- U.S. Customs and Border Protection will end routine passport stamps at primary inspection for arriving travelers.
- The electronic Form I-94 remains authoritative as the entry record for most foreign visitors.
- Travelers may request a stamp, and officers may still stamp passports during secondary inspection or certain visa-related processing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is ending routine passport stamps at primary inspection for travelers arriving in the United States, shifting the entry record to the electronic Form I-94 for most foreign visitors. The agency announced the change in a bulletin published October 1, 2026.
The policy ends routine stamping at the primary booth. It does not eliminate the electronic arrival record, which remains the official record of entry for most foreign travelers.
A physical stamp is still possible. Travelers who want one can ask an officer, and some situations will continue to involve stamping.
The announcement frames the shift as a change in border processing, not a change to lawful admission. The ink mark is becoming less central to the process.
The electronic arrival record, not the ink mark, carries the official record
The I-94 already serves as the main proof of admission for most nonimmigrant travelers. CBP has moved away from paper-based arrival procedures for years, and the bulletin formalizes that direction at the primary inspection point.
The electronic record remains authoritative for most foreign travelers. That leaves the passport stamp as a physical mark that travelers may request, rather than the routine record of arrival.
Travelers can access the record through the CBP I-94 system. Some guidance also points to the CBP One app as a way to view it.
The department’s change concerns routine stamping during initial screening. It does not describe a replacement for the I-94 or a new admission standard. Instead, the arrival record stays electronic while officers stop routinely marking passports at primary inspection.
Travelers can still ask an officer for a physical stamp
Anyone who wants a stamp can ask the CBP officer at the border. The policy does not make physical stamps unavailable in every case.
Officers may continue to use stamps during secondary inspection. The bulletin also leaves room for certain visa-related processing, including immigrant visa cases.
Those exceptions distinguish routine primary screening from other situations officers handle at the border. A traveler asking for a stamp is not promised that every encounter will produce one, but the request remains possible.
The policy therefore removes the standard practice, not all officer discretion to stamp a passport. Secondary screening and some primary-processing situations remain exceptions to the ordinary electronic-record approach.
An unstamped passport alone does not show an admission problem
Travel guidance advises visitors not to treat the physical stamp as their sole proof of status. Instead, travelers are urged to check the electronic I-94 after arrival.
As one guidance item puts it, the absence of a stamp “should not, by itself, be interpreted as an indication that the traveler was not properly admitted.” The electronic record is the authoritative proof of admission for most travelers covered by the system.
That distinction follows the policy’s mechanics: primary officers will no longer routinely stamp passports, while the I-94 continues to record arrival. A missing mark by itself is not presented as evidence that admission failed.
Checking the electronic record after entry is the practical step guidance sources recommend. Travelers can use the CBP I-94 system, with the CBP One app also cited in some guidance.
The October bulletin does not set out a separate nationwide start date
The public notice is a CBP Carrier Liaison Program bulletin dated October 1, 2026. That is the date attached to the announcement.
The bulletin date is clear, but no separate nationwide implementation date is identified beyond October 1, 2026. The shift is described as part of modernizing border procedures, rather than a change to the rules governing lawful admission.
CBP’s transition away from paper-based processing has been underway for years. The new policy puts routine passport stamping at primary inspection on a different footing, while leaving the I-94 as the entry record most foreign travelers should check after arrival.
