DHS releases entry/exit overstay report for 2015

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday released the Entry/Exit Overstay Report for Fiscal Year 2015.

The report provides data as to whether a person has overstayed, as well as their country of origin, if they were lawfully admitted or are in the U.S. temporarily. The report acts as a “snapshot” of DHS progress in identifying overstay rates as well as addressing the limitations of the department today.

The DHS conducts the overstay identification process by studying arrival, departure and immigration status information. The department identifies two types of overstays – one whose overstay has not been recorded, known as a suspected in-country overstay. The other deals with individuals whose departure was recorded after their lawful admission period had expired, or what is known as an out-of-country overstay.

The report itself focuses on foreign nationals who entered the U.S. as nonimmigrant visitors for business or recreationally. In FY 2015, the DHS determined that 527,127 individuals overstayed their admission out of a total of approximately 45 million nonimmigrant visitor admissions.

The report separates Visa Waiver Program country overstay numbers from non-VWP numbers. For VWP countries, the FY 2015 suspected in-country overstay rate sits at .65 percent of the more than 20 million departures. For non-VWP countries, the rate is 1.60 percent of the more than 13 million expected departures.

DHS expects that the numbers will shift as additional information becomes available.