In order to visit the United States from a foreign country a traveler must first obtain some kind of temporary visa. That temporary tourist or business visa allows a traveler to “visit” for a certain amount of time and then requires them to exit the country. But according to a recent Homeland Security report, there are thousands overstaying their welcome.
Out of 45 million U.S. arrivals by air and sea whose visas expired in fiscal 2015, Homeland Security estimates about 416,500 people were still in the country at the beginning of this year, according to the Pew Research Center.
Canadian visitors
Canada tops the list of visitors who failed to leave when their visas expired, with 93,035 visitors staying illegally. Mexico and Brazil rank second and third respectively.
These three countries make up more than one third of those who overstayed, according to the report.
Overstaying may not seem like an important issue at first glance. However, when one looks at the estimated 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the country, those overstaying visas become vital information because it is unclear how many of those unauthorized immigrants arrived legally versus illegally.
Although efforts have been made since the 1990s to better track foreign visitors, interest in tracking them grew exponentially after the 9/11 attacks when five of the plane hijackers turned out to be foreigners on expired visas.
Although the Homeland Security report is insightful, it is limited in its scope and included no reliable trend data that could shed light on whether overstays are growing or declining, according to Pew.
Declining over time
The report does indicate that the number of foreign visitors who overstay declines over time, noting that of the 45 million arrivals in 2015 about 527,000 remained in the country after their permission expired, a rate of 1.17 percent. Some of these overstayers departed even later, but 483,000 were still in the U.S. by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. More left after that, so by Jan. 4 only 0.9 percent remained in the country, according to the report.
Because there is not a comprehensive and systematic exit-entry recording process in place, there isn’t a good way to understand the overstay issue nor a way to curtail it. And that correlates back to immigration, both illegal and legal.
According to the Center for Immigration Studies, before immigration reform can move forward, work needs to be done to better the U.S.’s nonimmigrant visa insurance policies and laws.
Share with others: