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Corrective Action Report Issue and Milestone Schedule |
Date of Submission | |||||
| First Quarter Update: | ||||||
| Second Quarter Update: | ||||||
| Third Quarter Update: | ||||||
| End of Year Report: 11/21/02 | ||||||
| Issue Title |
Issue ID |
Organization |
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| Date First 10/01/97 |
Original Target for Completion 10/31/98 |
Current Target for Completion 10/31/03 |
Actual Date of Completion |
Issue Type (Organization Rating) |
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| Source Title OIG Inspection Report I-97-08 |
Date of Source Report 09/97 |
Issue Type (DOJ Rating) Material Weakness |
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| Issue Description In September 1997, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued an inspection report on the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Monitoring of Nonimmigrant Overstays. The report found that, although nonimmigrant overstays (i.e., foreign visitors who legally enter the United States and then do not leave) comprise a significant percentage of the illegal alien population in the United States, the INS has insufficient systems to compile information on the overstay population, and lacks an enforcement policy that specifically targets the overstay population. In its response to the final inspection report, the INS will outline the steps that it will take to implement the recommendations contained in the report. |
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| What We Will Do About It Public Law 106-396, the Visa Waiver Program Act, requires the Attorney General to develop and implement an automated entry/exit control system to collect the arrival and departure record for each Visa Waiver Permanent Program (VWPP) passenger admitted at a U.S. air or sea port-of-entry by October 1, 2002. The INS is in the process of developing an integrated system that will capture both arrival and departure information of aliens entering the United States. The INS intends to meet the deadline for the new system, the Arrival/Departure Information System (ADIS) as mandated by P.L. 106-396. ADIS will be used as the repository for the arrival and departure information. This system, once fully operational, will replace the legacy Nonimmigrant Information System (NIIS). We are reviewing systems, including the Interagency Border Inspections System, to serve as the collection platform for ADIS. When ADIS is operational, the Department of State will be provided access. October 2002 Update The Visa Waiver Program Entry-Exit System (VWP EES) was implemented on October 1, 2002. Both NIIS and the VWP EES will be used simultaneously while an evaluation of the viability of VWP EES is completed. Since ADIS is the database which houses the data for VWP EES, the completion of the evaluation is essential to the expansion of the use of VWP EES and then the provision of overstay information to the Department of State. The VWP EES was developed in response to the new requirements in P.L. 106-396. |
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Congress has mandated a comprehensive entry-exit system by 2005. The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) is the program being implemented to meet that mandate. It is being implemented in two phases in order to address the most serious threats to the United States. Phase One, NSEERS enrollment at ports-of-entry, began on September 11, 2002. Phase Two, NSEERS enrollment inside the U.S. borders, began on December 16, 2002. Milestone 1 has been split into two milestones (see new Milestone 7) due to P.L. 106-396. Prior to this new law, INS was planning to either improve the current NIIS data or replace NIIS with another system. INS had improved the NIIS data, and, thus, considered this milestone closed. Milestone 2 no longer contains the language regarding the proposed rule because recent legislation has negated a need for a change to the existing rule 8 CFR 231. However, training was completed as of October 2001, and the CD-ROMs of the AEasy Come/Easy Go@ training module were distributed on November 19, 2001. Milestone 5, although met in 1998, has been overtaken by publication of the rule on November 11, 2002, of the Visa Waiver Program. |
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| Milestones |
Original Target Date |
Current Target Date |
Actual Date of Completion |
| 1. Take action to improve upon the current NIIS data (disseminate guidance addressing data quality of I-94's and timeliness of data input). |
02/27/98 |
01/31/01 |
07/01/01 |
| 2. Develop a training module as part of the Carrier Consultant Program that addresses carrier requirements for submitting departure documents (I-94's). |
04/30/98 |
10/22/01 |
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| 3. Analyze overstay data and design a process to obtain accurate information of air and sea arrivals. |
06/30/98 |
07/28/98 |
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| 4. Provide complete and current information on alien overstays to the Department of State to screen visa applicants. |
07/31/98 |
10/31/03 |
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| 5. Establish a specific plan for initiating a comprehensive compliance program, including fining, for airlines for collection of I-94's. |
08/30/98 |
09/30/98 |
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| 6. Perform an analysis of overstay information that will support an overstay enforcement strategy. |
10/31/98 |
06/25/99 |
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| 7. Replace NIIS with a workable system (ADIS). |
10/01/02 |
10/01/02 |
10/01/02 |
| How We Will Know It Is Fixed When ADIS is in place and being used at the ports-of-entry, the INS will be able to query on arrival and departure data and report overstay information to the Department of State. |
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