entry to US (I-131 form)

davegib20

Hi,

My parents are due to go back to Florida at the beginning of November and they have some serious concerns.

Upon departure from the US, it is required that you hand in a form (I-131) stating that you are leaving the country. If you dont hand the form in you are put on a list called 'Overstay' where they can refuse you entry upon return. They were not told this until well after they had arrived back home.

The thing is, you are not allowed back into the US until you have provided proof and got confirmation from the government office so that you can be taken off the list. We have written letters, sent emails and even tried to phone an office in Florida but noone is letting us know what to do. We dont know whether they have recieved the information because they will not get back to us.

Obviously time is running out as we have been trying to sort this now for 6 months. Can anyone give any advice on this matter because we are running out of options and they dont want to just take the chance and be refused at Stanford airport.

Please help...........

alanrowell

I-131, I would have thought it was the I-94W. For the I-94W (Visa Waiver) you need to send it to the address in this link - http://help.customs.gov/cgi-bin/customs.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=752&p_created=1077641280&p_sid=9VyH5fGh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NDcmcF9wcm9kcz0yMywzMiZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PTIuMzImcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1, but I'm surprised the US Embassy in London wasn't able to tell you that.

alanrowell

This BTW is the I-131 - http://uscis.gov/graphics/howdoi/travdoc.htm which is ore to do with resident aliens in the US.

davegib20

thanks for your reply, you are actually correct, my mistake, the form is I/94w and this was sent to the address provided. The problem stands that we dont know if this information was recieved, all we need is confirmation but without it, we run the risk of not being allowed entry. Do you know of any way to find this out?

N9eav

I thought most of the immigration was done on computer now. Last time I went a year ago, they took my F/prints and photo etc. When I left I was automatically shown as leaving on the computer when they swiped my passport. So I presume they have all things in hand. I still have some of those green cards from ages ago, but I have never been refused entry.

waster_2

I have returned home with the I-94W still in my passport before. Returned via Canada and they do not worry about it and I did not think about handing it in at the land border crossing.

Next time I went to the US the Immigration Officer growled a bit, took it out and stapled the new one in.He said I should have posted it back or handed back when departing in to Canada!

I personally would not worry about it. If you have posted it back they will have received it. And in any case, I have always found the US Immigrtaion people reasonable and all the hype about refused entry is generally just that.

aardvark0

I did the same thing - on holiday in Canada I had a day trip to the states and forgot to hand in the I-94W on the way out.

On returning to the UK, I mailed it to the US embassy in London, with a covering letter.

I never heard from them so am in the same boat as davegib20.

I subsequently phoned the US embassy on their regular land line number, and the person that I spoke to confirmed that they never send receipts for these documents, but that it had probably been dealt with.

When I asked how I could confirm this, the person gave me a premium rate line number, which I decided not to call.

I think the most likely outcome when you go back to the states is that you will be delayed at immigration while the matter is resolved.

Short of calling the premium rate line though, I do not know what else to do. It may be possible to email a relevant department and ask? (See the US embassy web site in the UK for possible email addresses). I expect this type of incident is very common.

davegib20

cheers folks, that should put their minds at rest a little, just seems to have been going on for a lot longer than it needed to.

Thanks again

catsilversword

Had this worry too - went into the US while on a trip to Canada and the stubs weren't taken from us. We tried to hand them in at the airport as well(Canada, but they weren't interested. I did as one person has suggested and sent them to the embassy - someone here has given the link - along with evidence that I'd left the country withint he required 90 days. I sent in copies of receipts for stuff bought here as evidence. I was still worried though, so took the precaution of scanning it all in and printing off before going back to the US earlier this year.

I can only assume it had been received and actioned as we had no problems. When I sent the stuff in, I did request an email to acknowledge receipt, but didn't ever get one. How difficult would it be for them to just email a confirmation?

Land of the free - maybe, but land of the non-reply as well, it seems...