Several executives of travel agencies operating in Europe and Asia will be subject to visa restrictions by the United States Department of State for facilitating irregular migration to the US.
Announcing the decision, the Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Mathew Miller, said that the US would continue to take steps to introduce visa restrictions against owners, executives and senior officials in order to combat such exploitative practices, VisaGuide.World reports.
To date, we have taken steps to impose visa restrictions on individuals from 16 countries in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Northern Africa, and Western Africa, helping to close more than 70 charter flight routes, including routes connecting Nicaragua to Cuba and Libya.
He emphasized that no one should profit from vulnerable migrants wishing to enter the United States.
No one should profit from vulnerable migrants – not smugglers, private companies, or public officials. This visa restriction policy is global and also applies to individuals who otherwise qualify for the Visa Waiver Program. These actions are taken pursuant to section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Undocumented Immigrants Account for 3.3% of the US Population
The statistics provided by the Pew Research Center last year revealed that immigrants accounted for 14.3 per cent of the nation’s population in 2022. These figures were higher than those registered in the previous five years but below the record high of 14.8 per cent registered in 1890.
The statistics published by the same source revealed that as of 2022, unauthorized immigrants accounted for 3.3 per cent of the total population in the United States and 23 per cent of the foreign-born population.
At the same time, the lawful immigrant population increased significantly from 24.1 million registered in 2000 to 36.9 million in 2022.
Over 562,000 Immigrant Visas Issued in 2023
According to a report from the Visa Office, in 2023, the State Department issued a total of 562,976 immigrant visas in 2023, up more than 14 per cent compared to 2022 statistics, in which year a total of 493,448 visas were issued.
In a bid to deal with the increasing visa backlog, the United States Department of State will add one million visa appointments this year. Such comments were made last year by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, ahead of the US presidential election.