February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The INS earlier this year announced its intention to possibly limit visa holders to 30 days in the U.S., as opposed to the commonly granted six-month stay in the country.
“We’re still in the process of reviewing comments. There’s no limit on the time the INS can take to decide,” INS spokesman Russ Bergeron said.
According to Bergeron, the INS can grant a visa for a day or a year or for any time in between.
The most commonly granted period is six months and in the absence of specific information the individual is in default if the six month period is exceeded. If the INS proposal is finally approved, that default period will, in many cases, be reduced to 30 days.
The reduction could have an effect on business travelers or relatives, elderly ones in particular, coming to the U.S. for an extended stay. The new proposals would make it more difficult to extend a visa length once the individual has arrived in the U.S.
Bergeron said it was important to emphasize that the proposal did not affect visitors to the U.S. under the visa waiver program. That program allows the visitor to remain in the U.S. for up to 90 days.
“The object is to admit people for the time they need,” Bergeron said. “If they need two months they will get it if the need is legitimate and the papers are in order.”
Meanwhile, a planned INS revamping of the “exit verification procedures” will not likely be in place by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
The INS has set aside $38 million in its 2003 budget to start up a new departure checking system that will, in time, likely see an end to the I-94 departure form that is currently stapled into an individual’s passport.
The data-based departure verification procedures would make it all but impossible for an undocumented immigrant to leave the U.S. without the length of his or her overstay showing up in the computer-based system.
The delay in implementing the new procedures are due to the fact that Congress is yet to pass the 2003 budget.