The American Samoa senate has approved a bill that imposes new fines for sponsors when foreigners they bring in overstay their permits.
Individual sponsors will be subject to a 10 US dollar fine for every day that a person overstays their permit and the fine for business sponors is 100 dollars a day.
The acting attorney general Frederick OBrien and chief immigration officer Ufuti Faafetai Ieremia support the bill saying the fines would help reduce the numbers of overstayers.
