I-94 Extension at Laredo, TX – US Mexico Border[2023] – 3 Experiences

As many of you know, you get shorter duration of I-94, if your passport is expiring before the petition expiration. To extend I-94, you have 5 options.  One of them that works most of the times is crossing US border. One of our readers ( anonymous for privacy) went to Laredo, TX recently in 2023 to extend their I-94. Also, we had another user(anonymous for privacy) and also Pavan went to Lardo in 2021. The users were kind enough to take time to share their experiences with our readers. Thanks to all the users for taking time to write it up for community benefit. You can email your experience to redbus2us@gmail.com

I-94 Extension at Laredo, TX by Three Users – June 2023

Our Journey from Texas to Mexico for the I94 extension

This is a long story, but hopefully it will help you to make right choice.

Background: I have my H1B visa valid till Aug 2024. I live in San Antonio and last time when I entered USA at Houston, immigration officer stamped my passport with I94 valid until June 27th, 2023, since my passport was expiring on June 27^th 2023. They don’t want you to live in USA with expired passport, which makes sense. Perhaps this is the only thing that made sense in this entire process.

New Passport, I-94 Extension trial at San Antonio:

I got my passport extended in February and I called CBP office in San Antonio, TX.They said they won’t do extensions and that I have to cross the border. I asked if I can cross the border at Laredo and he said, he is not sure if they do it there. Second time when I called CBP office, the lady officer told me to ask my employer to apply for extension.

Planning for I-94 Extension in Mexico:

I heard from my friend that I-94 extensions at Otay Mesa is much better than any other crossings so I booked a flight to San Diego. Some of my colleagues were on the same boat, and they were going to Laredo, TX.

My flight to San Diego got delayed due to bad weather and airlines was giving me a flight next day. That wouldn’t help with my plans so I cancelled the trip and decided to go to Laredo.

I-94 Extension Process and Experience at Laredo, TX

They were 3 of us going that route. We all followed the same steps that are mentioned here by other people.

• First Person I-94 Extension: First person got his I94 extended after coming through the Mexican pedestrian line. CBP officer didn’t understand the situation at first, but the supervisor did and she extended his I-94. During his visit, he had more than 45 days left on his I94.
• Second Person I-94 Extension Experience: Second person who went one day after had no luck and he had a month left on his I94. They said his I797 is good until end of the year and that is all they need. They don’t know anything about USCIS.
  • Upon attorney’s request he went back to Laredo the next day and tried. This time they remembered him and warned him not to do that again. They were pissed at him for not listening to them.
  • When he explained it to attorney, she called the CBP at san Antonio and explained them that “He crossed the Laredo border and it shows on his travel history, but they didn’t extend his I94, and this should be a correction”. They approved her request and told her to send the candidate to the CBP office (Attorney cannot go to CBP office with the candidate). He then went to CBP office at San Antonio airport.
  • They extended his but they said kids should come to the office or else they won’t extend the kids i94. They made him visit CBP office multiple times to have it extended for all his family members.

• My I-94 Extension Experience: Ok now my turn, I went to Laredo crossing on May 12^th 2023. I walked through the bridge and crossed it midway and entered the pedestrian line on Mexico side. Lady officer at one of the counters waved at me. I went to her counter. I handed my old and new passport to her. She understood my story, with out me uttering a single word.

She updated my entry in the system and sent me to the permits officer.

Questions Asked by CBP Officer, Experience of the I-94 Extension Process

• Officer: He looked at my passport and asked me if I was here for I94 extension.
• Me: Yes
• Officer: He spoke to his supervisor and came back to me and said, your i94 is valid until June 27^th 2023, why do you need it be extended now?
• Me: I said it’s only valid till June 27^th 2023 although my visa is valid till Aug 2024. I told him the entire story and also told him CBP office at San Antonio told me to cross the border.
• Officer: No, I can’t do it. Come back 2 days before June 27^th 2023 and I will do it.
• Me: But it’s risky to wait till last minute.
• Officer: You are only 2 ½ hours away from here. You can come back 2 days before its expiring and I will do it then.
• Me: I didn’t know how to respond to that and came back quietly.

Going to CBP Office in San Antonio for I-94 Extension

• I talked to my attorney and she said I can go to CBP office at San Antonio and tell this story and also tell them my travel history shows the arrival but i94 didn’t get extended.
• I went to the CBP office and made sure my attorney explained the story to CBP office ahead of my visit.
• The lady officer at the CBP san Antonio office took my passport and my conversation with her goes…
• Officer: Why isn’t there no stamp, if you crossed the border.
• Me: They are not stamping at the border. My travel history shows I have arrived at Laredo.
• Officer: Did you go to CBP office before entering.
• Me: Yes, I passed through CBP office that’s where they entered my entry in the system.
• Officer: I don’t understand, if you went to CBP they will extend the I94. Why didn’t they do it.
• Me: The officer said it’s expiring on June 27^th 2023. I still have time and told me to come back 2 days before expiring… (Biggest mistake)
• Officer: Ok, then you need to do that. Go back to Laredo.
• Me: But. what if I wait till the last minute and they don’t extend it at Laredo.
• Officer: If they said they will do it then they will do.
• Me: But what if there is a different officer and they don’t do it.
• Officer: I can’t talk about what ifs.
• Me: My colleague had the same situation and your office extended his I94.
• Officer: I wasn’t there and I can’t talk about past.
• I came back quietly…

Third Attempt at CBP Office in San Antonio

• I talked to my attorney again and she said to go back to CBP office when a certain officer is on duty. I was losing my peace of mind. I decided to go to CBP office after couple of weeks and check if it’s the same lady officer on duty then come back without doing anything.
• Luckily, this time it was a different officer. This time I told him the story why I need an extension and that I went through Laredo but my i94 didn’t get extended.
• Officer: Took my passport and asked me to wait outside.
• Me: Waited outside for 10-20 minutes.
• Officer: Came to me and asked me if I talked to any officer there and explained to them I need i94 extension.
• Me: Yes. I spoke to 2 different officers at the counter.
• Officer: Ok let me check again.
• Me: waiting
• Officer: I apologize but I can’t extend it. It says in the remarks that you didn’t wait to speak to officer at Laredo.
• Me: But I spoke to the officer. I swear.
• Officer: Sorry, I believe you. But I can’t do it based on the remarks. You have to go back to Laredo again and this time tell them what happened last time and tell them you need an i94 extension.
• Me: It’s not that Laredo don’t know my story. He knows I went for I94 extension. I don’t understand why they would lie in the remarks.
• Officer: Sorry. IDK.

Came back quietly.  My attorney said “Wow!! Laredo people did a number on you. They didn’t want yours to be extended anywhere”.More than anything, I was angry. They just wanted to make my life miserable and go through all these.

Any of my visits to CBP could have worked, if they wanted to extend it. It’s not that they can’t, they just didn’t want to. This thought made me feel unwanted in this country.

Final Try, I-94 extension after flying to Cancun, Mexico

But I didn’t want to give up. I flew to Cancun, stayed there for a night, and got it extended at immigration in San Antonio. No questions were asked at the immigration. You can read more I-94 Extension by traveling to Cancun, Mexico.

Out of 3 colleagues, only one person got lucky at Laredo. I could have gone to Laredo to try my luck again but after the reception I got in all my attempts, I didn’t want to risk it.

I-94 Extension Experience at Laredo, TX

Experience 2 – November 2020

Background : My I-94 was expiring in January 2021 and my Kid’s i-94 too was expiring in August 2021, both because of my passport expiry. My H1B visa is valid till October 2021.

Options Considered for my I-94 Extension

• Applying for an H1B extension  : Since I had more than 12 months of Petition and VISA validity left, and a renewed passport in my hand, I thought that extending might be risky, also there wasn’t enough time for the paperwork to be done.
• Exiting and re-entering the United States : Flying out to India/Mexico was too risky with COVID-19.
• Contacting CBP Deferred inspection sites : I decided to contact the deferred inspection site at DFW (Dallas). They gave an outright reply saying that I-94 cannot be updated since it is not a correction. They will only correct any errors in I-94 and passport renewal is not an error. I got the same reply on phone and email. After reading through multiple experiences over the internet, I decided to give a try going to the CBP office at any land border.

After evaluating all the options, I decided to go US Mexico border. Since I live near Dallas, Laredo was closest. Brownsville was also an option as well.

Plan to go to Laredo, TX for I-94 Extension

I finally decided to go to Laredo since there were multiple positive outcomes, but as a back-up I also had Brownsville in my mind. I decided to go on a weekend, so that if it doesn’t go as planned on Saturday, I can try my luck again the same day or on Sunday at Brownsville (which was around 3hrs drive from Laredo). So, I booked a room in Laredo for overnight stay. An important thing to note is to always have a backup 🙂

Pre-pay the I-94 Extension fee online  : Pay the $6 for each person online and make sure to carry the print-out of the receipt 

Drive to Laredo, TX for I-94 extension

I travelled with family as my kid too had to get the I-94 done. We started in the morning at around 7 AM. It took around 7.5 hours drive for us in the car from Dallas area. I took enough breaks so that I am not stressed out. (It might be 6 hours without that many breaks). 

Step by Step Process to Extend I-94 at Laredo, TX Border

Below are the steps I followed, similar to other folks who went to Laredo. 

Step 1 : Checking at CBP Office regarding I-94 Extension

I parked my car at Valero station (paid $5) and went to the CBP office. Here is the Address : 619 Farragut Street, Laredo, TX

There is a small board which says “Permits”, which is the entrance path. The officers near the gate asked me what the purpose was. Once I explained that it was for I-94 extension, they told me to go to Bridge 1. I tried to ask again, their answer was the same, they said ‘all’ I-94 cases do the same.

Step 2 : Parking Car to get to US Mexico Border near Bridge 1

To get to Bridge 1, the easy landmark is the Mall. The mall is about 0.8 Miles from CBP office. As I had my kid, it was not an option for us to walk.  We used the Mall parking to park the car and get to Bridge 1.  Below is the address for Mall parking.

Address -1600 Water St, Laredo, TX 78040

Make sure to drive very carefully as many streets are one-way and one of the main one  leads to Mexico, so be careful. Below is how it looks on Google Maps for your reference.

Step 3 : Finding the Bridge 1 or Pedestrian Bridge

After parking, getting to the bridge was a bit confusing, but was able to figure out and all staff were helpful.  The bridge to cross to Mexico side on foot is called by different names as below.

• Pedestrian Bridge
• Bridge 1
• Gateway to the Americas International Bridge

You can ask for these and anyone can help you get there. As soon as the staff saw us lost, they gave us the direction to bridge and how to come back (cut across).

The reason for confusion is, there is also one more bridge that is only for cars towards Mexico. Bridge 1 is only for Pedestrians and cars from Mexico

Carry Cash :  Make sure to carry some cash as the turnstiles need a $1 coin, there is a change counter nearby which you can use to get the same.

Step 4 : Entering Bridge to Mexico side, turning back

  Technically, we do not need to actually reach the Mexican side, we just cross-over to US side from the mid-way mark. There is a small gate through which we can cross the bridge and come back to the US side. There was nothing done on the Mexico Side like checking passport or stamp, we turned back at mid-way mark.

Long Lines at Bridge for entry to US : The line at bridge to come back to US side was huge – at least more than 150 people. But the officers told us to skip the line and go straight to the counter (the first one just outside the building) I am not sure what that is, maybe SENTRI. not sure though.

This was a surprise as we were thinking that it would take at least 2 hours in the line. (maybe because of kid they allowed us to skip.

Step 5 : Process by CBP Officer  to Extend I-94

• After the first check, the officer escorted us to inside the building and asked us to wait at a counter.
• The officer at counter checked passports, then asked about address, job, location , etc. and why I need to extend. I answered all as per my documents.
• He again checked something with his colleagues and then took photos and biometric. Then there was an issue with printer. We had to wait another 30 mins.
• Again took biometric and we’re finally done. They stamped the i-94 on our passports and also gave the paper I-94. All were really polite and helpful.

I-94 Extension Experience at Laredo – Two Days Process

Experience shared by Pavan. Thanks to him !

Background info : I went to Laredo to extend my i94 based on renewed passport Jan 11th, 2020. My experience went little different, so thought of sharing it with you all. The entire procedure is same as the one mentioned in the forums and this article expereicne 1 above .

Crossing Border – I-94 Not upated, No Paper I-94 Given

I went to the permit office near Valero gas station(which is on the US side, handles entry for vehicles) and explained my case. They insisted me to cross the pedestrian bridge and return half way to get it updated. After the entry, the permit officer at the port of entry didn’t seems to be handled a H1B case before. he talked to a couple of other officers and asked a lot of questions to me before approving it. He didn’t give any paper i94. Instead, he stamped on my passport with updated entry date (till visa/petition expiry) and said it will be updated in the system automatically.

I have been checking the I-94 page for next couple of hours but it didn’t update. Luckily, I booked the hotel in Laredo for over night stay.

Second Day – Correction Issue of Paper I-94, Dates Updated

I thought to myself, if the entry is not updated even by the next morning. So, I thought of checking about it in the permit office near Valero gas station before I leave the City. The officers at the permit office listened to me patiently and said a paper i94 is something they generally give and the officer who handled my entry yesterday didn’t do it properly. They corrected the mistake and provided a paper i94. The i-94 page updated immediately with the latest details(may take some time for few).

Tips from my experience : Always have some buffer time to handle these scenarios. Also, some of the officers may not know the exact process/rules related to our visa scenario. One officer in the port of entry said to me that the i94 on petition is good enough to stay and don’t need to get it updated after passport expiry. So, follow your instinct or what Attorney says.

You may also read below I-94 Extension experiences at other locations :

• I-94 Extension by Crossing US Border – 5 Experiences at Otay Mesa CBP
• I-94 Extension without Crossing US Border – 3 Experiences – Otay Mesa
• L1A – I-94 Extension Experience – Crossing Border at CBP Otay Mesa
• 3 Experiences US Canada Border – I-94 Extension near Detroit
• I-94 Extension by Flying to Mexico City During COVID