Travel to India

[Karn89]

Hello All,

Hope everyone in the forum is doing  great!

This is Karn and I have an unavoidable travel to India next weekend. My I797B and H1B stamp are valid until August 2020, however, my passport expires in June 2020. Last time when I had entered US in June 2018, the immigration officer at port of entry changed my I94 expiration date to the expiration date of my passport which is June 2020. So now my i94 expiration date is June 2020 depite having I797B valid until August 2020.

My question is, can there be an issue at the port of entry (I plan to reenter US in mid January 2019) if my I94 expiration date is same as my passport expiration date? I have heard somewhere that the passport must be valid for at least 6 months after your planned departure date which is same as I94 expiration date. Can there be a problem in the port of entry?

Please advise.

Many thanks in advance and happy holidays!

Karn

[care_candidate]

There is discrepancy in dates you listed. According to you when you enter into US in Jan 2019, your I-94 and Passport are still going to be valid for next 1.5 years, not 0.5 years.

If you meant to say 2019 for expiration for Passport and I-94:

Still, there won't be any issue. They do not provide I-94 beyond passport validity, no matter when you enter. The rule of having passport valid for next 6 months is applicable only when you stamp new visa, not applicable to stamping I-94 at POE.

[Karn89]

2 hours ago, care_candidate said:

There is discrepancy in dates you listed. According to you when you enter into US in Jan 2019, your I-94 and Passport are still going to be valid for next 1.5 years, not 0.5 years.

If you meant to say 2019 for expiration for Passport and I-94:

Still, there won't be any issue. They do not provide I-94 beyond passport validity, no matter when you enter. The rule of having passport valid for next 6 months is applicable only when you stamp new visa, not applicable to stamping I-94 at POE.

Hi,

Thanks for your response. Appreciate that. Actually your last paragraph kind of answers my question.

So I will enter US in January 2019. My Passport and I94 are valid until June 2020. So I was actually trying to ask, will there be any problem at POE if the passport expiration date is same as I94 expiration date. I heard somewhere that the passport should be valid for at least 6 months after the I94 expires. So for example in my case, my I94 expires on June 2020, hence my passport should be valid at least until Dec 2020. Can there by any problem if that's the case?

[care_candidate]

They issue I-94 up to Visa stamp validity or Passport validity, whichever expires first.