Comment: I’ve been working US Immigration since the Clinton Era. Since before this law was passed. Hopefully I know what I’m talking about.
Without getting into the specifics of each administration (Because it’s our overall governments fault, not any party in particular) here are the issues.
It’s not about the Visa. Saying they are Visa overstays is a way to confuse the issue.
When someone enters the country, their visa could be valid for several years, or for one day. But the moment they enter into the United States, right there on the border, they are issued a permit. A form we call the I-94. The I-94 gives you your length of stay depending on what sort of a Visa you present. For example, if you present a student visa (F1) then you are admitted for D/S, which stands for Duration of Status. This can be a big problem because it’s difficult to determine when a student is out of status. Sure, it seems simple, but it’s not. And since there is no firm date, it’s their actions that determine when they are out of status. If we can’t keep track of people who stay past their admission date, how do we keep track of students who aren’t acting like students anymore and are therefore “out of status”??
Another example, the most common example, is a visitors visa (B2). When you enter on a visitors visa, you are admitted for 6 months. Even if your visa were to expire tomorrow, you are admitted for 6 months. Even if you plan to leave in 3 days, you are admitted for 6 months. It doesn’t matter what you tell CBP when you enter, whether it’s a week you want to stay or a month or five months, you are given a 6 month admission.
The second most common example is the Visa Waiver. This is someone who comes from a Visa Waiver country (Like the UK) and has a valid issued passport from that country. If you come into the United States from the UK today, you will be given 90 days to visit the United States. Again, doesn’t matter how much time you ask for. If you want a week or if you want several months, you’re given a 90 day stay. The only requirement is that your passport is valid for the entire length of stay (Passport validity is different than visa validity and of course, you don’t even have a visa if you’re getting a Visa Waiver).
There are, of course, many more ways to enter the country legally. Many more visa’s one can enter on, to work, or to perform in a band, or olympics, etc. But these three, students, visitors for pleasure and visa waivers are the most common.
You fix these three things and you fix a lot of our “Visa Overstay” problem.
The student visa thing is a particular bee in my bonnet. We make it way, way, way too easy to become an authorized school for international students. As a result, we have schools in this country, located in strip malls, with 2 employees, that take in 1500 students a year. Students who live in New York, or the south, and the school is located in Los Angeles.
The F1 student program is a huge mess. Someone comes into government and cleans that program up and you’d go a long way to getting rid of visa overstays.
