Nearly 740,000 Overstayed US Visas In 2016: DHS Report

Nearly 740,000 foreigners who entered the United States legally and were expected to depart between Oct. 1, 2015, and Sept. 30, 2016, overstayed their visas, according to a report released by the Department of Homeland Security.

In the report issued Monday, DHS expanded the class of visitors included in the report, as the report for the fiscal year 2015 only included information on those traveling for business or pleasure and those entering under the visa waiver program. In addition to those visitors, the report for fiscal year 2016 also included people entering on student visas, worker classifications and other classes of admission.

According to DHS, the report accounts for just more than 96 percent of all non-immigrant admissions to the United States for fiscal year 2016.

The report breaks overstays into two categories, suspected in-country overstays — for whom no departure has been recorded — and out-of-country overstays — whose departure was recorded after their lawful period of admission expired.

The number of overstays represents about 1.47 percent of the total number of non-immigrant visitors who entered the United States for the specified time period. While at the end of the 2016 fiscal year there were close to 629,000 suspected in-country overstays, that number had gone down to 544,676 as DHS recorded more departures and adjustments in status by individuals in this population. The list of departures and adjustment in status continues to grow.

In the report, DHS acknowledges that determining a person's lawful status is more complicated than solely matching entry and exit data.

"For example, a person may receive from CBP a six-month admission upon entry, and then he or she may subsequently receive from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) a six-month extension. Identifying extensions, changes, or adjustments of status is necessary to determine whether a person is truly an overstay," the report explains.

According to the report, the overstay rate was highest for those who entered the country as students and exchange visitors, excluding those who entered from Canada or Mexico. For those two countries, the majority of travelers enter by land, and data for those two countries was provided separately because it only included information on travelers who entered the country by land or sea.

The report also states that the number of overstays should not be treated as current because many of them might have departed the country or may have adjusted their status. However, for the purpose of the report, DHS considers them to be overstays.

According to the report, Customs and Border Patrol creates a prioritized overstay list, which is sent to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Currently, CBP relies on information from air and sea carriers for passenger manifests to record who is entering or exiting the United States, which is mandated by federal law. However, officials are working on creating an entry/exit system that would rely on biometric data, such as fingerprints. CBP has conducted trials and surveys using biometric data and plans to expand the technology to more flights in 2017.

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