Visitor Arrivals Program (I-94 Form)

Visitor Arrivals Program (I-94 Form)

Program Description

What is it?

The International Visitor Arrivals Program is a core part of the U.S. travel and tourism statistical system. This program provides the U.S. government and the public with the official U.S. monthly and annual overseas visitor arrivals to the U.S. along with select Mexican and Canadian visitor statistics. The Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) manages the program in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The program collects and reports overseas non-U.S. resident visitor arrivals to the United States. U.S. government data consists of the DHS I-94 data, which non- U.S. citizens, from overseas and Mexico, must 'complete' to enter the United States.

DHS I-94W for Travelers from Visa-Waiver Countries 'Please see ESTA‘

DHS I-94 for Travelers from non Visa-Waiver Countries

DHS I-94A for Travelers from Mexico

What information is published?

All visitation data is processed by residency (world region and country) for the following categories:

Month and YTD of arrivals
Type of visa (business, pleasure, student)
Mode of transportation (air, land, sea)
Age of traveler (7 age groupings, mean and median)
First intended address (state) in the U.S.
U.S. port of entry (main gateway ports – all modes and air-only)
Select percentage change comparisons year-over-year

The Summary of International Travel to the United States report has 29 tables highlighting the categories above.

OTTI publishes arrivals data to its website on a monthly basis. See the monthly statistics section. Annual reports are also posted to the site. See Inbound Travel to the U.S. section. The Department of Commerce also uses these visitor arrival data internally to help calculate U.S. travel and tourism export figures, trade balance and GDP. These data are also used as the base or "N" for OTTI's Survey of International Air Travelers Program.

Customized tables and reports can be developed based on the same categories. For example, if one needed to know how many Japanese male travelers on a business visa between the ages of 25 and 50 arrived through Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on a Friday with the first intended address being Nevada … that could be determined!

How is the DHS I-94 data collected?

CBP is in the process of automating the I-94 arrival/departure recordkeeping function. // Phase one enabled the creation of an electronic I-94W records for all travelers who are citizens of visa-waiver countries (VWP). Source data includes elements from the ESTA record, U.S. Visit/Entry, the passenger’s machine readable passport and CBP agent system entries during intake. Since phase one is complete, manual data entry (key punching) of the I-94 forms has been eliminated. Phase two is addressing the automation of I-94 records for non-VWP travelers. Source data includes elements from the visa issuance records, forwarded by the Department of State, U.S. Visit/Entry, passport and agent entries. Until this phase is complete by mid-2012, the I-94 data elements are still keypunched. The I-94A records, for Mexican citizens entering over the southern land border, intending to travel to the U.S. ‘interior’ are also automated. A full explanation is available in the program Methodology.