SUVA, April 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 600 people overstayed in Fiji in 2016 and 400 had been deported already, Director of Immigration Nemani Vuniwaqa has said.
Most of the overstayers came into Fiji under a visitor's visa and the majority of overstayers came from regional countries, Vuniwaqa told a Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense earlier this week.
He said usually the visitors were advised and given a month after arrival to apply to the Immigration Department for a student's visa but most of them failed to do so.
He said foreigners on a visitor's visa were given up to four months under the law and it could be extended by another two months to sort out their papers.
In February, human rights groups in Fiji condemned what they described as illegal and arbitrary deportation of a refugee from Iran seeking asylum in Fiji.
Loghman Sawari, 21, fled to Fiji from Papua New Guinea's Manus Island but on his way to Suva with his lawyer to meet immigration officers to apply for asylum he was stopped by police and put on a plane back to PNG.
