March 21, 2002	Thursday	Muharram 6, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

WASHINGTON, March 20: The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is considering imposing a 30-day stay limit for foreign visitors to the United States.

The present practice is to routinely grant six-month visas for visitors.

According to The Washington Post, State Department records show that almost seven million people come to the US each year on various categories of visas.

In testimony before the House of Representatives immigration subcommittee on Tuesday, INS Commissioner James Ziglar, referring to proposals for the new one-month stay condition, also said students would be prevented from starting courses until their student visas were approved.

His agency was discussing prohibiting anyone entering the US on a tourist, business or any other kind of visa from attending an educational institution here until INS approved a change to student visas.