Over 30,000 Indians Overstayed in US in 2016: Homeland Security

1.4 million Indians who entered the US were expected to leave in 2016, but more than 30,000 overstayed.

The annual office report was submitted by the US Department of Homeland Security (Photo Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

Over 30,000 Indians overstayed in the US last year, according to a new report which said that a total of 1.4 million people from India travelled to the US on various visas in 2016.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) submitted an annual official report to the Congress on departures and overstays of foreign visitors.

The report covered about 96 percent of the total non-immigrant visitors.

Over 600,000 Indians are “In-Country Overstays”

As per the report, more than 50 million non-immigrants were expected to depart from the US in 2016. Of these, 739,478 overstayed their admission, resulting in a total overstay rate of 1.47 percent.

Of the more than 739,000 overstays, DHS said 628,799 were suspected ‘in-country’ overstays, which means that there is no record of these foreign nationals leaving the US.

The rest left the country after the expiry of their lawful admission period, which is called out-of-country overstay.

According to the figures, more than 1.4 million Indians who entered the US were expected to leave the country in 2016, but more than 30,000 overstayed.

Tourists and Students Guilty of Overstaying Their Visa

Of these 30,000, a little over 6,000 Indian nationals left the US after the expiry of their visas, the report said.

In 2016, more than one million Indians who came to the US on business or tourist visas were expected to leave the country. Of these 17,763 have overstayed in the country, it said.

Among the overstayed are 2,040 Indians who departed the US only after the expiry of their visas.

Similarly, in 2016, as many as 9,897 Indian students or exchange scholars were expected to depart by the end of the year and of which, 4,575 overstayed their legal period.

As per available records, 1,561 Indian students and exchange visitors left the country after their visas expired, while 3,014 of them have overstayed in the country, the report said.

There were also 339,076 Indians in various other categories who were expected to leave the country in 2016. Of these, 8,061 overstayed, including 2,402 Indians who left the US after their visas expired.