Over 7,000 student exchange visitors from India overstayed in US in 2023

Washington: Over 7,000 student and exchange visitors from India overstayed in the US in 2023, an expert told United States' lawmakers and suggested several reforms in the country's immigration policies, including those related to H-1B visas.

As many as 32 countries have student/exchange visitor overstay rates of higher than 20 per cent, Jessica M Vaughan from the Center for Immigration Studies told the US House Committee on the Judiciary during a hearing on “Restoring Immigration Enforcement in America.”

The F and M visa categories have the highest overstay rates of any of the broad categories of temporary admission. 

The F-1 Visa allows a person to enter the United States as a full-time student at an accredited college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school, or other academic institution or in a language training programme.  The M-1 visa category includes students in vocational or other nonacademic programmes, other than language training.

“Four countries -- Brazil, China, Colombia and India -- each had more than 2,000 of their citizens overstaying student/exchange visas in 2023, with India having the highest number (7,000),” Vaughan said on Wednesday. 

Visa issuance policies need adjustments and interior enforcement should be strengthened.

Furthermore, Congress should amend the law in several significant ways, she stated.

“First, the concept of dual intent should not apply to student visa applicants; instead, each applicant should be required to demonstrate an intent and likelihood to return to their home country after their studies,” she added.

Vaughan said visas for workers' speciality occupations (H-1B) should be limited to a period of two years with a possible extension to four years, and there should be no automatic extension based on a Green Card petition.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

“The total number should be limited to 75,000 or less, including the non-profit and research sector, which is currently unlimited.  If the category is oversubscribed, then the visas should be awarded to the highest paying employers, as a proxy for the highest skilled workers,” she said.  “Federal government agencies should be permitted to seek approval for visa workers only in very limited circumstances,” she added.              

Vaughan argued that the United States does not have a shortage of labour, either in skilled or low-wage occupations.  In fact, there are millions of Americans of working age who have dropped out of the labour market.  Even in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sector, there are more than two million US.

STEM degree-holders who are unemployed or not working in STEM, which is about one-sixth of the total, she asserted.  Besides directing more agency action, Congress should overhaul these visa programmes to increase opportunities for American workers.  

“First, no staffing companies should be permitted to sponsor foreign visa workers.  These companies operate on a business model designed to replace US workers with workers from abroad who will work for lower wages, and have been associated with illegal hiring practices, such as charging workers illegal recruitment fees and exploiting workers – in both skilled and low-wage occupations," she said.

All employers should be held accountable for high overstay rates for sponsored workers, she added.