DS-160 for K1 - details on ALL US visits?

[ccc_ 2]

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can give me a hand with this. I'm filling out the DS-160 for my K1 and there is a question asking for details on ALL US visits. Basically it gives little fields for date and for length of stay. I have checked the CEAC sample DS-160 form (which is filled out for a different type of visa), and that one says last 5 but my application says ALL visits. This sounds fine if you can count your visits on two hands, but the thing is I'm Canadian and from a border town so I drove there a lot with my parents growing up, used to be a commuter student at a university in the US while I lived at home in Canada on an F-1 where I'd cross every. single. day, and now I drive through Michigan every few weeks/months to go from one part of Canada to another all the time. We're not issued visas to visit the US either, so I have no paper documentation of my visits. I don't even have boarding passes from flights either because I've never used an airport POE. My last 6-8 visits have been one-day or less only. And even when I've been on 1+ week-long visits, we'd go in and out of Mexico occasionally using a land crossing too, so dates are really random. Looking for some guidance on what do about this! Thanks.

[Cryssiekins 976]

I have lived near the NY/ON border almost all my life, and for 1.5 years I lived at the BC/WA border, so I feel your pain.

 

I did best guess estimates.  I know I didn’t capture all the trips, but I mentioned it to the officer at the Embassy that I wasn’t 100% on the dates since crossing regularly was a thing for the first 28 years of my life, and I didn’t really ever keep track until I was engaged, and even then, it was weekly.  

 

I assume they don’t hold Canadians hard and fast to this, given the relationship (otherwise they’d issue i94’s to us) but always good to just put it on record that it was your best guess. 

[Peot 128]

You must provide the last 5 visits. This info can be found on your I94. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/ 

It lists dates of entry and reentry, though this is more accurate when flying rather than driving across the border. 

 

If you're unsure of the dates or lengths, use your best estimate. 

[Cryssiekins 976]

29 minutes ago, Peot said:

You must provide the last 5 visits. This info can be found on your I94. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/ 

It lists dates of entry and reentry, though this is more accurate when flying rather than driving across the border. 

 

If you're unsure of the dates or lengths, use your best estimate. 

There are no i94’s for Canadians crossing at land borders.  The only time I had an i94 was when I entered with a K1.

 

They maybe changed the form since I applied in 2016, because I certainly had to list more than 5 haha and that’s why I had to tell the guy at my interview that all of mine were guesstimates and that I probably missed a whole lot.  

[Peot 128]

13 hours ago, Cryssiekins said:

There are no i94’s for Canadians crossing at land borders.  The only time I had an i94 was when I entered with a K1.

 

They maybe changed the form since I applied in 2016, because I certainly had to list more than 5 haha and that’s why I had to tell the guy at my interview that all of mine were guesstimates and that I probably missed a whole lot.  

I have I94 records from land crossings going back to the early 2000's... They often list an entry and don't list a re-entry, but the records are there. If I were you, I'd double-check that site with your passport information to see what has been recorded. Note, these are NOT physical stamps in a passport. 

[ccc_ 2]

9 minutes ago, Peot said:

I have I94 records from land crossings going back to the early 2000's... They often list an entry and don't list a re-entry, but the records are there. If I were you, I'd double-check that site with your passport information to see what has been recorded. Note, these are NOT physical stamps in a passport. 

Yes someone on reddit gave me the link as well, I have 75 from the past 5 years! I was only able to put 10 in before the website crashed. I hope they don’t put too much weight on that section and they realize I have more than that?

[ccc_ 2]

16 hours ago, Cryssiekins said:

I have lived near the NY/ON border almost all my life, and for 1.5 years I lived at the BC/WA border, so I feel your pain.

 

I did best guess estimates.  I know I didn’t capture all the trips, but I mentioned it to the officer at the Embassy that I wasn’t 100% on the dates since crossing regularly was a thing for the first 28 years of my life, and I didn’t really ever keep track until I was engaged, and even then, it was weekly.  

 

I assume they don’t hold Canadians hard and fast to this, given the relationship (otherwise they’d issue i94’s to us) but always good to just put it on record that it was your best guess. 

Yes I know how you feel! If I can easily access my I-94 I’m assuming they can too, I just hope they realize I’m not saying that’s every time I’ve crossed. 

[ccc_ 2]

13 hours ago, Peot said:

You must provide the last 5 visits. This info can be found on your I94. https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/ 

It lists dates of entry and reentry, though this is more accurate when flying rather than driving across the border. 

 

If you're unsure of the dates or lengths, use your best estimate. 

Thanks for the website! Really helpful. Also shocked to see how many times I’ve crossed recently!

[Peot 128]

8 minutes ago, ccc_ said:

Yes someone on reddit gave me the link as well, I have 75 from the past 5 years! I was only able to put 10 in before the website crashed. I hope they don’t put too much weight on that section and they realize I have more than that?

Like you and others have said, you will provide and they will have access to your I94 records. The land crossings can have some missing information, so just be sure you include estimates of returns and arrivals if that info is missing from one of the previous 5 visits. A human will ultimately deal with your case, so it's not a big deal. The form itself says "estimate", so that should give you a hint as to the weight of it.

[Cryssiekins 976]

50 minutes ago, Peot said:

I have I94 records from land crossings going back to the early 2000's... They often list an entry and don't list a re-entry, but the records are there. If I were you, I'd double-check that site with your passport information to see what has been recorded. Note, these are NOT physical stamps in a passport. 

Interesting.  I just checked with my current and previous passport (so the last 13 years) and nothing comes up.  I wonder why?  

[Peot 128]

3 minutes ago, Cryssiekins said:

Interesting.  I just checked with my current and previous passport (so the last 13 years) and nothing comes up.  I wonder why?  

Very strange! It's based on name and number, and I know (for example) my first and middle name HAVE to be included together. It might be fickle. 

The CBP have a site on what to do if no records show up - https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1696/~/what-to-do-if-your-i-94-is-not-found-online

[Cryssiekins 976]

6 minutes ago, Peot said:

Very strange! It's based on name and number, and I know (for example) my first and middle name HAVE to be included together. It might be fickle. 

The CBP have a site on what to do if no records show up - https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1696/~/what-to-do-if-your-i-94-is-not-found-online

Yeah, I tried all combos of my name.  

 

For me, it’s not a huge deal.  I have been manually noting my travel dates out of the US for 3 years bc I think the N400 asks about time out, and I didn’t want to be guessing.  

 

Mostly I’m just interested in the fact that there are Canadians who can track this online.  

 

Im in the process of texting my mom to ask her to check hers, bc I’m wildly curious since mine shows zero record. 

[Peot 128]

Just now, Cryssiekins said:

Yeah, I tried all combos of my name.  

 

For me, it’s not a huge deal.  I have been manually noting my travel dates out of the US for 3 years bc I think the N400 asks about time out, and I didn’t want to be guessing.  

 

Mostly I’m just interested in the fact that there are Canadians who can track this online.  

 

Im in the process of texting my mom to ask her to check hers, bc I’m wildly curious since mine shows zero record. 

Well to give you a bit of background, both me and my wife have records, and know for a fact that both my father and brother have land-crossing records as well. Again, for me I always need to combine my first and middle name as my "first name", and it won't show up anything otherwise. It might be something very strange like that.

Interestingly, when I went to get my SSN originally the agent had trouble finding me in the system. I told him to use "first middle" as my first name like it shows on the I94 and it showed up for him. The SSN registration info was based on the I94 record. 

 

Another bit of info - there are records on my I94 from land crossings BEFORE I ever had a passport. These were still somehow connected to my current passport number. Maybe based on driver's license? I'm unsure of that part! 

[Cryssiekins 976]

20 minutes ago, Peot said:

Well to give you a bit of background, both me and my wife have records, and know for a fact that both my father and brother have land-crossing records as well. Again, for me I always need to combine my first and middle name as my "first name", and it won't show up anything otherwise. It might be something very strange like that.

Interestingly, when I went to get my SSN originally the agent had trouble finding me in the system. I told him to use "first middle" as my first name like it shows on the I94 and it showed up for him. The SSN registration info was based on the I94 record. 

 

Another bit of info - there are records on my I94 from land crossings BEFORE I ever had a passport. These were still somehow connected to my current passport number. Maybe based on driver's license? I'm unsure of that part! 

That last part is also interesting bc when I lived in BC, it was before needing a passport to cross was mandatory.  They have to be linking it by DOB and name bc passport numbers change, and DL aren’t connected to passports. 

 

I still live near a border (I can actually see the peace bridge from my work desk) so I’m half tempted to go over there on my lunch break to ask why I seemingly do not exist in their records because of course I’m now paranoid this will somehow come back to bite me somehow.  *sigh*

[Peot 128]

2 minutes ago, Cryssiekins said:

That last part is also interesting bc when I lived in BC, it was before needing a passport to cross was mandatory.  They have to be linking it by DOB and name bc passport numbers change, and DL aren’t connected to passports. 

 

I still live near a border (I can actually see the peace bridge from my work desk) so I’m half tempted to go over there on my lunch break to ask why I seemingly do not exist in their records because of course I’m now paranoid this will somehow come back to bite me somehow.  *sigh*

Hahaha! I'm sure you'll be fine. THEY know who you are. Just really inconvenient to have to track it the way you are. Would be nice if you knew the secret to finding your name in the system. I'd be interested to know what they say!