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How can I get an exit stamp on my passport when leaving the US next time by plane?

I don't want to get into great details, but there is a longer history of my electronic I-94 being wrong that have required visits in deferred inspection center. As the situation has got somewhat complicated, I'd prefer to have the stamp if possible as that's the primary form of evidence, without relying on electronic I-94 getting updated correctly.

Is it possible to get a real stamp and how?

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    I don't think the US offers any exit stamps, whether by plane or any other mode of transport.
    – Greg Hewgill
    Oct 29, 2015 at 21:22
  • I can approve an answer saying "it's not possible to get exit stamp" if that truly is impossible.
    – user14742
    Oct 29, 2015 at 21:28
  • Well I don't know that for sure; I've never received one despite exiting the US many times by plane, car, boat, and walking; and I've never seen one.
    – Greg Hewgill
    Oct 29, 2015 at 21:29
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    There is no such thing as a US exit stamp. Full stop. If your I-94 record has missing departures, particularly before 2013, there are ways to get that fixed, but you should ask directly about that.
    – Michael Hampton
    Oct 29, 2015 at 23:48

2 Answers 2

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It's impossible, at least given the setup of the vast majority of (if not all) US airports.

In these airports, because there is no exit control, it is possible to leave the departure lounge, without boarding your flight, and also without passing through the immigration hall. For example, if you check in to your flight, and, while you're waiting to board, you receive news of some emergency that prevents you from flying, you can just walk out past the security checkpoint and onto the street.

For a CBP officer to be certain that you've actually left the country, he would have to be certain either that you are on the plane when the doors close or that you are in the international zone of the airport. This area is normally accessible only to arriving passengers, so you would also require special handling by the airline staff in order to get on the plane. And, once you're past the special door and, by whatever route, in the plane or on the jetway, it is again possible for you to walk back up the jetway and into the departure lounge.

The CBP officer would therefore have to rely on the airline staff to assure him that you were in fact on the plane when its door closed. And, come to think of it, that's exactly what the I-94 system is supposed to achieve.

Granted, the I-94 system is quite imperfect. My wife has several entries in the database that do not have a corresponding exit.

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  • Thanks, now I can be confident that it doesn't exist. You'd be surprised that there are also CBP officials who don't know well how their system works. I couldn't even get my last entry corrected, system shows that I've left the US and never come back, and deferred inspection doesn't want to correct it although I'm obviously here now.
    – user14742
    Oct 30, 2015 at 20:21
  • @user14742 if that is true then you should perhaps take special pains to avoid the border patrol's internal checkpoints. They can be quite abusive, I have read, and if you do not have a valid I-94, depending on your immigration status (and, sad to say, on your ethnicity and citizenship), it might be a serious problem.
    – phoog
    Oct 31, 2015 at 4:46
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Why not ensure you get it stamped on the country that you're entering? Most countries will do this for you, even if an entry stamp is normally optional or not needed.

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  • Sorry, my question is specifically about exit stamp. I know that flight ticket and entry stamp to other country are a form of evidence, but that type of evidence has already caused lot of confusion and complexity in my already complex situation. I want to keep this question specific to exit stamp only to see if the simple option is possible, even if I need to hunt some CBP personnel from back-office in airport. Thanks for your answer though.
    – user14742
    Oct 29, 2015 at 21:25
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    @user14742 even if such a stamp existed, how would an officer in the back office know that you were actually leaving the country? He would have to put you in an area which, in order to leave, you would need an entry stamp. But the only such area is that for arriving passengers; you would not be able to board your flight from that area without special handling by the ground staff.
    – phoog
    Oct 29, 2015 at 22:22
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    Exactly. In some countries (like Japan), the entire international terminal is sterile - the only way you can leave is through customs - regardless of whether you are arriving or departing. In the USA, the departing international terminals are not always sterile in that you can decide at the last minute to not board your flight and to catch either a domestic flight or exit the airport all together, without passing customs.
    – RoboKaren
    Oct 30, 2015 at 0:55
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    @RoboKaren are they ever sterile in the US? I've never seen one that is, but I have only flown internationally from airports on the northern part of the Atlantic coast.
    – phoog
    Oct 31, 2015 at 4:43

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