Following September 11th, the United States greatly tightened screening to enter the country. Last year, 500 Koreans were examined for visa problems; and 306 of them were expelled from the United States.

According to the annual report issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Citizenship and Immigration for the year 2002 (Oct. 1, 2002 to Sept. 30, 2002) which was released on March 31, 533 Koreans were investigated for alleged illegal residency. Of them, 306 were deported. The number of undocumented residents increased by 23 percent from 2001. In that year, there were only 333 investigations of alleged illegal residency. There has been a steady increase in the number of deported Koreans over the last few years; this years’ is the highest figure to date.

As to status, 223 persons had tourist visas, 80 had non-immigrant work visas, 73 had green cards, and only 10 had student visas. American authorities arrested 140 Koreans attempting to enter the country illegally from Canada. This number represents a 27 percent drop from last year. Additionally, 124 Koreans were investigated for criminal activities or backgrounds, an increase of 13 percent from last year. Also, 269 Koreans with tourist visas, who had faulty or suspect documents or whose visas expired, were denied re-entry to the United States. This number also represents an increase of 74 percent compared with figures from last year. All in all, the total number of cases involving Koreans last year was 533.

These events show that, following the tragedy of September 11th, U.S. officials have greatly increased their scrutiny of foreigners attempting to secure visas and enter the United States.

Immigration experts explain that federal and local investigating authorities can now interact, and already compiled a national database of suspect foreign nationals. Investigators can now aggressively follow and check immigrants and non-immigrants with criminal records.