Yes.
Roughly 46% of people living in the U.S. without authorization entered the country with a valid visa, according to data from 2017, the most recent available.
The remaining 54% of immigrants lacking legal status arrived via “entry without inspection,” or by crossing U.S. borders without authorization.
Most of the people who overstayed their visas initially had temporary visas for tourism or business, or arrived from visa-exempt countries like the United Kingdom or Israel. From 2009 to 2019, visa overstays were the primary source of illegal immigration to the U.S.
The number of residents living in the U.S. illegally declined from 11.3 million in 2011 to 10.3 million in 2021, before rising to roughly 14 million in 2024.
Federal immigration authorities estimated that 1.15% of temporary visa holders, or roughly 539,000 people, overstayed their visas in 2024.
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Sources
- Social Security Administration Measuring the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States
- Journal of Migration and Human Security Estimates of the size and composition of the undocumented immigrant population
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Visa Waiver Program
- Center for Immigration Studies Overall Foreign-Born Population Down 2.2 Million January to July
- Congressional Research Service Current Foreign-born Population
- U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Entry-Exit Overstay Report
- Journal on Migration and Human Security An Analysis of Trends in the US Undocumented Population