In the past five years, the number of international travelers passing through US airports has increased by more than a fifth, to 124.2 million in 2017.

Last year alone, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers interacted with 7.6% more US citizens traveling internationally than in 2016^[1].

Identifying aliens who overstay their authorized periods of stay is important for national security, public safety, immigration enforcement, and processing applications for immigration benefits.

Over the years, DHS significantly improved data collection processes in the entry environment.

These improvements include the collection of data on all admissions to the United States by foreign nationals, the reduction of the number of documents that may be used for entry to the United States, the collection of biometric data on most foreign travelers to the United States, and the comparison of that data against criminal and terrorist watchlists.

Towards that end, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) Entry/Exit Overstay Report which provides data on departures and overstays, by country, for foreign visitors to the United States who entered as nonimmigrants through an air or sea Port of Entry (POE) and were expected to depart in FY 2017.

The in-scope population for this report includes temporary workers and families, students, exchange visitors, temporary visitors for pleasure, temporary visitors for business, and other nonimmigrant classes of admission.

DHS has determined that there were 52,656,022 in-scope nonimmigrant admissions to the United States through air or sea POEs with expected departures occurring in FY 2017; the in-scope admissions represent the vast majority of all air and sea nonimmigrant admissions.

Of this number, DHS calculated a total overstay rate of 1.33 percent, or 701,900 overstay events.

The report also breaks down the overstay rates further to provide a better picture of those overstays who remain in the United States beyond their period of admission and for whom there is no identifiable evidence of a departure, an extension of period of admission, or transition to another immigration status.

At the end of FY 2017, there were 606,926 Suspected In-Country Overstays.

The overall Suspected In-Country Overstay rate was 1.15 percent of the expected departures. 

The U.S. government is using a multifaceted approach to enforce overstay violations which includes the following:

• Improving entry and exit data collection and reporting

• Notifying visitors of an impending expiration of their authorized period of admission

• Cancelling travel authorizations and visas for violators

• Recurrent vetting of many nonimmigrants, and

• Apprehending overstays present in the United States

A further breakdown can be found below and the full report is available here.

(Learn More. Despite Congress mandating an entry-exit biometric identity-tracking system more than 15 years ago, and despite spending $600 million on pilot programs to build it, the US has failed to produce this system. Courtesy of RT America [Be advised RT America is a TV channel based in Washington, D.C., which is part of a global multilingual television news network based in Moscow, Russia, and funded by the Russian government] and YouTube. Posted on Sep 12, 2016.)

Visa Waiver Program (VWP) Country Overstay Rate

This report separates Visa Waiver Program (VWP) country overstay figures from non–VWP country figures. For VWP countries, the FY 2017 Suspected In-Country Overstay rate was 0.51 percent of the 22,472,710 expected departures.

Non-Visa Waiver Program Participant Overstay Rate

For non-VWP countries, the FY 2017 Suspected In-Country Overstay rate is 1.91 percent of the 14,659,249 expected departures.

Student or Exchange Visitor Visa Overstay Rate

For nonimmigrants who entered on a student or exchange visitor visa (F, M, or J visa), DHS has determined there were 1,662,369 students and exchange visitors scheduled to complete their program in the United States.

However, 4.15 percent stayed beyond the authorized window for departure at the end of their program.

Canada and Mexico Overstay Rates

Unlike other countries, a majority of travelers from Canada and Mexico enter the United States by land.

Figures pertaining to Canada and Mexico are presented separately from the other countries due to the fact that air and sea information represent a much smaller portion of the Canadian and Mexican travel population.

For Canada, the FY 2017 Suspected In¬-Country Overstay rate for those traveling through air and sea POEs is 1.01 percent of 9,215,158 expected departures.

For Mexico, the FY 2017 Suspected In-Country Overstay rate for those traveling through air and sea POEs is 1.63 percent of 2,916,430 expected departures.

This represents only travel through air and sea POEs and does not include data on land border crossings.

DHS will continue to develop and test the entry and exit system during FY 2018, both biometric and biographic, and this testing will improve CBP’s ability to capture and report this data accurately.

(Learn More. A large number of people who are in America illegally actually came here legally, they just overstayed their welcome. Courtesy of KXAN and YouTube. Posted on Oct 4, 2017.)

Despite the different infrastructural, operational, and logistical challenges presented in the exit environment, DHS has been able to resolve many of the issues regarding the collection of departure information for foreign nationals.

Further efforts, including partnerships with other governments and the private sector (e.g., airlines airports, cruise lines), are ongoing and will continue to improve data integrity.

During the past three years, DHS made significant progress in terms of the ability to accurately report data on overstays—progress that was made possible by congressional realignment of Department resources in order to better centralize the overall mission in identifying overstays.

In FY 2017, new biometric exit tests in both the land and air environment enabled continued progress toward the fusion of biometric and biographic verification of travelers.

While these tests account for only a small percentage of all the departure records for FY 2017, this is a significant increase from FY 2016 and a critical step forward towards implementing a comprehensive biometric entry and exit system.

DHS will continue to annually release this overstay data to the public and examine trends over time, and looks forward to providing updates to congressional members and their staff on its ongoing progress.

Orlando International recently became the first U.S. airport to fully deploy the U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Biometric Entry and Exit Program, a 2017 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Award Winner.

Over the coming months, SITA will integrate Smart Path^™, its sophisticated biometric technology, at the airport’s 30 international boarding gates.

Earlier this year, SITA worked with GOAA, British Airways and CBP to incorporate the U.S. biometric departure check for British Airways’ customers.

The trial’s success has prompted airport-wide implementation of the technology.

(See the future of air travel – where we can truly begin to provide a walkthrough experience from check-in to the aircraft door – is fast becoming a reality. The emergence of ‘single token travel’ is probably the most exciting development for passengers hoping to fast-track through the airport. Courtesy of SITA and YouTube. Posted on Mar 15, 2016)

The system makes passenger boarding quicker and easier, while it also incorporates the new secure biometric exit checks. British Airways is boarding flights of almost 240 customers in around 15 minutes.

With Smart Path, passengers just need to look at the camera, without having to present boarding passes or passports.

“Our decision to implement biometric exit checks across the whole airport follows a hugely successful live trial,” said John Newsome, Chief Information Officer, GOAA.

“The innovative boarding process we tested is really popular with passengers. They simply look at the camera and within seconds the gate opens and they can board the flight.”

“It is easy, fast and most importantly, secure.”

“The solution works on common-use boarding gates and can be easily used by the many international airlines that we serve at MCO.”

“GOAA’s implementation of SITA Smart Path for the U.S. CBP biometric exit checks will deliver a simpler travel process for the airport’s six million annual international passengers,” added Diana Einterz, SITA President, Americas.

“SITA is a world-leader in biometrics and we are committed to delivering secure seamless journeys for airline passengers globally.”

“It is great to be GOAA’s technology partner as it becomes the first airport to fully implement biometrics for international flights from the U.S.”

Passengers can expect to enjoy 100% biometric boarding for international flights at Orlando International Airport by October.

(Roel Hellemons, General Manager Strategic Planning & Development, and Kevin Morgan, Business Development Manager at Brisbane Airport explain how working with SITA they could add biometrics into their existing check-in and boarding process to create a secure and seamless passenger journey, based on a single facial scan. Now with SITA Smart Path TM, passengers at Brisbane Airport can board their flights with a single glance at a camera, no more tickets to scan no more passport to show, and it is all based on a simple enrollment process that takes less than a minute, hear what passengers have to say about the new process. Courtesy of SITA and YouTube. Posted on Nov 6, 2017)

Over the next four months, SITA will integrate Smart Path at 64 boarding lanes, at 30 boarding gates across the airport.

As part of the agreement, SITA will provide the technology solution, professional services, hardware and maintenance.

This will be backed by SITA’s global service management, which supports the operational needs of the world’s top airports and airlines through 24/7 worldwide availability and proactive monitoring.

Learn More… See How Tech & People Together Provide a More Secure Traveling Environment

A featured article by Guest Editorialist David Menzel, Founding Member, Secure Journeys, Sales Director-Government Markets, in the AST June *Fully Interactive* Magazine at https://joom.ag/yoMY or at 

How Tech & People Together Provide a More Secure Traveling Environment