This may not mean much to anyone American, but anyone who travels to America and completes a Visa Waiver Form will hopefully know what I am talking about.

I have a potential problem regarding our forthcoming trip to Boston -we live in Britain, and hold British passports.

I've just discovered that the last time we visited the US, we didn't hand in our Visa Waiver Form, mainly because we checked in for a domestic flight at Denver, then connected to the flight back to England in Atlanta. I suppose we are at fault and should have made sure the form was collected somewhere along the line.

My question is - do we have a problem? Do US immigration update their records when people leave, and if so have no record of us leaving the country? So therefore we will need to turn up at Boston next week with whatever proof we can find that we did in fact leave the country within our allowed 90 days? Or is there not too much to worry about?

Thanks

MR

I have no idea what the answer to your question is. However, I would strongly suggest/advise that you contact the American consulate or some other official governmental agency for the answer rather than relying on us strangers on a travel website!

Howard - of course you are right, I am just trying to find out if anyone has any experience of this. The US Embassy tells me that I need to send the form to a government office, with documentation showing we did indeed leave the US, and this we will do, but it's very unlikely that any problem would be sorted out by next week. Thanks for your time anyway.

MR

Magic; Like Howard, I don't know the answer to your question, but would suggest that carrying a copy of all the documentation with you might be a safe idea. Most likely you will have no problems. But on the off hand that you do, it would be wise to have a copy of the Visa Waiver Form, a copy of your boarding passes from the Atlanta/Britain flight and possibly a copy of the postal voucher whereby you've mailed the original documents to the US Gov.as suggested by your Consulate. It can't hurt to have all this in a small envelope with you and might help if you are questioned.

This happened to a friend of mine recently, and yes, it did cause her grief when she re-entered the US again.

From what I remember, she didn't even realize that she had made the mistake and it all got worked out in the long run. However, it took a lot of time at their initial point of entry into the US. I agree with the others in having any and all necessary documentation with you when you enter this trip.

Unfortunately, my friend is presently traveling and I can't reach her. Otherwise, I would ask her specifically what she did to rectify the situation.

Good luck!

I am a U.S. lawyer specialized in immigration law, and so have seen a lot of this problem. And yes, indeed, it is a problem. HowardR's instincts are right on. Contact the consular section in the U.S. embassy well before your trip. You'll need to provide them with evidence that you departed the U.S. within the allotted 90 days (such as your boarding card stub from your return trip and maybe some charge card receipts from within the UK immediately after your return). If you still have your green I-94W cards, show them as well, as proof that indeed you did not turn them in on departure. Best to get the embassy to work this out with the Homeland Security department ahead of time rather than hassle with it on entry. But, even if you do work with the embassy on this, please bring with you your proof of when you departed, in case the message from the embassy does not make it into the computer. And be prepared to spend a couple of hours in secondary inspection when you arrive. You may not have to, but best to plan for it.

Crys and others - thanks for your advice. The message from the Embassy is that I should send the I-94W cards off to UCSIS, together with evidence such as payslips from the UK, and charge card receipts. We've also got letters from our employers stating that we returned to work well within the 90 days. I've not got the boarding cards, but have asked the airline to provide confirmation that we flew out when we say we did. Once I've got all the details together, I'll post it off to USCIS in Kentucky, but I very much doubt that it will be processed by the time we fly out next weekend, so I'll keep copies of everything in case it comes up at immigration.

The odd thing is that I have spoken to a couple of people who have potentially had the same problem when arriving in the US - the I-94W card was still in their passports. On those occasions they were waved through without a problem. That of course doesn't mean the same will happen to us, but I wonder why the computer didn't pick up the situation for them. At least I am now prepared. I might not have discovered this until I got to the airport next week!

The problem seems to happen when you take a connecting flight before your flight out of the country. When checking in for a transatlantic flight, the airline will take the I-94W and presumably hand it to the immigration officials. After all, all non-Americans will have to have one. But when we came back last time, we checked in at Denver, then connected at Atlanta. The check-in desk at Denver didn't take the form, but I suppose we should have drawn it to their attention.

I'm also inclined to think that if it is so important to hand in the I-94W, maybe there should be an announcment on the plane when leaving the US, or some other warning. I know that we were at fault, but all the evidence suggest that this is a very common problem, and it would be in everybody's interest to minimize it.

MR.

Hope everything works out ok for you, MagicRat. You never know....you might just get waived thru, as well. However, it's best to be prepared for whatever might arise.

Please let us know how everything went upon your return. Good luck!

It's a shame the embassy in London won't take the evidence and make the computer entry--it will take a couple of months for the contractor in Kentucky to enter the info. Do take the copies with you. You might get waved through, or you might get questioned.

Well, for those who remember this thread, we are now back from Boston, had a great time, and of course we were waived straight through immigration! In fact it took considerably longer getting back to the UK at Heathrow. It's nice to have a good news story about getting through US immigration for once...

Thanks for letting us know, MagicRat. Glad to hear everything worked out.