Help with Ghost Entry on I-94 Record from 2018 — Not My Trip

[Juan José Medina 0]

Hi everyone,

 

I noticed an entry on my I-94 record showing both an entry and an exit for a trip to Miami in 2018 that I never actually took. The trip lasted only six days, and the dates don’t match any of my travels. Since then, I have traveled many times to the US without any problems. I’m only now realizing this discrepancy.

 

Has anyone else experienced a “ghost” entry like this? How did you handle it?

 

Also, I have a similar issue with a transit entry in Atlanta with a wrong date. I’ve contacted CBP but haven’t received a response yet.

 

Any advice or similar experiences would be really appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance.

[TBoneTX 47,149]

Welcome to the forum!

 

That's interesting.  You're probably not the only one.

 

If you're near an airport or port of entry, call to the CBP office to see when you can stop in personally.

If you're not in the U.S. now, allocate some extra time to talk with CBP upon your next arrival.

Bring some proof to help CBP research and resolve the issue.

 

Others here may have additional ideas.  Be sure to let us know how you ultimately resolve this!

Edited May 29 by TBoneTX

[Juan José Medina 0]

Some experts have advised me not to try to correct the Miami entry because it may have been a system error—perhaps due to a flight reservation I made and never paid for, and the airline might have sent my information to CBP, or my data might have been confused with someone else’s who has very similar personal details. I don’t believe it was fraud, because otherwise my visa would likely have been misused again, and I’ve had this visa for almost 10 years now. If it had been used fraudulently, I think it would have continued to cause issues or show more signs of misuse.

 

Besides, after 2018 I’ve traveled to the United States multiple times and have never had any problems. In fact, I transited through the U.S. recently, in March 2025, and had no issues at all—CBP simply allowed me to enter and complete my transit.

 

I suspect the phantom entry from Atlanta dated December 2024 was a mistake made by the officer when I entered Atlanta for my transit in March 2025. If the system had shown that I was still inside the U.S. from December, I assume the officer would have said something or stopped me, but she didn’t. She simply scanned my documents, said “welcome,” and allowed me to continue. That makes me think she accidentally generated a false entry for December 2024, along with the real one from March 2025.

 

At the moment, I am in Colombia. I found the contact email for the Atlanta Deferred Inspection Site and sent them an email with evidence showing that I was not in the United States in December 2024, as I was in the United Kingdom at that time. I’ve already sent the email and now I’m just waiting for a response.

20 minutes ago, TBoneTX said:

Welcome to the forum!

 

That's interesting.  You're probably not the only one.

 

If you're near an airport or port of entry, call to the CBP office to see when you can stop in personally.

If you're not in the U.S. now, allocate some extra time to talk with CBP upon your next arrival.

Bring some proof to help CBP research and resolve the issue.

 

Others here may have additional ideas.  Be sure to let us know how you ultimately resolve this!

Some experts have advised me not to try to correct the Miami entry because it may have been a system error—perhaps due to a flight reservation I made and never paid for, and the airline might have sent my information to CBP, or my data might have been confused with someone else’s who has very similar personal details. I don’t believe it was fraud, because otherwise my visa would likely have been misused again, and I’ve had this visa for almost 10 years now. If it had been used fraudulently, I think it would have continued to cause issues or show more signs of misuse.

 

Besides, after 2018 I’ve traveled to the United States multiple times and have never had any problems. In fact, I transited through the U.S. recently, in March 2025, and had no issues at all—CBP simply allowed me to enter and complete my transit.

 

I suspect the phantom entry from Atlanta dated December 2024 was a mistake made by the officer when I entered Atlanta for my transit in March 2025. If the system had shown that I was still inside the U.S. from December, I assume the officer would have said something or stopped me, but she didn’t. She simply scanned my documents, said “welcome,” and allowed me to continue. That makes me think she accidentally generated a false entry for December 2024, along with the real one from March 2025.

 

At the moment, I am in Colombia. I found the contact email for the Atlanta Deferred Inspection Site and sent them an email with evidence showing that I was not in the United States in December 2024, as I was in the United Kingdom at that time. I’ve already sent the email and now I’m just waiting for a response.

[OldUser 9,295]

26 minutes ago, Juan José Medina said:

Some experts have advised me not to try to correct the Miami entry because it may have been a system error—perhaps due to a flight reservation I made and never paid for, and the airline might have sent my information to CBP, or my data might have been confused with someone else’s who has very similar personal details. I don’t believe it was fraud, because otherwise my visa would likely have been misused again, and I’ve had this visa for almost 10 years now. If it had been used fraudulently, I think it would have continued to cause issues or show more signs of misuse.

 

Besides, after 2018 I’ve traveled to the United States multiple times and have never had any problems. In fact, I transited through the U.S. recently, in March 2025, and had no issues at all—CBP simply allowed me to enter and complete my transit.

 

I suspect the phantom entry from Atlanta dated December 2024 was a mistake made by the officer when I entered Atlanta for my transit in March 2025. If the system had shown that I was still inside the U.S. from December, I assume the officer would have said something or stopped me, but she didn’t. She simply scanned my documents, said “welcome,” and allowed me to continue. That makes me think she accidentally generated a false entry for December 2024, along with the real one from March 2025.

 

At the moment, I am in Colombia. I found the contact email for the Atlanta Deferred Inspection Site and sent them an email with evidence showing that I was not in the United States in December 2024, as I was in the United Kingdom at that time. I’ve already sent the email and now I’m just waiting for a response.

Some experts have advised me not to try to correct the Miami entry because it may have been a system error—perhaps due to a flight reservation I made and never paid for, and the airline might have sent my information to CBP, or my data might have been confused with someone else’s who has very similar personal details. I don’t believe it was fraud, because otherwise my visa would likely have been misused again, and I’ve had this visa for almost 10 years now. If it had been used fraudulently, I think it would have continued to cause issues or show more signs of misuse.

 

Besides, after 2018 I’ve traveled to the United States multiple times and have never had any problems. In fact, I transited through the U.S. recently, in March 2025, and had no issues at all—CBP simply allowed me to enter and complete my transit.

 

I suspect the phantom entry from Atlanta dated December 2024 was a mistake made by the officer when I entered Atlanta for my transit in March 2025. If the system had shown that I was still inside the U.S. from December, I assume the officer would have said something or stopped me, but she didn’t. She simply scanned my documents, said “welcome,” and allowed me to continue. That makes me think she accidentally generated a false entry for December 2024, along with the real one from March 2025.

 

At the moment, I am in Colombia. I found the contact email for the Atlanta Deferred Inspection Site and sent them an email with evidence showing that I was not in the United States in December 2024, as I was in the United Kingdom at that time. I’ve already sent the email and now I’m just waiting for a response.

Are you looking for solution or justifying why you shouldn't do anything and leave it as is?

[Juan José Medina 0]

3 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Are you looking for solution or justifying why you shouldn't do anything and leave it as is?

Solution, I’m just telling the whole story, cmon…

[Fr8dog 331]

It may have changed (doubt it) but I-94 entries are not generated by unpaid reservations. Airlines push the final manifest and PNR/manifest data to the CBP system. That is only generated after they close the check-in and isn't finalized until the gate agent closes the flight at boarding. Also Airlines do not push data into the system without receiving payment. I'm sure CPB is allowed access into their systems when it regards travel to the US but the messaging system is not setup to just randomly push data to the CBP. So I would say this is something you want to have clarified (in other words contact CBP). You used to be able to contact the US embassy/consulate about these things but most likely they changed that.

 

Regarding the incorrect one in December, I find it hard to believe that swiping your passport generates a time stamp that can be easily overridden by an officer without a deliberate action like warning screens. It could be a glitch but (best case scenario). Or is could be worse case and someone is using your credentials.

 

I'm not in the "leave it alone" camp on this one and would get it corrected if I were you. It could come back to bite you if and when you want to renew your current visum.