Friday, March 14, 2014
Tweet[IWS] CRS: NONIMMIGRANT OVERSTAYS: BRIEF SYNTHESIS OF THE ISSUE [22 January 2014]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Congressional Research Service (CRS)
Nonimmigrant Overstays: Brief Synthesis of the Issue
Ruth Ellen Wasem, Specialist in Immigration Policy
January 22, 2014
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RS22446.pdf
[full-text, 13 pages]
Summary
As Congress debates comprehensive immigration reform and its component parts of immigration
control (i.e., border security and interior enforcement), legal reform (i.e., temporary and
permanent admissions), and the resolution of unauthorized alien residents, concerns arise over the
capacity of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify and remove temporary aliens
on nonimmigrant visas who fail to depart after their visas expire. It is estimated that each year
hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals overstay their nonimmigrant visas or enter the country
illegally (with fraudulent documents or bypassing immigration inspections). The most recent
estimate (published in 2013) is that 11.7 million foreign nationals resided in the United States
without authorization in 2012.
DHS does not have reliable data on emigration and nonimmigrant departures from the United
States. As a consequence, reliable estimates of the number of nonimmigrant overstays are not
available. Over the years, the overstay estimates ranged from 31% to 57% of the unauthorized
population (depending on methodology). A 2013 study of visa overstays from 2000 to 2009
estimated that total nonimmigrant overstays to the United States dropped from 705,000 per year
to 190,000 per year, or about 73%, over the decade. As of June 2013, the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) reported that DHS’s unmatched arrival-departure records totaled
more than 1 million; however, the failure of DHS to consistently update the alien’s record—for
example, if the authorized period of admission is extended, if deferred departure is granted, or if
the immigration status changes—is a major factor that prevents DHS from calculating reliable
estimates of overstays.
Contents
Background ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Elements of Nonimmigrant Visa Control ........................................................................................ 2
Visa Issuance ............................................................................................................................. 2
Border Inspections ..................................................................................................................... 3
Emigration and Exit Data .......................................................................................................... 3
Past Legislative Action on Nonimmigrant Overstays ...................................................................... 5
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act ................................................ 5
Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 ............................................... 5
Legislation Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations ........................................ 6
Estimating Overstays ....................................................................................................................... 7
Early Demographic Estimates ................................................................................................... 7
Administrative Estimates ........................................................................................................... 8
Recent Demographic Estimates ................................................................................................. 8
Concluding Comments .................................................................................................................... 9
Figures
Figure 1. Estimated Annual Trends in Visa Overstays in the United States .................................... 9
Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 10
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