Updated November 12, 2026

USA visa check: how to verify your I-94 status, ESTA, and USCIS case

Running a USA visa check depends on whether you are already inside the United States, preparing to board a trip, or waiting on a filed petition. Once you enter the country, U.S. Customs and Border Protection tracks your legal visitor status and Admit Until Date on an 11-character electronic Form I-94 record, with over 70 Deferred Inspection Sites available if an entry record needs correction. Before arrival or while a benefit request is pending, you verify Visa Waiver Program travel authorization through CBP's ESTA system, track domestic petitions through USCIS Case Status Online, or confirm overseas DS-form visa applications with the U.S. Department of State or your interviewing embassy.

Which US visa or status check tool do you need?

People searching for a USA visa check are usually looking for one of four separate government systems. No single database tracks every step from an initial petition to your final day of authorized stay inside the United States.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services handles domestic petitions, extensions, changes of status, green card applications, and work permits. The U.S. Department of State handles DS-series visa forms and visa issuance at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad. U.S. Customs and Border Protection manages Visa Waiver Program travel authorizations through ESTA before you board, decides admissibility at the port of entry, and records your lawful visitor status on Form I-94 once you arrive.

Match your current stage in the table below so you open the right agency tool on the first try.

US status, travel authorization, and petition tracking tools by scenario

How to check your US visitor status and Form I-94 Admit Until Date

Once you pass inspection at a U.S. airport, seaport, or land border, the expiration date printed on a passport visa sticker does not control how long you may stay in the country. Your lawful stay is governed by your CBP Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record and the Admit Until Date shown on that record.

Foreign visitors no longer fill out a paper Form I-94 or Form I-94W Nonimmigrant Visa Waiver Arrival/Departure Record during routine air or sea arrival. Instead, CBP gathers arrival and departure details automatically from electronic travel records. Travelers crossing at a U.S. land border are also issued electronic I-94 records rather than a paper I-94 stub. CBP encourages travelers who need an I-94 at a land border, including Visa Waiver Program visitors, to apply for their I-94 in advance using the CBP I-94 website or the CBP Link mobile app.

Beginning in May 2019, CBP switched Form I-94 numbers from numeric-only digits to an alphanumeric format so the system would not run out of numbers. Every Form I-94 number is 11 characters long: 9 digits, followed by a letter in the 10th position, and a digit in the 11th position. If you hold an older, unexpired Form I-94 issued in the 11-digit numeric-only format, CBP states that it remains valid until the Admit Until Date printed on the paper form or displayed on the I-94 website.

Employers, schools, universities, and government agencies regularly ask for your I-94 record to verify legal visitor status, immigration status, or employment authorization. Follow these steps right after every U.S. entry:

• Open the CBP I-94 website or launch the CBP Link mobile app as soon as you clear U.S. border inspection.
• Select the Get Most Recent I-94 option to view your electronic Arrival/Departure Record.
• Check that your name, visa classification, admission date, and Admit Until Date match the purpose of your admission.
• Save and print a copy of the electronic Form I-94 page if you need paper proof for an employer, university, driver's license office, or benefit agency.
• Avoid asking for a paper Form I-94 at the primary inspection booth unless necessary, because CBP accommodates all paper I-94 requests in a secondary inspection setting.

How to check ESTA travel authorization for Visa Waiver Program trips

If you are a citizen or eligible national of a Visa Waiver Program country traveling to the United States without a visitor visa, your pre-trip check happens through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, known as ESTA. CBP runs ESTA as an automated system that determines whether a visitor is eligible to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program.

Many travelers assume ESTA applies only to flights, or that an approved ESTA guarantees entry. Neither is true. CBP requires an approved ESTA for Visa Waiver Program travelers before arriving at a U.S. land border as well as by air or sea. Even with an approved ESTA, authorization only lets you travel to a port of entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers decide whether you are admissible when you arrive.

Before submitting or checking an ESTA application, confirm these passport and itinerary requirements:

• Verify that your passport is an e-Passport. CBP requires every Visa Waiver Program traveler to hold an enhanced secure passport with an embedded electronic chip, marked by the international e-Passport symbol on the front cover.
• Apply early. CBP allows ESTA submissions at any time before travel, and recommends applying as soon as you begin planning your trip or before buying airline tickets.
• Apply for your land-border I-94 ahead of time. After securing an approved ESTA for a drive or bus crossing into the United States, Visa Waiver Program travelers are encouraged to request their I-94 in advance through the CBP I-94 website or the CBP Link mobile app.
• Check Canadian transit rules if flying north. CBP notes that Canada requires an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) for visa-exempt foreign nationals flying to Canada, with exceptions that include U.S. citizens and travelers holding a valid visa.

How to check USCIS case status, processing times, and green card queues

When your petition or application was filed inside the United States or mailed to a USCIS Lockbox or service center, your status check runs through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services rather than CBP or an embassy. This covers family petitions (Forms I-130, I-129F, I-360, I-600, and I-751), employment petitions and status extensions (Forms I-129, I-140, I-526, and I-539), green card and work permit applications (Forms I-485, I-765, and I-90), naturalization (Form N-400), and humanitarian filings (Forms I-589, I-730, and I-821).

USCIS offers five self-help tools under its Tools menu: Case Status Online for tracking an individual receipt, Check Case Processing Times for viewing median waits by form type and USCIS field office or service center, Change of Address to keep your mailing address current while a request is pending, E-Request for service inquiries, and your USCIS Online Account. If you need phone support on a filed form, the USCIS Contact Center is reachable at 800-375-5283, or TTY 800-767-1833 for callers who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability.

When Case Status Online shows your green card or immigrant petition has been pending for months, USCIS's Immigration and Citizenship Data library lets you check how many cases sit ahead of yours. Alongside quarterly performance datasets such as the Fiscal Year 2026 Quarter 3 reports (covering April to June 2026 for Forms I-130, I-140, I-485, I-765, I-907, and N-400), USCIS publishes pending inventory spreadsheets like Pending Applications for Employment-Based Preference Categories as of October 5, 2026.

Worked example of a queue check: Suppose you have a pending employment-based Form I-485 Adjustment of Status application. Case Status Online confirms your case is pending, without showing how many applicants are ahead of you. Open the USCIS Pending Applications for Employment-Based Preference Categories spreadsheet, filter to your employment-based preference category and your country of chargeability (usually your country of birth), and locate the month and year of your priority date. Adding the rows dated earlier than yours gives USCIS's estimate of pending Forms I-485 ahead of you in USCIS inventory. Keep two limits in mind when reading that number: wait times also depend on visa supply, demand, and statutory per-country caps, and the USCIS spreadsheet excludes Department of State consular inventory and approved petitioners who have not yet filed Form I-485.

If you applied for a state driver's license or public benefit and the agency says it is verifying your immigration status, that check runs through USCIS's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program. USCIS publishes SAVE datasets covering January 2016 to July 2026, suppressing categories with 1 to 9 cases to protect privacy.

How to fix I-94 errors and make sure land departures are recorded

Two status-check surprises cause trouble on future U.S. visa interviews and border crossings: an inaccurate entry record on your Form I-94, or an electronic I-94 that never closed when you left the country by land.

If your electronic Form I-94 or passport admission stamp shows the wrong visa class, misspelled name, or incorrect Admit Until Date, do not ignore it. CBP operates over 70 Deferred Inspection Sites throughout the United States and its outlying territories where travelers are referred when arrival documentation needs review or correction.

Departure records also work differently depending on how you leave the United States. When you depart by commercial air or sea, you do not need to take extra action because CBP records your exit electronically from carrier manifest data. If you were issued a physical paper Form I-94, you must surrender it when exiting the United States to your commercial carrier, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), or CBP.

Worked example of the air-arrival, land-departure rule: Suppose you are not a resident of Canada or Mexico. You fly into the United States, receive an electronic I-94, and later drive or take a bus across the land border into Canada or Mexico. If you re-enter the United States by land before the expiration date stamped in your passport, CBP records your prior departure. However, if you cross into Canada or Mexico by land and fly home from there without re-entering the United States before your passport stamp expires, your departure may not be recorded accurately. Use this checklist to protect your record:

• Use the CBP Link mobile app to register your land departure when exiting the United States.
• If you still hold a paper Form I-94, turn it in to the Canadian Border Services Agency upon entering Canada, or to CBP at the U.S. port of entry prior to departing and entering Mexico.
• Ask border officers for a passport entry stamp when crossing: request one from CBSA when entering Canada or from the Instituto Nacional de Migracion (INM) when entering Mexico.
• Save independent dated proof of your exit and presence outside the United States, including bus, train, or flight tickets, pay stubs, and dated receipts, and carry that evidence on your next trip to the United States.

Why a mailed USCIS application has no case status yet: payment rejections

If you mailed a paper application to a USCIS Lockbox weeks ago and still have no receipt notice to enter into Case Status Online, the most common culprit is a fee payment rejection. Under USCIS's filing fee rules (reviewed February 12, 2026), USCIS no longer accepts personal checks, business checks, money orders, or cashier's checks for paper-filed forms unless you qualify for a narrow exemption. If a payment fails or breaks formatting rules, USCIS rejects the filing before it enters regular adjudication.

Paper filers inside the United States must choose one electronic payment method per benefit request: either Form G-1450 (Authorization for Credit Card Transactions using a U.S. bank Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or prepaid card from those networks, never a gift card or foreign bank card) or Form G-1650 (Authorization for ACH Transactions from a U.S. bank account with a 9-digit routing number). Never combine Form G-1450 and Form G-1650 on the same form or in the same package, and submit a separate payment form for each benefit request so one defective form does not force USCIS to reject your entire family or concurrent package.

Watch how retries work. If a credit or debit card on Form G-1450 is declined, USCIS will not retry the card and will reject your application immediately. If an ACH bank withdrawal on Form G-1650 fails for insufficient funds, USCIS resubmits it 1 time, whereas an ACH decline for any other reason triggers immediate rejection without a retry. Paper checks or money orders are accepted only if you meet 1 of 4 criteria (no access to banking or electronic payments, undue hardship under 31 C.F.R. Part 208, national security or law enforcement need, or Treasury guidance) and attach Form G-1651 with a payment payable to U.S. Department of Homeland Security and dated within the previous 365 days. Separate rules also pause certain HR-1 parole, asylum, and EAD fees as of February 5, 2026 for confirmed Ms. L. Settlement Class members and Qualifying Additional Family Members.

If your U.S. bank account has an ACH debit block, give your bank the USCIS Agency Location Code from the table below before mailing Form G-1650 so your bank does not block the fee and prevent your case from getting a receipt.

USCIS Lockbox ACH Agency Location Codes to unblock bank withdrawals

Six-step status audit before your next interview or US border trip

Consular officers and CBP port-of-entry inspectors check your electronic travel history and pending filings while speaking with you. Run through this six-step checklist before attending a visa interview or boarding a flight to the United States:

• Pull your latest Form I-94 record and travel history on the CBP I-94 website or CBP Link mobile app and confirm every prior stay ended on or before its Admit Until Date.
• Gather physical departure evidence (CBSA or INM entry stamps, transportation tickets, pay stubs, or receipts) if any past U.S. trip combined an electronic I-94 arrival with a land-border exit.
• Visit one of CBP's more than 70 Deferred Inspection Sites promptly if you are currently in the United States and spot a wrong visa class or date on your electronic Form I-94.
• Verify your e-Passport chip symbol and approved ESTA status prior to arriving at any air, sea, or land port of entry if traveling under the Visa Waiver Program.
• Check USCIS Case Status Online for any pending or approved domestic petitions (such as Form I-129, Form I-130, Form I-485, or Form I-539) so you can state your exact filing status truthfully if asked.
• Submit a USCIS Change of Address online whenever you move with a pending USCIS benefit request so receipt, biometrics, or interview notices reach you on time.

Practice example

On your last visit to the United States, when did you leave, and did you depart within the date on your Form I-94?

State your exact arrival and departure dates from your most recent U.S. trip so they match your passport stamps and electronic travel history. Before your appointment or border inspection, retrieve and print your Form I-94 Arrival/Departure Record from the CBP I-94 website or the CBP Link mobile app, and verify both your 11-character I-94 number and your Admit Until Date. If you left the United States by air or sea, explain that you departed on your scheduled carrier before your authorized stay ended. If you entered with an electronic I-94 and departed by land into Canada or Mexico without returning before your passport stamp expired, bring physical proof of the date you crossed the border. Have your Canadian Border Services Agency or Mexican Instituto Nacional de Migracion passport entry stamp, bus or train tickets, dated receipts, or home-country pay stubs organized in your folder so you can hand them over if asked.

Officers check whether your stated travel dates match CBP's electronic arrival and departure records and whether you complied with your authorized stay. Having your Form I-94 printout and third-party departure proof ready resolves any unrecorded land-exit gap in seconds.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.