14,000 Indians overstayed in US in 2015

Washington, Jan 21: Over 14,000 of the 8.8 lakh Indians who travelled to the US on visitor or business visa in 2015 overstayed in the country, according to official figures.

The data provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that 14,348 Indians overstayed in the US in 2015.

In 2014, of the 7.6 lakhs Indians who were supposed to leave the country before the expiry of their B1-B-2 visas, 11,653 of them overstayed in the US, it said.

Overstaying means a non-immigrant who was lawfully admitted to the US for an authorised period but stayed or remains in the country beyond his or her lawful admission period.

According to the "Entry/Exit Overstay Report" released by the DHS, in fiscal 2015, of the nearly 45 million non-immigrant visitor admissions through air or sea ports of entry that were expected to depart last year, 527,127 individuals overstayed their admission, for a total overstay rate of 1.17 per cent.

In other words, 98.83 per cent had left the US on time and abided by the terms of their admission, the report said. The report does not include student on F-1 visa or those who arrived on work visas like H-1B.

In FY 2015, of the nearly 45 million non-immigrant visitor admissions through air or sea ports of entry that were expected to depart in FY 2015, DHS determined that 527,127 individuals overstayed their admission, for a total overstay rate of 1.17 per cent.

In other words, 98.83 per cent had left the US on time and abided by the terms of their admission. The report breaks the overstay rates down further to provide a better picture of those overstays that remain in the US beyond their period of admission and for whom CBP has no evidence of a departure or transition to another immigration status, DHS said in a statement.

At the end of FY 2015, the overall Suspected In-Country Overstay number was 482,781 individuals, or 1.07 per cent. Due to further continuing departures by individuals in this population, by January 4, 2016, the number of Suspected In-Country overstays for FY 2015 had dropped to 416,500, rendering the Suspected In-Country Overstay rate as 0.9 per cent, it said.

In its report, DHS said 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.

PTI