Immigration Law

Non-Immigrants Leaving the U.S. - Don't Forget to Return Form I-94

By Robert Kraft

Foreign nationals who enter the United States with a non-immigrant visa are issued Form I-94 card at the port of entry. Form I-94 is a white piece of paper issued by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which shows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/CBP a record of your arrival and departure date from the United States. If you returned to your home country with Form I-94 in your passport, then your departure from the United States was not properly recorded. It is vital that you close out your earlier record of arrival to the U.S. Otherwise DHS will have in their records that you remained in the U.S. beyond the time you were authorized to stay.
 
If you are now in your home country with Form I-94 (or if you lost Form I-94), then you must validate your departure from the United States with DHS/CBP. The following are ways to validate departure with DHS/CBP:
 
...        original boarding passes used to depart the United States;
...        departure stamps in your passport indicating entry and exist from the United States;
...        pay check stubs or letter from employer indicating that you worked in another country after you departed the United States;
...        bank records illustrating transactions made showing you were in another country after you left the United States;
...        school records showing attendance at a school outside the U.S. indicating you were in another country after you left the United States;
...        Receipts showing your name and date illustrating you made purchases outside the U.S., after leaving the United States.
 
Send the appropriate documentation to the following address ONLY:
 
DHS-CBP ACS Inc.
1084 South Laurel Road
London, KY 40744 USA
 
This is the only location where they will make the necessary changes to the DHS/CBP record. Do not forget to make copies of the materials you mail to DHS!

Full post as published by Immigration Law Answers Blog on July 13, 2009 (boomark / email).