Total of 45 million people visited the country on visas in 2015.
AB Wire
A total of 527,127 foreign nationals who received temporary visas to enter the US under the Visa Waiver Program or B Visa in 2015 overstayed their permits, and this does not even include those on student F-1 visa or those who arrived on work visas like H-1B or L, according to data released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The data also reveals that more than 90 percent of those who remained in the country illegally, in 2015, a total of 482,781, were believed to still be present in the country.
The report does not include figures from other major visa programs, including the F-1 student visa, multiple H and L foreign worker visas, and the J-1 exchange visa.
DHS, however, said the report was good news, given that nearly 45 million people used the visas in question, making the “overstay rate” just 1.17 percent, reported the Washington Examiner.
“In other words, 98.83 percent had left the United States on time and abided by the terms of their admission,” DHS said.
But a number of countries with ties to terrorism had significant numbers of nationals still in the US accounted for by the federal government: 1,435 from Pakistan, 681 from Iraq, 564 from Iran, 440 from Syria, 219 from Yemen, 219 from Afghanistan, and 56 from Libya.
The new information was released before the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest is set to question multiple Homeland Security officials about the federal agency’s refusal to set up a statutorily required biometric entry-exit system.