On its one-year anniversary of the new electronic I-94 system, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) decided to make a few changes. Overall, we think these are great but have noted a few hiccups. (See Ashley's post for more information on the original I-94 portal).
CBP has eliminated several of the information fields that previously had to be completed in order to view and print the I-94 information. Foreign nationals no longer need to fill in their most recent date of entry to the US or their class of admission. The new electronic system automatically pulls up this information on its own. While this is great from a time-saving perspective, it does make us a bit nervous (sorry, CBP). When looking up and printing I-94s, we will be checking very carefully to ensure all the information is correct.
A second new feature of the electronic I-94 system includes the option to obtain a list of foreign nationals’ trips to and from the US. This is incredibly useful to foreign nationals who need to list their last five trips to the US when completing a DS-160 or who need to count their days spent in the US for tax purposes or to recapture time on an H-1B or L-1.
Undaunted, our own Lizzie B. tested the system. She reports: “I just tried finding an I-94 and got an I-94 record from 2013 instead of the most recent entry from April of 2014! I called CBP and they said that many people are having the same problem. They are having systems maintenance issues but it should be fixed ‘in a few days.’” We have also noted that the travel history may not include each and every trip a foreign national has taken to the US so again we will be checking all information very carefully. We imagine that in a few days when these hiccups have been fixed and the system is working well, we will find these new changes incredibly helpful.