Arrival and Departure Information System

Overview
The Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS) is an electronic system that collects information about non-citizens who travel to the United States. This includes arrival and departure border crossings, and immigration status updates for each traveler.

ADIS receives information from multiple systems, some of which are from government organizations external to US-VISIT, and matches events to a unique person to create a complete record of events during their U.S. visits. ADIS matches departures with arrivals to ascertain compliance, stores travel and status adjustment records, and provides a range of ad hoc queries and reporting capabilities. ADIS incorporates additional data elements and transactions associated with all US-VISIT increments and other immigration systems to maintain complete traveler histories.

ADIS maintains travel histories on over 200 million alien travelers. The data collected includes key biographic and biometric identifiers, and processing information used to provide information to law enforcement and other stakeholders. ADIS receives 100% of all system confirmed arrivals and all air/sea arrival and departure manifests along with I-94/I-94W departure records, which is about twice the number of US-VISIT processed in-scope travelers.

ADIS was developed in response to the events of Sept 11, 2001, and was deployed in Oct 2002. The system continues to receive and process data and delivers reports to users. Historical trends indicate a gradual increase in database storage requirements and additional data feeds as new DHS or external agency immigration systems come on line. US VISIT conducts algorithm efficiency analysis on a regular basis. Refinements are made as necessary.

The US VISIT Data Integrity Group in Identity Services reviews and analyzes all data from ADIS and the biometric system, IDENT, to develop in-country leads deemed credible. US-VISIT then provides these leads to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for further investigation. ADIS also provides data to law enforcement and counter-terrorism intelligence authorities in support of their missions.