What documents does ICE accept as proof of immigration status?
Executive summary
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relies on the same federal immigration records and government-issued identity and status documents that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issue, with commonly accepted proof including Form I‑94 arrival/departure records, Permanent Resident Cards (I‑551/“green card”), Employment Authorization Documents (I‑766), visas and stamped passports, approval or receipt notices (I‑797), and certain refugee/asylee paperwork (I‑571, asylum orders) [1] [2] [3]. Local legal-aid and immigrant-rights organizations advise carrying these documents plus supporting evidence of residence and pending case receipts because ICE encounters differ by context and officers may request varied records [4] [5].
1. What federal immigration documents ICE treats as primary proof of status
Federal forms issued by DHS components are the baseline: the Form I‑94 arrival/departure record—paper or electronic—serves as evidence of admitted status or category (used for nonimmigrant authorization and asylee records), Permanent Resident Cards (Form I‑551) demonstrate lawful permanent residency, and Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) show work authorization; these are explicitly referenced as immigration-status evidence by USCIS and related guidance [1] [2] [3].
2. Passports, visas, stamps and student/SEVP paperwork
A passport bearing an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa and any CBP admission stamp is routinely used to corroborate status; for students, the SEVP-issued Form I‑20 is the school-certified document that supports F/M nonimmigrant status—USCIS/CBP/ICE materials list these among commonly used documents [1] [6].
3. Notices, receipts and A‑file records ICE can consult or request
Aside from physical documents an individual carries, ICE can and does consult USCIS records and A‑files; USCIS I‑797 approval or receipt notices, FOIA-accessible immigration records, and court or agency orders (e.g., asylum grants, board decisions) function as proof of pending or granted immigration actions, and agencies instruct that receipt notices be kept as proof of pending filings [7] [3] [2].
4. Practical documents recommended by legal-aid groups during encounters
Immigrant legal-aid groups recommend carrying government status documents plus secondary proofs—state IDs or driver’s licenses, utility bills, pay stubs, medical or school records—to demonstrate identity and U.S. residence in contexts where status or identity is contested; organizations explicitly caution against presenting false documents and stress copies and digital backups [4] [5].
5. Legal and procedural limits and the role of context
What ICE “accepts” is partly legal and partly situational: federal guidance and agencies list acceptable documents, but whether an ICE officer accepts a particular paper on the street, at a workplace, or in a detention setting can depend on the encounter, warrants, and investigatory authority—rights guides emphasize that noncitizens must carry proof of status but also outline constitutional protections and the right to counsel and silence, reflecting the tension between document lists and enforcement practice [8] [9] [5].
6. Conflicting priorities, transparency and potential agendas
Government sources present a clear bureaucratic list of authoritative documents (USCIS/CBP/ICE materials), while advocacy groups foreground practical survival and civil‑rights risks—each perspective has an agenda: agencies emphasize enforcement and record integrity [10] [1], whereas legal‑aid organizations prioritize safeguarding clients from wrongful detention and advising what to carry or not to volunteer [4] [5]; public reporting can conflate “documents ICE accepts” with what individuals should carry under penalty, so both lists should be read against official USCIS/CBP references when possible [1] [2].
7. What this reporting does not definitively establish
The sources catalog documents ICE and DHS components recognize, and legal advocates recommend carrying, but do not provide a single ICE-published checklist saying “ICE will always accept X in all situations”; operational discretion, case files, and cross‑checks against USCIS/CBP records mean final determinations often rest with agency review or adjudication rather than a single presented paper [1] [7] [4].