21 African, Asian Countries Targeted in President Trump’s Crackdown on Visa Overstays

African and Asian countries will be the most targeted in President Donald Trump's latest order for a crackdown on visa overstays.

The US Today reports that the crackdown will only target 12 percent of immigrants who travel to the US on short-term visas but fail to leave upon their expiry.

On Monday, Trump signed a memorandum directing the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to submit plans within four months to crack down on visa overstays.

Such plans include punishing countries whose citizens have a high number of overstays and making it mandatory for foreign travelers to deposit "admission bonds" that would be refunded once they leave the US.

"Although the United States benefits from legitimate (non-immigrant) entry, individuals who abuse the visa process and decline to abide by the terms and conditions of their visas, including their visa departure dates, undermine the integrity of our immigration system and harm the national interest," Trump wrote in his memorandum.

Trump asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to engage with the governments of countries whose over 10 percent of their citizens traveling to the US on short-term visas fail to exit the country when the documents expire.

Such countries will be slapped with punishments such as limiting the number of visas granted to their citizens, limiting the time its citizens are allowed to travel to the US and demanding their citizens to provide more documents when traveling.

"The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall immediately begin taking all appropriate actions that are within the scope of their respective authorities to reduce overstay rates for all classes of (non-immigrant) visas," Trump wrote.

Homeland Security data shows that 569,000 foreigners remained in the US in 2018 after their visas expired.

Based on Trump's guidelines, 21 countries whose 35,442 of their citizens overstayed their US visas in 2018 could face sanctions.

Among the 21, 13 of them are African countries that include Nigeria, Angola,  Chad, Sudan, Burundi, Cape Verde, DRC Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Liberia, Mauritania, Somalia, and South Sudan.

Nigeria is the most targeted because 29,004 of its citizens overstayed their visas in 2018. 

Targeted Asian countries include Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen.