Customs and Border Protection is no longer issuing entry stamps on passports for foreign travellers entering the U.S., in an effort to further facilitate “borderless”, streamlined travel. The policy will be implemented at other ports of entry across the U.S.
Previously passport stamps have been utilised to manage border entry into the U.S. as well as mandatory document checks, such as visa, and the I-94 system.
Once this process was digitalised to electronic versions of 1-94, the stamp was the only physical security feature used in the traveller entry process. The physical ID process will be fully changed to provide passengers with an electronic 1-94.
The stamp has advantages to pinpoint the exact time of a traveller’s arrival in the U.S, the port of entry they used, class of entry and permitted length of stay.
While the CBP plans a complete transition to the use of the electronic 1-94, which will see the demise of stamps, currently the law states that genuine foreign passports affixed with the entry stamp are valid to be used as proof of identity and employment status. The entry passport stamp has duel value for federal and state agencies too tin determining what benefits foreign employees are entitled to, not only as a proof of identification.
