Anyone had I-94 related problems?

[rai]

I went to the states last year as part of an ATPL course on an M-1 Visa. When you enter the country you get an I-94 card stapled to your passport. When you leave the US, the airline representative at the gate is supposed to remove this card which then proves that you left the country. Mine wasnt removed and i didnt notice till i was on the aircraft and in the descent back in the UK!

I mentioned this to a member of cabin crew and she said she would hand the card in for me. Now ive heard that if this card isnt handed in when you leave the US, the authorities may decide that you didnt leave the country when your visa expired and they may refuse you entry back into the country. Im going back to the US at the end of December and im now a little worried as to whether or not the stewardess handed in my card!

I just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem with not handing in the I-94 and how likely it would be that i would be refused entry to the US if they didnt get my card?

Not sure if this is the best forum, but i couldnt find a more appropriate one.

Thanks,
rai

[spitfire747]

If i were you give the US embassy a call, i presume it will be the London office, i know it is expensive but the US is very twitchy about flight training at the moment, especially to foreigners

[NACGS]

This happened to me just last week when going to the flight training show, twice I tried to hand in my white card, and twice it was given back, and I knew they had to take it as I have left the country many times before....

I was different as on the sunday coming back into the USA I still had my white card in hand, I handed it back to the immigration guy. He had a pile of them!

I told him they didnt want to take the card, he said its the airlines responsibility to take them, and its their fault if they dont take them and they can be fined. He told me if ever it happens again, just hold onto the white card and also a copy of your boarding pass and ticket details for your outward flight. This way you can prove to the immigration people when returning to the USA that you left the country and it wasnt your fault you had not handed in the card. He also said it takes them months to process all those white cards, and that as in my case there was a record on file already via the airline computer system that I had left the country so there was no problem.

Chris

[daw]

Same thing happened to me when I was in transit in LA about a year ago. Had the green card still stapled into my passport and being the goody to shoes I am I never ripped it out. The nice lady at immigration took a sensible approach and said that really she shouldn't let me in as I could have technically overstayed since the card wasn't taken off me when I departed the last time I was there. Then she gave me a printed set of instructions complete with an address somewhere in the US that I should send proof that I left the US to. The form was quite helpful and gave examples of credit card statements, boarding passes etc. In other words anything to prove that you left the US and didn't overstay. No drama at all.

Now that reminds me. I never did get around to sending off the stuff....Doh.

[rai]

Thanks for the replies. Its reassuring to hear that immigration seem quite reasonable about it.

I was already having visions of being handcuffed, strip searched and carted out of the country in shame (im only going for 2 days with my parents as a bithday gift for my mum)!

I called the US embassy in London and they gave me an address in the US to which i could send a letter explaining the situation and some evidence to show that ive been in the UK since i left last year. Unfortunately im not the sentimental type and havent kept the original bording card but ive sent plenty of bank statements. I was worried that this wouldnt be processed in time before i go next month, but by the sounds of things, if i take a copy of the letter and evidence with me I should be able to prove on my arrival that i had left the country well within the expiry of my visa - thats if the stewardess who took my I-94 hadnt already sorted it out for me in which case i have no reason to worry about all this at all (why is nothing in life stress free and simple!).

For anyone else who has a similar problem or a visa query check out the us embassy London website as its pretty useful:

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/ins/i94.htm

Thanks again,
rai.

[englishal]

I left Bermuda, and cleared into the US before leaving (via New York). My I94 was never collected, and I've been back to the US several times since and no one seemed to notice....