Effective April 30, 2013, foreign national nonimmigrants arriving by air or sea will not have to complete a paper Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Document upon arrival in the U.S. Instead, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) will physically stamp each nonimmigrant’s admission and electronically record it from each applicant’s electronic travel record. According to CBP, nonimmigrant foreign nationals departing the U.S. will not need to do anything differently. If a foreign national nonimmigrant did not receive a paper Form I-94, CBP will automatically record the foreign national’s departure electronically from the carrier’s passenger manifest.
Electronic I-94 processing is expected to save CBP over $15 million annually. For foreign national nonimmigrants who need a paper confirmation of admission, CBP will have a website page where a foreign national nonimmigrant can print out their admission record information when needed for other pruposes.
Land border ports of entry are not presently included in this rollout and foreign national nonimmigrant will continue to receive a paper Form I-94.
CBP plans to rollout the electronic admission process over a 4 week period at the rate of 5 pilot ports of entry per week.
