I was thinking about this as I went to sleep last night. In September 2005, my SO came to visit for a week. He left on September 7, 2005. He came back to visit at the end of January. When he came through Customs, the officer said, "Oh, we thought you were still here." I'm not exactly sure why, but apparently there's a card that they're supposed to take out of his passport when he leaves?? He's French, if that helps...

I don't know if this will cause any problems for him at his interview, but I'd like to be prepared, just in case. Should he get a letter from his employer saying that he was back at work in September 2005?

Sounds like he still had his I-194W (the visa waiver form you fill in on the plane) in his passport. It's meant to be taken out by an airline official when you leave the country so they can record the fact that you've left (and not stayed longer than you should), but it seems that it's quite a common occurrence for them to forget. The same thing happened to me in 2005 - I noticed just before I was about to fly back to the US that I still had that form in my passport.

Does he still have it? If so, here's a link with info on what to do with it (scroll down a bit - oh, and the link is from the London Embassy's site but it's identical on every site I found it on)... basically he should send it back to USCIS with proof (a letter from his employer would be good, as would bank statements etc showing purchases made in France, copies of boarding cards etc, anything else you can think of) that he did actually leave the US. I've just noticed there's info on what to do if you don't still have the card in your possession - so hopefully that should cover it. I sent mine back in June, and we sent off our I-129F in October - no NOA2 yet so I'm yet to find out whether it'll cause a problem, but I hope not! (Fingers crossed, touch wood etc...)

Hope that helps!

It does sound like the I-94 was never given back. When that happens you can send the card and proof that you left the country to an address that you should find in your embassy's website. Mine was left inside my passport on my last visit to US and I never saw it until I started the K1 process (a year and half later) but I still sent it and later got a letter from immigration saying they got the I-94 and evidence and had recorded my exit. I had no problems at the interview or at POE.

No, he doesn't - they took it back when he came back to visit in January, and said, "Whoops, we thought you were still here." I guess his plane tickets purchased for the January trip would prove he didn't stay!!

Sounds like they weren't overly concerned with it - I think it really does happen all the time! If he writes to the address in that link with some proof, just to be on the safe side (so they can update the records), it might be a good idea... but in any case, should anyone query it at any point, it will be easy to prove that he did return to France. When I found I still had my I-94W (not 'I-194W' as I said in my other post - oops, I know what I mean!) in my passport and looked into whether it would be a problem, I was worried I'd have trouble getting back into the US. But I had no trouble at all, they didn't mention it when I went through immigration (so can't have had me on record as an overstay), and in any case, the fact that I'd just landed on a plane from London would be a pretty good indicator that I wasn't still in the US!!

Hmmm.

You either need to take care of this now in the method Laura suggested, or be prepared to address this at the consulate interview.

Type down all the facts (including EXACT PERTINENT DATES if you can recall them) and gather all evidence of the departure wherein security failed to collect the I94. If he still has his stamped boarding pass from that exit this would be your best evidence. His exit date from his September visit will be more relevant than his re-entry wherein the error was caught.

I just noticed something. Are you meaning 9/05 or 9/06? Just curious.

This happened in September 2005. He's been back here many times since then as well. I'm sure, though, that he doesn't have a boarding pass from September 7, 2005. But he has pay slips, credit card charges, etc, from Paris in September 2005, I can't imagine it would be a problem.

Damn, the one time I actually have the answer to something... took me all whole minutes to find that link!

(... even if I did get the name of the I-94W wrong!)

Hope it doesn't cause you any problems, Bostonparis... in fact, I hope it doesn't cause me any problems, either - I sent back the form & evidence at the time, but never heard back. So, fingers crossed...

Well, without the boarding pass, we'll have to make do with what we have and hope for the best.

If he can give them flight numbers, dates etc (any chance he has confirmation emails lurking in the depths of his inbox still?), then it should be verifiable... good luck!

No, no email confirmations, but we've got flight numbers, dates, etc. I think it'll be fine.

It has happened to me too, from my visit to the US from Aug of 2005.

I only noticed the I-94 was still in my passport when I started my (DCF-) process in Germany, about a year later.

I found a list of things to send in to proof that you have left the country (don't have the link anymore, but will go through the list quickly):

- boarding pass
- copies of passport showing stamps from immigrating other countries since
- photocopies of other evidence such as:

- paystubs from work in homecountry to show that you have worked after leaving the US
- detailed bank account information showing that you have been outside the US
- credit card bills showing the use of the card in countries other than the US
- additional proof (from universites/school/landlord...)

send all this to

ACS - USCIS, SBU
P.O Box 7125
London, KY 40742-7125
USA

I did all this, never heard back from them and it never came up during the process.

Will be fine! Especially since he has entered the US since.