i-94 form. Necessary for Canadians?

Hello,

I'm Canadian and I have visited the United States for 5 months. However when I left Canada for the States, they didn't stamp any I-94 form in my passport...is it normal? Do Canadians required a I-94 form when visiting United States? Im afraid, because I don't want American customs think I have overstayed in the US. I just realized that when I came back to Canada... I want to come back to the US and I don't want the US custom to ban or denied me entrance to the States, because of the fact they didn't get my i-94 which is the proof of my departure for the US. To sum up my questions:

1. Is it normal that US customs didn't stamp any i-94 form in my passport?

2. Do Canadians required a I-94 form when visiting United States?

3. If they didn't take back my supposedly I-94 form, do they have other proofs of my departure from the US?

I don't have the code bar on my passeport, so it can not be scanned.

Please, let me know, I don't want to break the US laws and I want to be clean if I need to come back to the US

Thanks u

Canadians who travel to the US as tourists (B-2) or on business (B-1) do not need an I-94.

Canadians who travel to the US as tourists (B-2) or on business (B-1) do not need an I-94.

Thanks you Axolotl for your quick reply. I feel better now.

In this case, does this mean that Canadians can stay in the US and leave whenever they want, since US customs wouldn't know when Canadians are leaving the States. I know that Canadians can legally stay in the US for 6 months or 180 days in the US without any visa. However, how do the US customs know when you are leaving the United States if Canadians don't need any I-94 forms?

Thank you

They don't, now you know why the US is spending billions on the WHTI to set up all this electronic stuff to keep track of everyone.

They don't, now you know why the US is spending billions on the WHTI to set up all this electronic stuff to keep track of everyone.

Agree with you Steven....but why would US spend billions on a new electronic tracking system instead of using the i-94 form? Wouldn't they save money? Also I'm still don't understand why Canadians don't required the I-94 form? Is this kind of an agreement between the US and Canada? Is Canada the only country you don't required to have a i-94 ?

Also I'm still don't understand why Canadians don't required the I-94 form? Is this kind of an agreement between the US and Canada? Is Canada the only country you don't required to have a i-94 ?

Most, but not all, Canadians do not need an I-94. Canadians that enter the US on some kind of status besides B-1/B-2 (for example, F-1, H-1B, TN, etc.) need an I-94 just like everyone else. Many Canadians cross at land borders so requiring them to complete I-94s prior to entering the US would cause major delays at border crossings not to mention the cost of having to process all that additional paperwork. If you think it's a long wait now at border crossings, just imagine how much of a mess it would be if they required Canadians to fill out I-94s at the border!

But yes, there is a special agreement between Canada and the US as Canadians do not require a visa to enter the US. (This is not the same as the Visa Waiver agreement in place with some other countries, notably EU nations.)

Personally, I think the whole I-94 business should be gotten rid of completely. Rather than give people a card that can be easily lost or forgotten about, they should just store the information electronically.

The agreement between Canada and the US is an honour system. They can't really track us if they don't scan your passport at border entry (June 1 that all ends!), and so far they can't know your exit date at all, unless Canada Customs tells them.

If your passport is scanned at entry though, they will have record of it, and they can assume your probable last exit date, and if they suspect that you just flag-poled your way in (leave so as not to overstay, but then immediately turn around to go back), they can/will deny your re-entry.

Or if you're back and forth quite often, like every other week, for a week or 2 at a time, they can determine that you are spending too much time in the US, and deny your entry.

Which is why it is an honour system. We're supposed to know the rules, and we're supposed to abide them. Not everyone does, so everyone is suspicious.

Agree with you Steven....but why would US spend billions on a new electronic tracking system instead of using the i-94 form? Wouldn't they save money? Also I'm still don't understand why Canadians don't required the I-94 form? Is this kind of an agreement between the US and Canada? Is Canada the only country you don't required to have a i-94 ?

Because the I-94 "tracking" is a farce, they all get sent to a service centre in Kentucky and are scanned into a huge computer system which can take months. And given the massive volume of Canadian (and Mexican) visitors who go back and forth across the border the amount of paperwork that would be generated would be immense, it's just totally impractical to do it that way, hence the reason it doesn't apply to Canadians (and Mexicans not travelling further than 25 miles into the US, I think and belongers of Bermuda who visit are exempt as well).

Very few people or CBSA officers remember to fill in the departure details either on the back of the card when they leave, so the I-94 system is basically useless at land borders. (CBP don't exactly advertise this of course).

50 million people enter at San Ysidro POE every year, compared to 10 million at JFK airport so you can see just how overwhelmed they would be if they tried to implement it at land borders for Canadians and Mexicans.

Obviously it makes more sense to use an up-to-date electronic system, which is what the WHTI is all about, with NEXUS cards, EDLs and the new biometric passports.

Rather than depending on a paper-based system invented in 1924.

-- Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:15 pm --

Ooh, look, they've done a promo video: http://nemo.cbp.gov/opa/videos/2009/won ... e_whti.wmv