AA_EXP09

This is an unnecessary step for the US as they're only wasting their own resources doing this.
If this means a tax increase for those using US airports then I might not visit as much.
I wonder what will happen to me as a trusted traveller/APEC card holder?
It would be far easier to prove that I had left the US by virtue of an entry stamp from somewhere else (I tend to cross international borders frequently.)
(i.e. I have entered Canada, therefore I have left the US.)

stifle

That may work for you but it is difficult for, for example, EU citizens, who are not stamped into their own or any other EU country.

AA_EXP09

In your defense I have ZERO Canadian stamps since 2002 (when I acquired citizenship.)
With NEXUS I have electronic entry records to Canada (if that helps.)

krazykanuck

This is something that has crossed my mind as I travel, and with the rhetoric from Trump, I honestly ask; why does the US not have any exit border check?

Most countries do. Even 3rd world places like the Philippines and Thailand have exit immigration. Considering research that many/most illegal immigrants in the US end up here due to overstaying legal entry visas, it seems like low hanging fruit to me.

Initially it would be a bit of a pain and expense, but we're already paying CBP officers to exist. Thoughts? And yes, I know that US airlines already communicate much of this into but it's probably often incomplete/wrong. I once checked my exit record with CBP, since I'm not a US citizen, and they had a record of me leaving the country on a flight where I had cancelled that flight far in advance and never actually left the country or took the flight they said I left on.

Sykes

Exit border checks do almost nothing to combat illegal overstays.

Having said that, the US does have exit border checks in many situations, they're just less visible than in other countries. Airlines submit passenger manifests via APIS prior to departure and the CBP will stop and question anyone that piques their interest at the gate. (I've been specifically sought out and questioned before.)

Most land crossings don't have exit checks, but the CBP warns that if they determine you're high risk they may require you to prove that you did not overstay a previous visit by way of, for example, an entry stamp to another country.

catocony

What purpose would it serve?

As far as expense, creating international-only terminals at dozens of airports with international flights would cost billions of dollars.

GUWonder

We do indeed have some exit controls of sort. They are not comprehensive for all exits from the US, but where are they? North Korea?

Where resources are finite, prioritizing ends up being part of the picture. Absolutely comprehensive exit controls isn't the highest priority, as it's not cheap to do.

Slobodansm

Always wondered about this myself. When I was leaving the US for the first time after my high school exchange was over, I was worried that I won't get a new visa since I didn't get exit stamp (as is practise in Europe). I approached the lady at the DEN to FRA gate counter and asked her about this. She took my passport, scanned it, and gave me a paper slip with bar code and my info. No stamp though.

I think that they process us leavers at a later time when they collect those I-94 forms. Not sure how they handle overstayers but what I am sure about is that it would be highly inefficient to send an officer to each address listed at visa application. I am also sure that it is not a big deal to leave the US after a significant overstay. My friend left the US after almost 3 years overstay without anyone being the wiser. This wouldn't happen if there was exit control.

Just my 2 cents ☺

GUWonder

I wouldn't be so sure about the conclusion.

The Schengen zone has exit controls -- and exit stamps for most non-EU/non-Schengen passports -- and yet I've encountered Americans at US embassies who have overstayed (even for years) without the Schengen Zone authorities being aware of the overstaying. And in some cases, it's been repeated overstays for years and years even as they repeatedly entered and exited the Schengen Zone and even got their passports stamped most or all of the time.

Slobodansm

Well, that is interesting. I thought it was standardized practice to exit stamp next to entry stamp. Its impossible to not notive overstay that way. Russian border control is notorious about overstay. My friend's colleague spent a night in jail and paid a fine for one day overstay.

SDF_Traveler

I've entered and exited the Schengen Zone many times where my passport was never scanned let alone stamped -- last couple times in and out of FCO my passport was never even scanned at entry or exit immigration. When I try to hand them the passport at immigration, they just politely push it back and waive me through.

There's been times I've taken flights to LHR (and then long-haul onwards) where the flights have departed from gates in the Schengen zone. In fact my last international departure from the Schengen zone departed from a Schengen gate with no exit passport control.

Unless they're using passport data submitted by airlines to record my departure, I'm probably still in the Schengen zone per immigration computers.

SDF

GUWonder

Some EU/Schengen countries have APIS type requirements live. Some have mass surveillance of PNR requirements live. Some have both live. Some have neither live. Some have one of them live from time to time but not always. Some receive this info from others from time to time, whether legal or not.

pitz

Canada and the USA now exchange data for the purposes of visa compliance.

Not really sure what arresting an over-stayer upon their departure at the border accomplishes. However, if they attempt to re-enter, that's a different story.

schrodingerdog

Just for curiosity, where?

Once arriving from MAN we ended up in the Schengen part of MAD T1, so we had no passport control (and for the poor people that had hold luggage, a big big wait until they solved the mess, as the luggage was in the non-Schengen part and they couldn't reach it).

I asked the Spanish Border Police for clarification and they replied me that was a (big) mistake of the airline, they were aware of it, and this should never happen, although apparently is quite common in big airports.

GUWonder

To be more sure, I'd suggest your last sentence. That sentence has alluded to a purpose of the exit checks.