How to Get Your CBP Entry and Exit Records Through FOIA

The dates you entered and left the United States are facts the government has recorded and you have probably half-remembered. Customs and Border Protection holds your CBP entry and exit records: every admission at a port of entry, the class and duration of each admission, secondary inspection notes, sworn statements taken at the border, and any expedited removal or withdrawal of an application for admission. Those records decide unlawful presence calculations, the three- and ten-year bars, continuous residence for naturalization, and whether a prior encounter you considered minor was in fact a removal. Capitol Law Partners obtains them through its immigration FOIA request service, usually alongside the USCIS A-file.

Start with the I-94 website

CBP stopped issuing paper I-94 cards for most air and sea arrivals years ago and now records admissions electronically. Its I-94 website lets you retrieve your most recent I-94 and a travel history covering recent years of arrivals and departures, using your passport details. That is free, immediate and enough for many purposes, such as confirming your current admit-until date or filling in dates on a form.

It is not enough when you need older travel, land border crossings that were not fully recorded, the content of an inspection, or anything beyond dates. For those you need a FOIA request.

What CBP entry and exit records show

A CBP FOIA response for an individual commonly includes:

• Arrival and departure records, including historic paper I-94 data and electronic admissions, with class of admission and admit-until dates.
• Records from CBP’s inspection systems, often heavily redacted, showing when you were referred to secondary inspection and the outcome.
• Sworn statements recorded at the border on the forms CBP uses for expedited removal and admissibility interviews, including your answers.
• Form I-860, the notice and order of expedited removal, if one was issued.
• Form I-275, documenting a withdrawal of an application for admission, which many travelers remember only as being sent home.
• Form I-213, the record of deportable or inadmissible alien, prepared after an apprehension between ports of entry or a finding of inadmissibility.
• Parole documentation, including humanitarian or advance parole entries.
• Records of Border Patrol apprehensions and voluntary returns.

Visa records and the officer’s reasons for a refusal at a consulate are State Department records, not CBP records, and are largely withheld.

Why these records change cases

Unlawful presence begins when an authorized stay ends, and the authorized stay is defined by the I-94, not the visa. A person who believes they left on time may discover an overstay of months, with a three-year bar attached. A person who recalls being turned around at an airport may discover a formal expedited removal order, which carries a five-year bar on reentry and makes any later entry without inspection a permanent bar problem. A statement signed at the border under pressure may contain an admission of intent to work or a false claim to citizenship that will surface in an adjustment or naturalization interview.

On the other side, the records help. They prove an inspected admission for purposes of adjusting status, document physical presence and continuous residence, and establish the exact departure dates that a waiver or a bar calculation turns on. Our citizenship and naturalization page explains why travel history is one of the most examined parts of an N-400, and what is in your A-file explains why the USCIS file alone does not capture border encounters completely.

How to file the CBP FOIA request

CBP accepts requests through its online FOIA portal, where you create an account and upload documents, and by mail. Include your full name and other names used, date of birth, country of citizenship, all passport numbers you have traveled on, your A-number if any, and the approximate dates and ports of entry you are asking about. Because the records are about you, include a signed verification of identity under penalty of perjury or a notarized statement, and a signed authorization if a lawyer is to receive the records. Describe what you want: travel history for a date range, records of a specific encounter, or all records pertaining to you. Specific descriptions produce faster and more complete results. The statutory response time is 20 working days, extendable by 10, though CBP requests involving inspection records often take longer.

Reading the response

Expect redactions under the law enforcement exemption; CBP withholds system codes, lookout information and techniques. Focus on what is released: the dates, the classes of admission, the forms, and your own statements. Build a travel timeline and compare it to the dates you have given on every prior application. Any discrepancy is something to explain before an officer asks, not after. If a record you know exists is missing, or if the redactions appear to swallow releasable material, an administrative appeal is available within the deadline in the response letter.

When the records are urgent

If you are in removal proceedings or facing a filing deadline and CBP has not responded within the statutory time, the remedy is a lawsuit to compel production, described in when you can sue over an ignored FOIA request. Where the issue is a possible prior order rather than travel dates, pair the CBP request with a request to the immigration court, since removal proceedings generate their own record held by a different agency.

If your travel history or a past border encounter could affect an application, a consultation with Capitol Law Partners can get the CBP request filed and the results interpreted before you file anything else. Schedule a consultation.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed by this communication.

Attorney Sena Sahin. Clear advice for individuals, families, and business owners.

Need help with this topic? See our CBP and USCIS FOIA requests page or schedule a consultation.