When people visit the United States on a visa, they have a set time in which they can stay in the country. Once the visa expires, they must leave the country or they enter a period where they are in the country illegally. This could lead to legal troubles or even cause a person to go into custody in Florida before deportation occurs. It can be quite easy to overstay a visa and not realize it. However, as the days go by and a person is here for quite some time on an expired visa, the risk increases that the government will take notice of him or her and then take action.
The Miami Herald warns that the government is starting to seek out people with expiredvisas. If someone has a visa that is no longer valid, he or she may end up facing immigration enforcement sooner rather than later due to this crackdown.
Visas serve a specific role
A visa does not allow someone to stay in the country long term. It is a way for a person to visit the country for various reasons. For some visas, a person may have to meet specific criteria to keep that visa valid. In any case, a person has to adhere to the guidelines of the visa he or she has. This is the agreement that he or she makes with the government upon entering the country. By overstaying a visa, the agreement ends, and the government has the right to remove that person from the country.
Not an uncommon issue
It is actually quite common for visitors to overstay their visas. In fact, of those in this country without proper documentation, the Miami Herald reports that 40% are those with invalid visas. While this is not nearly as large of a number as people illegally crossing the border, it is still a concern for an administration that wants to crack down on immigration policies.
Overstaying a visa may seem like a small issue, but it can have an impact if a person later wants to apply for legal citizenship. If the government discovers that a person overstayed a visa, it could withdraw any legal status or prevent that person from applying for citizenship in the future. That is why people should handle any immigration or visitor issues as soon as possible.
