Of the 50,437,278 nonimmigrant entries in 2016, nearly 740,000 overstayed their admission.
More than 30,000 Indians overstayed in the United States in 2016, a new report by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals.
The annual “Entry/Exit Overstay report” report provides country-wise data of entry, departure, and overstay of people who came to the US as nonimmigrants and were expected to leave the country in 2016.
The report is divided into six segments: temporary workers and families, students, exchange visitors, temporary visitors for pleasure, temporary visitors for business, and other nonimmigrant classes of admission.
It provides a snapshot of the number of people who overstayed in the country during the fiscal year 2016.
According to the report, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed 50,437,278 in-scope nonimmigrant admissions at US air and sea POEs who were expected to depart in FY16.
The report said that more than 1.4 million Indians who entered the US were supposed to leave the country in 2016. When calculating the total number of Indians who overstayed from different categories of visas, the number of those overstayed comes out to be more than 30,000.
The report also indicated that close to 6,000 Indians left the US in 2016 after reportedly overstaying the time they were allowed while entering.
The report said that the biographic data of Indians, who lawfully entered the US as nonimmigrants for business or pleasure reasons, indicate that more than one million entered the US out of which 17,763 overstayed.
At the same time, the overstay rates for Indian nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors touched 4,575, which includes both male and females who were admitted to the United States via air and sea.
The report also mentioned that 339,076 Indians who entered the US in other categories of visa were supposed to depart in 2016 but 8,061 of them overstayed. It said that 2,402 Indians left the US after their visas expired.
The report of 2015 said more than 881,000 Indians who came to the US for business or pleasure purpose were expected to leave in 2015 but 14,348 of them overstayed, including 1,463 who left the US after the expiry of their visas.
It said that out of 50,437,278 nonimmigrant admissions, more than 739,478 overstayed their admission, resulting in a total overstay rate of 1.47 percent. Of more than 739,000 overstays, DHS determined 628,799 were suspected “in-country” overstays, resulting in a suspected in-country overstay rate of 1.25 percent.
An official press release of DHS said, “To protect the American people from those who seek to do us harm and to ensure the integrity of the immigration system, ICE has recently increased overstay enforcement operations. Each year, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations special agents systematically review approximately one million records of individuals who violate the terms of their visas or the visa waiver program, prioritizing leads that pose a national security or public safety threats.”
“Out of the total population, of the more than 21.6 million Visa Waiver Program (VWP) visitors expected to depart the United States in FY16, 147,282 overstayed the terms of their admission, with 128,806 suspected in-country overstays (a .60 percent suspected in-country overstay rate for VWP travelers),” it added.
“Of the more than 13.8 million non-VWP visitors—excluding Canada and Mexico—expected to depart the United States in FY16, 287,107 overstayed the terms of their admission, with 263,470 suspected in-country overstays. This resulted in a 1.90 percent suspected in-country overstay rate,” the report said.
(This post has been updated.)