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My father visited US on visitor's visa in 2007 for 20 days and submitted his I-94 while leaving. I am now in the process of applying his visitor's visa again. His old passport which had the visa stamp was renewed however, he did not get his old passport. but the new passport has the old passport # referenced. I was checking the online website to get previous travel history/I-94 record for him, however looks like they have only past 5 yrs record available online.

I have been reading online and it looks like if there is no record found, the person is considered to have overstayed in US and when reentering, one may face complications at Port of Entry. Don't they have a list of overstayers? Does this mean USCIS or DHS does not have the record of I-94 submitted in 2007?

As my father's old passport is not with him, he won't be able to show the stamp of arrival at his country. Would he be subjected to questioning about his previous visit and prove that he did not overstay?

I do not want him to face any humiliation at the POE. I don't mind his visa getting rejected.

JonathanReez
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jhir134
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    If he did leave after 20 days back in 2007 and handed in his I-94 while leaving, what makes you think there would be any problems now? The online I-94 database you can search only covers electronic I-94's; if you don't see any entry registered in that database, there can't be any exit missing from it either. – hmakholm left over Monica May 26 '15 at 19:21
  • I've been reading online and it looks like if one does not have a proper departure record, it is considered that one had overstayed. If not i94, they check for the arrival stamp in one's passport, however as my father's old passport was not handed over to him after renewal, he does not have that as well to show/prove his timely departure from the country. – jhir134 May 26 '15 at 19:27
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    x @jhir: What makes you think there is a database anywhere that does contain a record of his arrival but does not contain a matching record of his departure? You have checked the current online database and found neither. Very well -- that simply means that his trip was from before the data in the current online database originates. That doesn't mean that whatever internal database the US authorities thinks he entered and never left. – hmakholm left over Monica May 26 '15 at 19:28
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    Since your father submitted his I-94 when leaving, you shouldn't worry about having trouble when he returns. – phoog May 26 '15 at 20:06
  • Did he lose the old passport, then? As you know the old passport is cancelled and returned to you when you receive your new passport. – Michael Hampton May 26 '15 at 20:35
  • Yes you will receive some questioning about it, if he left without submitting the appropriate form. Make sure you have your stories straight. But it isn't unusual for these things to go missing. – Calchas May 26 '15 at 23:10
  • He never got his old passport back. He got it renewed through some agent around 5-6 yrs back. I had this question becoz, the authorities do have proper records of arrival, however, not of departure and they verify the timely departure through the arrival stamp at home country on the passport(which my father does'nt have now as it was on the old passport) Hopefully he should be fine at port of entry. – jhir134 May 27 '15 at 17:49
  • Thankyou all for your response I really appreciate it ! :) – jhir134 May 27 '15 at 17:49
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    @MichaelHampton Not everywhere. – Relaxed May 28 '15 at 21:28
  • @Relaxed India returns old passports now, but perhaps they didn't do "5-6 yrs back"... – Michael Hampton May 28 '15 at 21:32
  • @MichaelHampton Sorry, I did not notice the OP mentioned he was from India, I thought you meant that every country returns old passports. – Relaxed May 28 '15 at 22:09
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    As far as I know the online database goes back only to 2008. I wouldn't worry about it. – Michael Hampton Jul 09 '15 at 17:33
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    I somehow still had an I94 last time that wasn't handed back in. The guy at the border was all "you were meant to give this back!". I asked "so what happens now?". He simply shoved it in a drawer and that was that.
    Of course this is just a story, not a rule, but you may be fine.     – Mark Mayo Jul 09 '15 at 18:53

1 Answers1

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The Department of Homeland Security has made it possible to look up your Electronic I-94 information online now, which includes being able to verify your I-94 was updated upon departure of the US.

You can visit the Get I-94 Information page here.

If you have any questions or issues (such as if you get Record not found), the FAQ, accessible via the link at the bottom of the page, is fairly useful, such that it is.

If you and your father are truly worried, take what documentation you may still have showing he departed the country on time with you. That is, unfortunately, all you can do at this time.

This part is still mostly true, however. If your record has not yet been made available in the system, or if there is some other unknown problem, there is no other manual process to verify.

phoog
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CGCampbell
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