1.

Check in with your airline and get your boarding documents. Immigration facilities at Houston Intercontinental Airport are beyond airport security--and you won't be let past the security checkpoint with a boarding pass.

2.

Present the immigration officer with your passport and boarding documents. Remove any hats or glasses, as he'll need to take a picture of you so the computer can check your biometric data, which includes facial features and your eyes, against the information stored in your passport file.

3.

Take your passport when he's finished with it. Open it to your U.S. tourist visa, which will have a red "canceled" stamp on it. When you exit any international airport on a tourist visa and have no entries remaining, an immigration officer will always cancel it; there's no need to turn it in.

Tips and Warnings

Do not attempt to bring your tourist visa to an intercontinental airport if you are surrendering your passport to have your tourist visa changed to an employment, business or student visa. If this is the case, U.S. authorities will automatically cancel your tourist visa when they affix your new visa. The only reason you can surrender a visa at an international airport is in the event that you are leaving the United States that day.

If you're a tourist visiting the United States, chances are you're here on a tourist visa of some kind. A visa is a supplementary document a country's officials affix inside your passport, which gives you permission to be in that country for a certain period of time. The visa will also specify how many times you may enter and exit that country before having to apply for a new one. If you're exiting the United States through Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and your visa doesn't have any entries left, turning in your tourist visa is incredibly easy.