Form I-94 Guide 2026 — Retrieve It, Read It, Fix It

What the Form I-94 Is (and Is Not)

The Form I-94, officially the Arrival/Departure Record, is created by CBP when you are admitted to the United States. It records your name, the I-94 admission number (historically the eleven-digit I-94 number), your class of admission, the date and port of your most recent entry, and your Admit Until Date. CBP describes the I-94 as the record travelers use to prove legal-visitor status to employers, schools, universities, and government agencies. If you need to verify immigration status or employment authorization, CBP encourages you to get your I-94 number from the I-94 website or the CBP Link mobile app.

The important shift is that the record is now almost always electronic. CBP automated the Form I-94 at air and sea ports in April 2013, and stopped handing most arriving travelers a paper card. Instead you receive a CBP admission stamp in your travel document, and the underlying record lives in CBP's system, retrievable online. Paper I-94s still exist in limited circumstances and at land ports of entry, which is why you may occasionally see the term "I-94 printout" or the older "I-94A." Functionally they mean the same thing: evidence of your admission and the period of stay you were granted.

What the I-94 is not is a visa. It also is not a work permit in itself — it may describe a work-authorized status, but the authorization comes from your status and, where required, a separate document such as an Employment Authorization Document. And it is not a permanent record of every immigration event: the online record reflects your most recent admission, not later USCIS decisions. Those distinctions trip up a surprising number of people, so the next section lays them out directly.

I-94 vs Visa vs Immigration Status

Three different things are routinely confused, and getting them straight prevents most I-94 mistakes. A visa is a travel document issued by a U.S. consulate abroad. It lets you travel to a U.S. port of entry and ask to be admitted; it does not, by itself, decide how long you may stay. The I-94 is the record of the admission decision the CBP officer actually made — your entry date and Admit Until Date. Your status is the legal nonimmigrant category you were admitted under, such as B-2 visitor, F-1 student, or H-1B worker, together with the conditions and period of stay that category allows. You can hold a ten-year B-1/B-2 visa yet be admitted for only six months; the visa's validity says nothing about how long you may remain.

One consequence is worth stating plainly: because the online I-94 reflects only your last admission, it does not show a later change of status or extension of stay granted by USCIS. CBP's own guidance notes the information does not reflect changes of status, extensions of stay, or adjustments of status granted by USCIS. When USCIS approves an extension or change, you receive a new Form I-94 attached to the bottom of your Form I-797A, Notice of Action. That paper I-94 — not the website — becomes your controlling record. Keep the I-797A safe and carry a copy when you travel.

How to Retrieve Your I-94 Online

The only official source for your electronic I-94 is CBP's website at i94.cbp.dhs.gov. The service is free, and it lets you either get your most recent I-94 or view a longer arrival and departure history. Here is the process step by step.

1. Open the official site. Go to i94.cbp.dhs.gov and choose the option to get your most recent I-94. Confirm the address is the .gov site; third-party "I-94 lookup" pages are not authoritative and may charge a fee for the same free record.
2. Accept the terms. CBP requires you to acknowledge that the record is provided to verify your status and that the data comes from DHS travel records.
3. Enter your details exactly. Provide your first and last name as they appear on the passport you used to enter, your date of birth, and your passport number and issuing country. A single mismatched letter is the most common reason a lookup returns nothing.
4. Download and print the record. CBP explicitly recommends that travelers print their I-94 after each entry and keep it for their records. Save a PDF copy too, because the online record disappears from view once CBP records your departure.
5. Check every field. Compare the class of admission and the Admit Until Date against any approval notice you hold. If something looks wrong, act on it using the correction process below rather than assuming it will sort itself out.

If your lookup fails, the usual culprits are a name that does not match the passport, a middle name entered where CBP has none (or vice versa), or an entry so recent that the record has not yet posted. If you entered by land and were issued a paper I-94, the number is on that card. Should you need help with a stubborn lookup, CBP's travel resources and our own visa trackers hub are sensible next stops. New arrivals should also confirm the mechanics of their visa interview and admission using our DS-160 guide, since an accurate initial record is what makes the I-94 correct in the first place.

Reading Your Admit Until Date

The Admit Until Date is the single most consequential line on the form. It is the last day you are authorized to be in the United States in the status you were admitted in. You may stay through that date as long as you maintain your status. The date is not a promise of additional time: to remain longer you must ask USCIS to extend your stay or change your status before the date arrives. Missing it creates unlawful presence, which can trigger bars on future visas and immigration benefits.

For many years, students and exchange visitors were the exception. Rather than a fixed date, their I-94 showed D/S for "duration of status," meaning they could stay as long as they maintained their student or exchange status. That changed in 2026. The Department of Homeland Security published a final rule on July 17, 2026 titled "Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media," and it took effect on September 15, 2026. Under the rule, F students, J exchange visitors, and I media representatives are admitted for a fixed period displayed as a specific Admit Until Date instead of D/S.

For F students the mechanics are specific: you are admitted up to the length of your program as listed on the Form I-20, not to exceed four years, plus a 30-day period for arrival and an additional 30-day period for departure. English-language training students are limited to a 24-month period of admission plus a 30-day departure window, and public high school students are limited to an aggregate of no more than 12 months. F-2 dependents receive their own fixed Admit Until Date that cannot exceed the principal student's. If you need more time — to finish your program, start a new one, or complete optional practical training — you must apply to USCIS for an extension of stay, often using Form I-539, or depart and be readmitted for a new period. Our F-1 fixed admission rule explainer walks through the transition in detail, and the student visa guide covers the wider picture.

A practical habit for everyone, student or not: read the Admit Until Date the day you arrive, not the month it expires. If you plan to extend, note that USCIS generally recommends filing well before the deadline, and students should not begin or continue certain employment if they file during the final departure window. The safest pattern is to treat the Admit Until Date as a hard wall and build your extension plans months ahead of it.

Travel History and Compliance Checks

The I-94 website does more than show a single admission. It also provides your arrival and departure history. CBP originally offered five years of history when the feature launched, and the I-94 site now advertises the ability to view U.S. arrival and departure history for the past ten years, with the caveat that certain types of travel history may not be provided. That history matters for two reasons.

First, it is evidence. When you apply for a new visa, a green card, or naturalization, or when an employer or school verifies your past travel, an accurate arrival and departure record supports your case. Some travel — for example, certain land crossings or private vessel movements — may not appear, so keep your own boarding passes and passport stamps as backup. Second, it is the raw material for processing and compliance questions. If you are tracking how long you have been physically present, or whether you have triggered the substantial-presence test for U.S. tax residency, your travel history is where you start.

Departures are recorded differently from arrivals. CBP notes that when you leave by air or sea, it generally records the departure electronically through manifest information supplied by the carrier. That is why a departure may take a little time to appear, and why the exact date you left is not something to guess from memory when a form asks. Pull the history, print it, and keep it with your immigration file.

How to Correct an I-94 Error

Errors happen: a transposed date, a misspelled name, the wrong class of admission, or an Admit Until Date that does not match your approval notice. CBP's designated fixers are its Deferred Inspection Sites, and the agency maintains more than seventy of them across the United States and outlying territories. CBP states that deferred inspection staff can review and issue the documents needed to remedy errors recorded on arrival documents issued at the time of entry relating to improper nonimmigrant classification, inaccurate biographical information, or an incorrect period of admission.

The process is usually simpler than people fear. Many offices resolve routine corrections by phone or email, and several publish a dedicated correction inbox. For example, some airports ask applicants to email a brief description of the problem along with photos or scans of the passport biographical page, the visa page if applicable, the most recent admission stamp, and any other relevant documents. Always follow the specific instructions for the office that handled your entry. In general, gather:

• Your passport and the relevant visa page.
• Your printed I-94 from i94.cbp.dhs.gov, showing the incorrect data.
• Any Form I-797 approval notice that establishes your correct status or dates.
• Your admission stamp or other entry documentation.

There is one crucial boundary. Deferred inspection corrects errors made at the time of entry. It does not handle everything immigration-related. CBP directs travelers to USCIS for replacing a lost, stolen, or mutilated Crewman's Landing Permit (Form I-95), for applying to extend a stay, and for changing immigration status. So if your goal is more time rather than a fix to a mistaken date, the deferred inspection office is the wrong door — you need a USCIS filing. Our work visa guide and H-1B guide cover extensions and status changes for employment categories, and our USCIS processing times page helps you time the filing. When in doubt, decide first whether you are fixing an error at entry or requesting a new benefit, because the answer points to two different agencies.

Who Uses Your I-94

The I-94 is a working document, not a souvenir. Employers rely on it during the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification. USCIS lists a foreign passport with a Form I-94 or Form I-94A Arrival-Departure Record that bears an endorsement to work as a List A document that proves both identity and authorization. It also lists a Form I-94 issued to a work-authorized nonimmigrant, such as an H-1B holder, as an acceptable List C document proving employment authorization. In other words, your I-94 is often the paper an HR department is legally required to inspect and retain.

Schools and universities use it to confirm that a student was admitted and in what status, and to reconcile the campus record with SEVIS. Government agencies use it to verify lawful status when you apply for benefits, a driver's license in many states, or a Social Security number. When you apply for an SSN, the Social Security Administration verifies your immigration status with DHS, and noncitizens generally must present work-authorization and identity documents; the I-94 is central to that status verification. Students can read the practical steps in our SSN for international students guide.

Because so many gatekeepers inspect the I-94, an accurate, current copy belongs in the same folder as your passport, approval notices, and I-20 or DS-2019. Reprint it after each international trip; a stale printout with an old Admit Until Date only creates confusion. If your travel plans involve a new visa interview or a change of employer, our interview wait times 2026 data and the B1/B2 tourist visa guide tie the I-94 back to the wider application process.

Frequently Asked Questions