Visa Overstay by Country 2026

Traveling overseas can be complicated, and people who want to travel overseas need to make sure they have a passport and a visa. A lot of people believe these things are the same, but they are not. A passport is something that someone has to have before they are allowed to leave their home country. If someone does not have a passport, they are not allowed to exit their country of origin. Then, people need to have a visa to make sure they are allowed into another country.

There are some situations where people may be allowed to enter a country without a visa. For example, the United States and Canada have the largest unguarded border in the world. In the vast majority of situations, people can cross between the United States and Canada without a visa.

In most cases, someone has to have a visa before they are allowed to enter another country. There are some situations where someone could overstay their visa and simply not leave.

What Is a Visa Overstay?

When someone is granted a visa, they are typically given a visa for a predetermined length of time. For example, if someone is given a visa to enter the United States for tourism reasons, they might be allowed to stay for 30 days. On the other hand, if someone is given a visa to enter the United States for work purposes, they may be allowed to stay for up to a year. Then, they are required to either apply for another visa or return home.

There are a lot of people who flee to the United States because they are escaping persecution. Therefore, they may simply stay after the visa expires and decide not to leave. This is called a visa overstay, and it is illegal.

Which Countries Have the Highest Rates of Visa Overstay?

There are several countries that have a very high rate of visa overstay in the United States. There are a few countries that have a rate of more than 10 percent. This means that more than ten percent of people who are given a visa from those countries are staying in the United States even after the visa has expired. Most of these countries are located in Africa.

A few examples of countries that have particularly high rates of visa overstay include Angola, Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cabo Verde, and Burkina Faso. In addition, Afghanistan has a very high rate of visa overstay as well.

What Are the Penalties for Overstaying a Visa?

The penalty for overstaying a visa varies depending on how long someone has stayed in the USA illegally. The most immediate penalty is deportation. Because someone’s visa has expired, they will be deported. People who overstay their visas by more than 180 days are barred from returning for three years. People who overstay their visas for more than a year are barred from returning to the United States for 10 years.