBP admitted you.
Class of Admission. A code indicating what you’re authorized to do, such as B-1 for business visitors, B-2 for tourists, F-1 for students, or H-1B for specialty workers.
Admit Until Date. The deadline by which you must leave the country or change your status.

The admit-until date is where people get into trouble. Your visa might be valid for another five years, but if your I-94 says you must depart by a certain date, that’s the deadline that governs your stay. Staying past it triggers overstay consequences regardless of what’s printed on the visa foil.

Duration of Status (D/S) Entries

F-1 students and some other visa holders, such as J-1 exchange visitors, may see “D/S” on their I-94 instead of a specific departure date. D/S stands for Duration of Status, meaning you can remain as long as you maintain your nonimmigrant status, including finishing your program by the end date on your Form I-20.⁵ The absence of a date is not a problem, but violating your status (dropping below full-time enrollment, for example) starts the clock on unlawful presence.

How the I-94 Number Gets Used

The 11-digit admission number comes up repeatedly during a stay in the United States. Employers use it when completing Form I-9, the employment eligibility verification required for every new hire. Section 1 of the I-9 allows a noncitizen authorized to work to provide their I-94 admission number as proof of work authorization.⁶ The I-94 also appears in the I-9’s List A acceptable documents when presented alongside a foreign passport with a work endorsement, and in List C for certain work-authorized nonimmigrants like H-1B holders.⁷

Beyond employment, schools and universities need the I-94 to verify your immigration status, and government agencies use it to determine eligibility for driver’s licenses and certain benefits.¹ USCIS also relies on the I-94 when processing applications for status changes or extensions of stay.⁸

Fixing Errors on the I-94

A CBP officer might enter the wrong class of admission, misspell your name, or record an incorrect period of stay. Corrections are handled at a CBP Deferred Inspection Site. These offices exist specifically to review and correct problems with arrival documents, including biographical information, nonimmigrant classification, and admission dates.⁹

Any deferred inspection site or CBP office located within an international airport can help, regardless of where you originally entered. For sites not located at an airport, call ahead to check whether you need an appointment. Some locations accept email requests for I-94 corrections. Mail-in corrections are generally not available.⁹

Deferred Inspection Sites only fix errors made at the time of entry. To extend your stay, change your status, or replace a lost document, you go to USCIS, not CBP.

What Happens if You Overstay Your I-94 Date

Overstaying the date on your I-94 triggers a cascade of problems, and the penalties escalate the longer you remain. The first consequence is automatic: the visa you used to enter becomes void the moment your authorized stay expires.¹⁰ Even a 10-year multiple-entry stamp is dead. To return as a nonimmigrant, you’ll need to apply for a brand-new visa at a consulate in your home country.

The longer-term penalties involve bars on re-entering the United States:

3-year bar. If you accumulate more than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence and then leave voluntarily, you’re barred from re-entering for three years from your departure date.¹¹
10-year bar. If you accumulate one year or more of unlawful presence, you’re barred from re-entering for ten years after departure or removal.¹¹

Unlawful presence starts accruing the day after the date on your I-94 expires. For people admitted with a D/S notation, unlawful presence generally begins the day after an immigration judge or USCIS determines their status has been violated.¹² Many people trigger these bars without realizing it because they confused their visa expiration date with their I-94 date. Check the admit-until date on your I-94 record; that’s the one that controls your stay.

1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure Forms: I-94 and I-94W
2
eCFR. 8 CFR 1.4 – Definition of Form I-94
3
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Arrival/Departure History Now Available on I-94 Webpage
4
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. What to Do if Your I-94 Is Not Found Online
5
Department of Homeland Security. F-1 Students: Remember to Check for D/S on Your Form I-94
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-9 Acceptable Documents
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, Information for Completing USCIS Forms
9
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Deferred Inspection Sites
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1202 – Application for Visas
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Unlawful Presence and Inadmissibility