Posted by
Fred of the Great Mojave on Thursday, June 07, 2007 6:14:04 PM
A few years ago, our niece came from Taiwan to visit my wife and me, and to take some English classes at our local community college (yes, she paid full-price, out-of-state tuition fees). Her visa was good for six months.
She wanted to take a few more classes after the first semester, so we decided to extend her visa for an additional six months. After a wasted trip to the immigration office in downtown Los Angeles, we were told to send an application to an office in Laguna Hills, California, along with the I-94 form (their entry/exit record) which was stapled in her passport. At this point, she had been here about four months.
As the sixth month of her stay approached, we became concerned that we had not heard anything from the immigration service regarding her extension. I tried to call the telephone number for the office in Laguna Hills that had her paperwork, but the number only connected to a set of pre-recorded messages.
After several attempts at calling different numbers, I finally spoke to a “real” person. I explained that we were concerned because our niece’s visa was about to expire and we had not heard anything from his office. He was not worried. He said that we would hear from them soon. I asked him if it was O.K. for her to still be in the country and he thought it would be fine. This whole conversation took place, by the way, without his ever asking her name. He had no idea who she was.
About three months later (about nine months into her visit) we received an envelope in the mail from the immigration office. The only item in the envelope was her I-94 card, which was submitted with the application. No letter. No Approval. No new date stamped on her I-94 form. She stapled the I-94 card back in her passport and left a couple of months later.
It is no wonder people come to the United States on visitor’s visas and never leave. I don’t think any government agency knows (or even cares about) all the people here on expired visas. There is no point in building a secure border fence, if everyone with a plane ticket and a visitor’s visa can fly right over it.