(C) Arriving in the U.S.
(1) I-94. Form I-94 (arrival and departure record) is usually distributed on the airplane prior to landing at the airport; however, it may be issued electronically once you reach immigration inspection at the port-of-entry (POE). When you pass through the immigration check station, the agent will stamp the date of entry on your I-94, and make a notation of “J-1 D/S” (D/S = duration of status) on the card, indicating that you have been lawfully admitted as a J-1 exchange visitor and that you may stay in the U.S. until you have completed your program. Check to make sure that the immigration officer stamps/lists “J-1 D/S” on your I-94. If a specific date is noted on this form instead of D/S, please contact the Allegheny International Office as soon as you arrive to campus.
The I-94 number is also your “admission number”.
(2) DS-2019. The Immigration inspector will also make the same notations (admission number, J-1 stamp, D/S) on your DS-2019 that are made on the I-94.
The DS-2019 should not be collected by the immigration inspector; you should retain the original. However, on occasion, the inspector will keep the original, give you a copy and then send the original to Allegheny International Office; we’ll pass it on to you.
(3) Temporary Admission with Form I-515
Sometimes an exchange visitor arrives at the U.S. port-of-entry only to find that there is a signature missing on one of their immigration documents, or that something else might be incorrect. If the immigration inspector can see that this visitor arrived “in good faith,” that is, the error is not intentional, the inspector might issue a form I-515 and admit the visitor to the U.S. for
30 days. The visitor must take the form I-515 to the International Student Advisor at Allegheny immediately so that the error can be corrected as soon as possible and the visitor’s admission status is corrected. This is a different case than when exchange visitors who did not acquire the appropriate visa or do not have their DS-2019. Immigration officials will not consider these visitors as arriving in good faith.