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So this year I went to Florida with my family for 2 weeks. We were all tourists and we go to the US almost every year and have no administrative problems usually.

This time, however, I recently received a warning that I have to leave the US within 10 days or otherwise I will overstay my visa. But I left the country long ago, with my family, on the same plane at the same time after our 2 week holiday. The rest of my family has been registered to have been left the country though.

My problem is, although I could maybe prove with the help of the local police that I am indeed not in the US at this moment, I can't prove when I left the US or how. I have no stamp in my passport, they haven't done that in a long time. The airline can't give out the data that I boarded the plane. I don't have my boarding pass anymore.

There is no way I can prove that I legally left the US, only that I am not there right now. What should I do? I feel this weird error could get me in trouble the next time I enter the US.

Greg
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    Does this answer your question? How does the US know that I left? – Xnero Apr 28 '20 at 12:51
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    Getting a confirmation from your local police that your were outside the US before the 10 days runs out would be a good idea. That and that you entered with your family and that the others of your family have been recorded as leaving should help in the matter. See if this can be entered at I94 - Official Website – Mark Johnson Apr 28 '20 at 12:57
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    What do you mean that you "received a warning"? What does it say? Where did it come from? Who sent it? Are you sure it is legitimate? How do you know? – Michael Hampton Apr 28 '20 at 13:03
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    While the airline might not give you proof you were on a flight, if you tell officials you were on the flight, the airline may well confirm to them if you were or not. Focus less on proving and start with just telling officials what happened. – Kate Gregory Apr 28 '20 at 13:22
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    I'd also suggest contacting your local US embassy or consulate. They might be able to verify that you are in fact no longer inside the united state, or at lease advise on the best way to do that. – zeocrash Apr 28 '20 at 16:18
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    Is this definitely a warning and not just a reminder? Could it just be a general e-mail notification? "Hey, if you're still here, you need to leave soon." Could it be that it looks more threatening than it really is because it has marks of officialdom all over it? – Kyralessa Apr 28 '20 at 18:36
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    @MichaelHampton There's a system that sends out an email (see also this page). While it's conceivable that someone is pulling a scam, there are legitimate emails of this sort. – Zach Lipton Apr 28 '20 at 21:28
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    It's not clear that you really need to prove when you left yet. You only have to show that you're not there now, and you can do that by visiting the embassy. If anything further is required they will tell you. – user207421 Apr 29 '20 at 05:25
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    You tagged your question with [tag:visas] and [tag:esta]. That is confusing, since the two are more or less opposites of each other. ESTA is a pre-authorization system for entering the US without a visa under the [tag:us-visa-waiver-program]. Were you even actually in the US on a visa or were you there under the VWP? If you were there under the VWP, then an email telling you that you overstayed your visa is a 100% scam, because it is impossible to overstay on a visa if you don't even have a visa. – Jörg W Mittag Apr 29 '20 at 15:36
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    @Fattie given that the US government actually sends out such messages, why do you think it's a scam? – phoog Apr 30 '20 at 03:08
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    @JörgWMittag it's also possible, even likely, that the message did not use the word "visa," but that Greg introduced it in describing the message. Since the I-94 applies to both people with visas and those without them, a message generated by the I-94 system saying that someone's period of admission is set to expire in ten days is no red flag, regardless of the person having entered with a visa or under the visa waiver program. This is extremely unlikely to be a scam, but if Greg can edit the question and paste the text of the message into it, it might shed further light on the question. – phoog Apr 30 '20 at 03:15
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    While it's not inconceivable that some sort of scam is involved, emails of this type are real, so I'm not understanding why so many people are talking about scams and forged headers here. Fortunately, the first step involves going directly to an official government website where everything can be verified without clicking on any links in the email or otherwise trusting its contents. – Zach Lipton Apr 30 '20 at 03:23

3 Answers3

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First, check that this is a genuine warning. Check it for the usual signs of a scam email (faked "from" address, links you to a website that does not end in .gov). Contact US immigration on a publicly available email or number (not by any contact that you were given in the warning) and check with them.

If it turns out it is genuine, it is probably not as serious as you think. It's most likely just an administrative mixup.

When you contact immigration they will tell you what you need to do, but most likely if you simply give them the date and flight number when you left that will be the end of it. They will almost certainly be able to verify that you were on that flight, and that will probably be the end of the matter.

Also remember that, even if for some reason they don't believe that you left on the flight you did, you don't need to prove you left on that flight, you only need to prove you left before the end of your legal stay, ten days from now. The easiest way to do that is probably to make some sort of visit to someone official, like a government office or the police or a lawyer, where your visit will be recorded and you can provide information. But something as simple as records of an everyday transaction will help - a few records of you using your credit card in your hometown is going to be evidence, and is probably good enough.

DJClayworth
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    Are you sure a credit card transaction would help? In that case, one could mail their credit card to a friend in another country to "prove" they left the country. – Scz Apr 28 '20 at 21:27
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    The legitimate email will come from StayCompliance-DoNotReply@cbp.dhs.gov, so replying to it is unlikely to help, but that can help confirm that it's legitimate. – Zach Lipton Apr 28 '20 at 21:33
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    @Scz It would help. Anything that indicates normal activity in a place will help. – DJClayworth Apr 28 '20 at 21:45
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    @DJClayworth Ok, I understand that you mean "help" and of course not "suffice". – Scz Apr 28 '20 at 21:49
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    Better than replying to the email would be to go to the real government web site from which the email claims to have been sent from, and get an email address or phone number from that web page. – adam.baker Apr 29 '20 at 05:22
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    The last sentence is important: simply ask how you should prove that you are right now not in the country anymore. You're not. So you're all fine. – Mayou36 Apr 29 '20 at 10:18
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    @ZachLipton Please don't mistrain people to treat the "From" field in emails as beyond reproach. It's trivially faked. – Asteroids With Wings Apr 29 '20 at 12:27
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    This is a great answer, but it's not recommended to reply to an email that you suspect may not be legit. It's better to find the correct email address yourself and email that address directly. If the email in question was spoofed and OP replies to it, they're just interacting with scammers, which isn't a good thing. – bob Apr 29 '20 at 12:46
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    @AsteroidsWithWings If the "From" address is faked, then the reply will go to the faked address, which will not help the scammers at all. – DJClayworth Apr 29 '20 at 13:26
  • links you to a website that does end in .gov should this read "a website that does not end in .gov"? – MegaWidget Apr 29 '20 at 13:41
  • @MegaWidget Probably yes, unless DJClayworth has a particularly negative opinion of the US government. – Anthony Grist Apr 29 '20 at 13:50
  • Err..sorry yes. My opinion of the US government is not that negative. – DJClayworth Apr 29 '20 at 14:24
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    @DJClayworth Not so. There is Reply-To, but more to the point, this is exactly why most email scams involve clicking on links inside the email. Practically every spam/scam has a faked From field. – Asteroids With Wings Apr 29 '20 at 14:54
  • @DavidZ furthermore, there is no grace period for tourists (nor, as far as I'm aware, for anyone who has an "admitted until" date on the I-94 form or passport stamp). – phoog Apr 29 '20 at 15:56
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    Yes @ZachLipton it's super trivial to fake a From: line. Anyone can do it while setting up any email client, they let you configure the "From" email address separately from your login credentials. This never occurs to most people that they would ever do this, they just think the program is asking them for their data twice, but go look. It's there. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Apr 29 '20 at 17:29
  • If you're using a reputable email provider like, say gmail, they will have a way to verify the DKIM signature on the email. This is a good indicator that it's not a scam email, or that DHS's private DKIM keys were compromised. – Wayne Werner Apr 29 '20 at 17:33
  • @AsteroidsWithWings Sure you can trivially fake the "From" line in an e-mail. The hard part is to get such a mail delivered: most e-mail providers will not let such an e-mail out of the Spam folder. – Dmitry Grigoryev May 01 '20 at 14:10
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    @DmitryGrigoryev That's absolutely right! Fortunately that's also why spam filters are so effective nowadays :) Spammers tend to target "easy marks" which includes those without adequate protection. It's still absolutely not the right thing to train people to trust trivially falsifiable data. – Asteroids With Wings May 01 '20 at 15:38
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As others have suggested, first check your I-94 departure record. If something has gone wrong and your departure has not been recorded properly, it will show up there.

If the system is showing incorrect information, the FAQ from CBP has a section for that:

If you feel this information is incorrect, you have two options:

You can contact the CBP Traveler Communications Center at (202) 325-5120.

You can formally write to the Department of Homeland Security's Travel Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP). DHS TRIP is a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs, like airports and train stations, or crossing U.S. borders, including: denied or delayed airline boarding, denied or delayed entry into and exit from the United States at a port of entry or border checkpoint continuously referred to additional (secondary) screening.

You can contact DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) at http://www.dhs.gov/trip.

Or, by mail at the following address: DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP) 601 South 12th Street, TSA-901 Arlington, VA 22202

Regardless, I would hold on to whatever evidence you can indicating that you left the US (this can include evidence that you're back home now). If they can't fix it for you over the phone, you can submit your evidence to DHS TRIP through their online form and ask that the records be corrected.

Zach Lipton
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    I am not sure this is a complete record - I just tried and my trip to the US from April 2019 is not there at all ("Your traveler status is not available at this time. If you have not received results, you are not among the eligible travelers for the traveler compliance check at this time.") – WoJ Apr 29 '20 at 14:41
  • This answer is wrong. TRIP has NOTHING to do with incorrect departure records. The section you have quoted is clear on this, it's for people that have had issues with being repeatedly selected for additional screening, or had issues at immigration when entering the country. – Doc May 23 '20 at 15:36
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    @Doc All I can say is that this is exactly what CBP says in their I94 FAQ under "What can I do if I feel this information is incorrect?" However, the same FAQ now confusingly has a different section that says there's nothing you need to do if the departure information is inaccurate, just carry evidence of your timely departure in the future. Personally, I'd at least call the number they give. – Zach Lipton May 23 '20 at 17:37
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I would suggest to check your I-94 record, which is a record of your entry and exit into the United States. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/recent-search If this is updated to the date you left USA, then that will be your official document for proving you left. If it is not then its an administrative error and you probably should contact US immigration with all your travel proof, especially the proof that you entered back into your country which will be the stamp on you passport. Also if your I-94 is not updated, it will cause trouble for your future visits, so its better to have it done anyways

Eshwar Ravindran
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    While passport stamps are excellent evidence, not all countries issue a stamp to all returning residents. – origimbo Apr 28 '20 at 20:22
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    Eshwar, did you not read where the OP indicates "I have no stamp in my passport, they haven't done that in over 10 years at all"? – CGCampbell Apr 28 '20 at 21:46
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    @CGCampbell In Eshwar's defense, I thought that sentence in the question was referring to (not getting) an exit stamp from the US. Certainly the OP could have meant that they didn't get an entry stamp from their home country either, but that wasn't clear to me. – David Z Apr 29 '20 at 04:10
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    Which countries add entry stamps to their residents passports? Such a policy would fill up a passport twice as fast (not to mention that you may not even need a passport for reentry) – Hagen von Eitzen Apr 29 '20 at 06:27
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    @HagenvonEitzen At a minimum I know China used to do so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_stamp#China – March Ho Apr 29 '20 at 07:46
  • @HagenvonEitzen So did the US, at one point, although I suppose they stopped sometime within the past few years. (I actually hadn't realized that until I checked my passport) – David Z Apr 29 '20 at 07:55
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    @HagenvonEitzen Russia does, at least that was the case very recently. – Roman Odaisky Apr 29 '20 at 12:24
  • @DavidZ the US hasn't had exit stamps for at least 50 years. – phoog Apr 29 '20 at 13:47
  • I am not sure this is a complete record - I just tried and my trip to the US from April 2019 is not there at all ("Your traveler status is not available at this time. If you have not received results, you are not among the eligible travelers for the traveler compliance check at this time.") – WoJ Apr 29 '20 at 14:41
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    @phoog I know. We're talking about entry stamps. – David Z Apr 29 '20 at 18:47
  • @DavidZ I have never entered the US by air without getting an entry stamp, to this day. But I also have never used an APC kiosk, so I guess that's why. – phoog Apr 30 '20 at 03:21
  • @HagenvonEitzen Many countries still do entry and exit stamp even for citizens. India for example. Malaysia also does it for residents, in my experience. – Anish Sheela Apr 30 '20 at 06:23