The Australian government said yesterday that athletes and officials from the UK and Canada were among 24 people being sought for overstaying their Commonwealth Games visas.
Of the almost 7,000 people issued with Commonwealth Games Travel Authority visas, 99.5 percent have been accounted for, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said.
She said it was critical that the 24 athletes and officials who remained unlawfully in Australia after the March 15-26 games contact the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs.
"If they choose not to do this, they will be subject to compliance action," she said, not elaborating on what form the action could take.
A department spokesman said the illegal overstayers were from Cameroon, Canada, the UK, Ghana, India, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tonga and Trinidad and Tobago. They were a mixture of athletes and Games officials, he said.
The visas expired at midnight on Wednesday, with 6,651 of the 7,000 people who traveled to Australia now having left the country.
Of those remaining, 289 people hold other visas, such as working holiday, sports, business, visitor, spouse, diplomatic or student visas. A further 31 have applied for protection.
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