An official report by DHS suggests that nearly 21,000 Indians overstayed than what their visa limit allowed.
The latest annual report by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has detailed the visa overstay by all citizens of all nations around the world. While the percentage of Indians overstaying and not leaving the country after the visa expiry is not very high, India still ranks among top 10 countries whose citizens came to the US legally but continued to stay without the valid permit.
In 2017, more than 10.7 lakh Indians visited the United States. Most of them visited either on the popular B-1 or B-2 visa categories. B-1 visa is issued to an individual visiting the US for business while B-2 is issued to the applicant that visits for tourism purposes.
Out of 10.7 lakh visitors, 14,204 visitors overstayed in the US. The report suggests that 1,708 Indians left the country later after the expiry of their visas. However, there is no record of 12,498 Indians leaving the country, that means they continue to stay in the US as illegal immigrants.
In the last year, 1.27 lakh Indian students and scholars visited the US on F, J and M visa categories. Out of these, 4,400 Indians overstayed in the country. Figures indicate that 1,567 left the country later while 2,833 students are still in the US. Among other non-immigrant visa categories, over 4.5 lakh Indians were expected to leave the country but 9,568 overstayed on their visas.
According to the US department, there are 5.26 crore non-immigrant admissions that happened in the US last year. Out of which, the total number of people that overstayed is 7.01 lakh. As far as Indians are concerned, as many as 1.32% Indians overstayed in the US than what their visa allowed.
In 2016, over 10 lakh Indians visited the United States. Out of which, as many as 17,763 overstayed in the country. 2,040 left the US after their visa expired while 15,723 continued to stay illegally. The US government is putting all the measures in place to curb the misuse of US visa.