If taking short trips (30 days or less) to Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean Islands during the course of your visit to the U.S., hold onto your I-94 or I-94 (W); it should only be turned in when you leave the U.S. to return home.

If you have a paper form I-94 and depart by land, you can turn the form into Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) upon entry into Canada or to CBP at the port of entry prior to entering Mexico.

Signifying departure on Form I-94 with a CBP Admission Stamp:

In the routine course of operations, you will receive departure portions of Form I-94, Form I-94W or Form I-94A. This may occur when individual aliens seek to report their departure, or carriers and border management officials return departure Forms I-94 under a local operating agreement. ...

... In some circumstances, at some locations, border control officials from Canada or Mexico may apply their admission stamp to the reverse of a departure Form I-94. If the date on a Canadian or Mexican admission stamp reflects a current departure from the U.S. and entry to contiguous foreign territory, this is acceptable as evidence of departure from the U.S.

(c) Departure I-94 forms and other documents. Collection of departure I-94 forms at land borders has always been difficult, resulting in inaccurate Nonimmigrant Information System records. Canadian immigration officials collect some departure documents for DHS, other I-94 departure forms may be retained by the alien for reentry. Collection boxes for depositing some departure I-94 forms are in place at some Mexican border crossings.
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Departure forms collected by Canadian immigration or deposited in collection boxes should be reviewed to insure departure information is endorsed on the back and regularly forwarded for data entry ...

Document Collection. Canadian officials have agreed to collect departure documents (Forms I-94) for INS when they encounter nonimmigrants entering Canada who will not be returning to the U.S.

What do I need to do if my departure information is incorrect or inaccurate?

CBP tracks departures in a variety of manners, but not all departures are available on the website. If you are departing by air or sea, your departure is recorded electronically. There may be times when this information does not appear accurate. There is no formal action to take. CBP will not update the records available on the website.

Also, some land border departures may not be recorded in CBP systems. Land border departures on the Southern Border are not always documented. A departure will be recorded if you depart via land and re-enter the United States prior to the expiration date stamped in your passport. If you are not a resident of Canada or Mexico and you receive an electronic I-94 and depart via land, but do not re-enter the United States prior to the expiration date stamped on your passport, you may want to travel with evidence of your departure into Canada or Mexico. Evidence of departure can include, but is not limited to, foreign entry stamps in a passport, transportation tickets, pay stubs and/or other receipts.

How do I report my departure if I enter via air and depart via land?

If you have a paper form I-94 and depart by land, you can turn the form into Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) upon entry into Canada or to CBP at the port of entry prior to entering Mexico. If you received an electronic I-94 upon arrival by air or sea and depart via land, your departure may not be recorded accurately. A departure will be recorded if you depart via land and re-enter the United States prior to the expiration date stamped in your passport. If you are not a resident of Canada or Mexico and you receive an electronic I-94 and depart via land, but do not re-enter the United States prior to the expiration date stamped on your passport, you may want to travel with evidence of your departure into Canada or Mexico. Evidence of departure can include, but is not limited to, entry stamps in a passport, transportation tickets, pay stubs and/or other receipts. A traveler can request an entry stamp from CBSA when entering Canada or from the InstitutoNacional de Migracion (INM) when entering Mexico.

Why did I receive an email from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking me to check my status on the I-94 website?

CBP is taking proactive steps to ensure travelers comply with their terms of admission by sending reminders about time left in the United States and notifications to travelers who have potentially overstayed their period of admission. In order to facilitate notification, CBP has added a traveler compliance check to the I-94 website. You can find the traveler compliance check under the 'View Compliance' tab on the website.

While the email notification is new, there is no change in CBP's policies or enforcement actions. This proactive approach only changes how visible CBP's work is to the travelling public.

Travelers may receive an email indicating they have 10 days remaining on their admission into the United States or an email regarding a potential violation. If you receive an email, you may check your admission status at https://I94.cbp.dhs.gov.

The email notification will come from [email protected]. If your notification email did not come from this address, it may be a phishing scam or other fraudulent email.