There are three dates that can govern your stay, and they don't always match. The visa stamp, the I-94 record, and the I-20 or DS-2019 each tell you something different. Here's where each one lives, and which one to track.
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Most overstays happen because someone tracked the wrong document.
Printed on the visa inside your passport, on the "Expiration Date" line. Controls when you can use the visa to enter the U.S. — not how long you can stay.
Available at i94.cbp.dhs.gov. Controls how long you can legally remain inside the U.S. on each entry. This is usually the date that matters.
On Form I-20 (F-1) or DS-2019 (J-1). For status holders marked "D/S" on the I-94, this is the date that defines your authorized stay.
Open your passport to the visa page. The U.S. visa is a full-page sticker, usually pink or green, with your photo and biographical data on the left. Three date fields are printed across the top half: Issue Date, Expiration Date, and Entries.
The expiration date is the last day on which you can present the visa at a port of entry to be admitted. After that date, the visa cannot be used to re-enter the U.S., even if your I-94 is still valid for time inside the country. The Issue Date plus the validity period (often 10 years for B1/B2 from many countries) equals the Expiration Date.
The number of entries matters too. "M" means multiple entries. A number like "2" means you can use the visa exactly that many times. Once you exhaust the entries, the visa is effectively expired even if the date hasn't arrived.
The official CBP I-94 portal. There is no login. Click "Get Most Recent I-94."
Family name, first name, date of birth, passport number, country of issuance, and most recent date of entry. All from the passport you used to enter the U.S.
This is your authorized stay. If it shows a date like "07/15/2026," that's your hard deadline to depart, extend, or change status. If it shows "D/S," your authorized stay tracks your program end date instead.
The CBP page lets you print a copy. Save it as a PDF and store it with your visa documents. You'll need it for renewals, status changes, and any future immigration filing.
"D/S" is short for duration of status. Instead of giving you a fixed admit-until date, CBP admits you for as long as you maintain the conditions of your nonimmigrant status. Most F-1 academic students, M-1 vocational students, J-1 exchange visitors, and I (foreign media) visa holders get D/S.
On a D/S admission, the date you track is the program end date on your Form I-20 (for F-1 and M-1) or DS-2019 (for J-1). Your designated school official or program sponsor sets that date. If your program is extended, the form is updated and the new end date becomes the deadline. If your program ends or you drop below full-time, you usually have a grace period of 60 days (F-1) or 30 days (J-1) before unlawful presence starts accruing.
Set the visa expiration reminder for the program end date on your latest I-20 or DS-2019, not the visa stamp. The stamp lets you re-enter; the program end date governs your stay.
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Knowing your expiration date is the easy part. The hard part is remembering to check on it 90 days before, when you still have time to renew, extend, or depart on your terms. A reminder turns a one-time check into a deadline you can't drift past.
Set it on the visa expiration reminder page. Free, no account, takes 30 seconds. Then move on with your life.
Look at the visa stamp inside your passport. The "Expiration Date" line shows the last day you can use the visa to enter the United States. To know how long you can stay once admitted, check your most recent I-94 record at i94.cbp.dhs.gov — the "Admit Until Date" controls how long you can remain.
The visa stamp itself is not searchable online — you read the date directly from the stamp in your passport. To check your I-94 admission record, go to i94.cbp.dhs.gov, click "Get Most Recent I-94," and enter your passport number, country, and entry date. The admit-until date there is what governs your stay.
"D/S" means duration of status. It is issued to most F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, and a few other categories. Instead of a fixed expiration date, you are authorized to stay for as long as you maintain your program — typically tied to the end date on your I-20 (F-1) or DS-2019 (J-1). The program end date is the date to track.
Your visa stays valid in the old, expired passport as long as the visa itself has not expired. Keep both passports when traveling: the new one for entry, the old one for the visa stamp. The expiration date is still printed on the original visa, regardless of which passport you currently use.
Not always. The State Department occasionally emails revocation notices to the address on file with your visa application, but the email can land in spam, be sent to an outdated address, or never arrive. The safest practice is to check the CEAC visa status portal periodically and treat your expiration reminder as the prompt to re-verify.
The admit-until date on your I-94 controls how long you can legally remain in the United States. The visa stamp expiration date controls when you can use the visa to re-enter. The two are unrelated. You can have a visa stamp valid for 10 years and an I-94 valid for only 6 months from each entry.
Once you know which date governs your stay, set a reminder 90 days before. We'll email you while there's still time to act — no account needed.
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