Newbie’s Lesson: Have US$6 ready when entering the United States by land

If you are travelling by air to the United States chances are the airlines which will complete your inbound United States leg will be the one to provide you the I-94 form and you will have to fill it up before you get out of the plane. However, when you are entering the United States by land and based on my experience the Peace Arch Border in Surrey, BC and Blaine, WA it is an entirely different story.

When you arrive, a US Customs and Border Protection Officer will make an initial screening and will ask questions about the purpose and length of your stay in the United States. If you are a passport holder of a country that needs to go through US VISIT, you will be referred to a secondary screening where you will go through the usual questions and US VISIT procedures (Fingerprint Scan, Digital Photo). Here you need not to fill out a form; you will just have to answer the questions by the CBP Officer. If you are deemed admissible to the United States the CBP Officer will ask you for US$ 6 for each person who requires an I-94. It turns out that actually the US$6 is a fee for the I-94 Arrival / Departure Record form.

So if you are planning to cross the border to the United States by land please make sure to make the trip less of a hassle to you that you have US$ 6 ready on your wallet as CBP officers may ask for an exact change (just like what happened to us).