Hello All,
I again called my attorney and checked on this aspect as I am taking an international flight in less than 24 hours. Here is what I got.
The purpose of the I-94 is only to show that you did depart the U.S. within the time allowed. In the case of Green Card holders, there is no pre-set time allowed for the stay. So there is no need to prove that you did leave the country within a specific timeframe.
Also in response to the question of what happens if one submits the I-94 prior to departing, she told me "nothing will happen". If your I-94 validity date is later than the date on which you are leaving, a record will be made that you exited on the date of your travel. If your I-94 has already expired when you leave, submitting the I-94 will update your records as an "overstay". However, this according to the attorney is not an issue as this can be easily resolved by showing your Green card, which has the GC issue date on it.
The only flip side to this is that since your records will indicate an overstay, you might be questioned a bit more when you re-enter depending on whether you end up with an inexperienced IO.
So bottomline is that it really does not matter, whether you submit or not as long as you have your GC with you that states that your stay in the country is legal.
I again called my attorney and checked on this aspect as I am taking an international flight in less than 24 hours. Here is what I got.
The purpose of the I-94 is only to show that you did depart the U.S. within the time allowed. In the case of Green Card holders, there is no pre-set time allowed for the stay. So there is no need to prove that you did leave the country within a specific timeframe.
Also in response to the question of what happens if one submits the I-94 prior to departing, she told me "nothing will happen". If your I-94 validity date is later than the date on which you are leaving, a record will be made that you exited on the date of your travel. If your I-94 has already expired when you leave, submitting the I-94 will update your records as an "overstay". However, this according to the attorney is not an issue as this can be easily resolved by showing your Green card, which has the GC issue date on it.
The only flip side to this is that since your records will indicate an overstay, you might be questioned a bit more when you re-enter depending on whether you end up with an inexperienced IO.
So bottomline is that it really does not matter, whether you submit or not as long as you have your GC with you that states that your stay in the country is legal.