China Passes Mexico as the Top Source of New U.S. Immigrants

9:16 am ET
May 1, 2015

China Passes Mexico as the Top Source of New U.S. Immigrants

By NEIL SHAH

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/i...0430165204.jpgPeople walk through New York’s Chinatown district last year in New York City, where Chinese made up the second-largest foreign-born group in the city after immigrants from the Dominican Republic. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

Move over, Mexico. When it comes to sending immigrants to the U.S., China and India have taken over, research being presented Friday at the Population Association of America conference shows.

China was the country of origin for 147,000 recent U.S. immigrants in 2013, while Mexico sent just 125,000, according to a Census Bureau study by researcher Eric Jensen and others that analyzed annual immigration data for 2000 to 2013 from the American Community Survey. (An “immigrant” here is a foreign-born person in the U.S. who lived abroad a year prior.) India, with 129,000 immigrants, also beat Mexico, though the two countries’ results weren’t statistically different from each other.

A year earlier, in 2012, Mexico and China had been basically tied for top-sending country—with Mexico at 125,000 and China at 124,000.

It’s not just China and India. Several of the top immigrant-sending countries in 2013 were from Asia, including South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.

For a decade, immigration to the U.S. from China and India, which boast the world’s biggest populations, has been rising.

Meanwhile, immigration from Mexico has been declining due to improvements in the Mexican economy and lower Mexican birth rates. More recently, the Great Recession also reduced illegal immigration from Mexico.

A shift in America’s immigrant community will take far longer. In 2012, five times as many immigrants in the U.S. were from Mexico than China.

But the shifting nature of the immigrant flows seen in the Census study give us a peek at what’s likely to happen to the overall racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. population.

The millennial generation—roughly speaking, people born between 1982 and 2000, but definitions vary and there’s no real endpoint—is already the most diverse generation in U.S. history. As Brookings Institution demographer William Frey details in his recent book, “Diversity Explosion,” the social, economic and cultural implications are just starting to come into view. In time—2044, to be exact, according to Census projections—the entireU.S. population will have no racial majority, and, instead, a melting pot of minorities will shape U.S. society and politics.

Hispanics are still America’s biggest racial or ethnic minority group. But roughly two-thirds of them are now native-born, not recent immigrants. Among the U.S. Asian population, two-thirds (65%) are foreign-born.

Census researchers note that the rise of this latest, Asian wave of immigration seems—and is—dramatic, but past waves have been dramatic, too. The U.S.’s earliest immigrant waves came from Northern and Western Europe, then Southern and Eastern Europe, and finally, from Latin America.

Plenty of recent immigrants don’t come from China, India or Mexico. When you combine them, recent immigrants from those nations made up just about a third of the roughly 1.2 million immigrants in 2013, the Census analysis shows.

The question now is just how big and significant this Asian wave is going to be. “Whether these recent trends signal a new and distinct wave of immigration is yet to be seen,” Census researchers say.

Related reading:
What’s on Demographers’ Minds? Millennials, Immigrants, Poverty
America Is a Nation of Immigrants, But Not the Way It Used to Be
Majority of Latino Workers Are Now U.S.-Born—Not Immigrants
Waiting for the U.S. to Become a “Majority-Minority” Nation? You’ll Have to Wait A Little Longer

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/...-s-immigrants/

The really big news is that we don't need any of them - Chinese or anybody else.

Workforce participation is down. That tells us that millions Americans have given up looking for work. Wages are stagnant. That tells us that employers know that there is a large pool of unemployed people. Even our STEM graduates can't find STEM jobs. That tells us that there's absolutely no need for those H-1b visas.

And still 'Bama wants to fly in "refugees" from Central American, when we could use foreign aid to help them, for pennies on the dollar. But doing that would let us show Americans that their country still works for them. And 'Bama wants to show Americans that they don't count for anything.
******************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

I think the really big news is that if only 275,000 or so are from Mexico and China combined, where in the hell are the other 1.7 million coming from? Somethnig is very wrong with these numbers. We hand out over 1.1 million green cards and another 200,000 Congress approved visas, plus we've discovered that the Obama Administration handed out other types of visas to another 700,000 people. So that's easily at 2 million so-called legal and shadow immigrants, plus another 700,000 in DACA's plus the DAPA's, so someone has a lot of explaining to do about the math of counting and reporting on immigrants, which of course has nothing to do with tourists who have children here and leave or the 20 million plus illegal alien breeders.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/india-sent-...bureau-319199/

272,000 from China and Mexico + 129,000 from India = 401,000.

Where did the other 1.3 million come from?

This is part of a very long article on LEGAL immigrants.
(Click link to see full article.
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/artic...-united-states )

Annual Flows

How many immigrants obtain lawful permanent residence in the United States?
In 2013, 990,553 foreign nationals became lawful permanent residents (LPRs), also known as green-card holders, according to DHS data. The total number of LPRs has decreased since 2011 (1,062,040 in 2011 and 1,031,631 in 2012). New arrivals comprised approximately 46 percent (459,751) of those granted LPR status in 2013. The majority of green-card recipients in 2013 (530,802, or 54 percent) were status adjusters—persons who were already living in the United States before 2013, but whose green-card applications were approved that year. Most status adjusters were formerly one of the following: refugees, asylees, temporary workers, foreign students, family members of U.S. citizens or green-card holders, or unauthorized immigrants.

See the chart Legal Immigration to the United States: Fiscal Years 1820 to 2013.

Under which categories do permanent immigrants enter?
Of the roughly 1 million new LPRs in 2013, 44 percent were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, 21 percent entered through a family-sponsored preference, and 16 percent entered through an employment-based preference. Another 12 percent adjusted from refugee or asylee status, and 5 percent were diversity-lottery winners.

Which countries did permanent immigrants come from?

The top five countries of birth for new LPRs in 2013 were Mexico (14 percent), China and India (7 percent each), the Philippines (5 percent), and the Dominican Republic (4 percent). Approximately 371,000 new LPRs were from one of these top five countries of birth, accounting for about 37 percent of all persons who received LPR status in 2013.

Individuals born in the next five countries—Cuba and Vietnam (3 percent each), and South Korea, Colombia, and Haiti (2 percent each)—contributed another 13 percent of all LPRs. The top ten countries of birth composed half of total LPRs for 2013.

How many people apply for permanent immigration to the United States through the green-card lottery?

The Immigration Act of 1990 established the Diversity Visa Lottery (also known as the DV lottery or the green-card lottery) to allow entry to immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The law states that 55,000 diversity visas are made available each fiscal year (FY), of which 5,000 must be used for applicants under the Nicaraguan and Central America Relief Act of 1997, thus reducing the available number to other nationalities to 50,000. In 2013, 45,618 people received LPR status as diversity immigrants, representing close to 5 percent of the nearly 1 million new LPRs.
Before receiving permission to immigrate to the United States, lottery winners must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent or show two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience. They also must pass a medical exam and a background check.
Overall interest in the DV lottery is significantly higher than the 50,000 available visas; close to 9.4 million qualified applications were registered for the DV-2015 program. (The application number varies each year depending on which countries are eligible).

Check out the full list of qualified entries by country for DV-2007 to DV-2013 here.

What is the total number of temporary admissions to the United States?
The total number of nonimmigrant (temporary) admissions* for 2013 was approximately 173 million, including primarily tourists, business travelers, and international students. That figure includes an estimated 112 million admissions of travelers who are exempt from completing the I-94 arrival/departure form at the port of entry. (Canadians who travel to the United States for business or pleasure, and Mexicans who possess a nonresident Border Crossing Card [i.e., laser visa] are exempt from completing this form).
Total temporary admissions of I-94 nonimmigrants increased 13 percent from 53.9 million in 2012 to 61.1 million in 2013.
*Note: Nonimmigrant admissions represent the number of arrivals, not the number of individuals admitted to the United States. DHS only reports characteristics of nonimmigrants that have to complete an I-94 arrival/departure form.

How do nonimmigrant admissions break down by visa category?
Temporary visitors (tourists and business travelers) account for an overwhelming majority of all nonimmigrant admissions. In 2013, they represented 90 percent (54.6 million) of all I-94 admissions to the United States. Of those, 48.3 million were tourist admissions and 6.3 million were business-traveler admissions.
Temporary workers and trainees (as well as their spouses and children), including H-1B "specialty occupation" workers, registered nurses, temporary agricultural workers, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) professional workers, treaty traders, and intracompany transferees, among others, accounted for nearly 3 million arrivals (about 5 percent of total I-94 admissions)
Students who entered the United States to study at academic or vocational institutes made up about 3 percent (close to 1.7 million) of the total arrivals including their family members but not including exchange visitors.
According to the most recently available DHS estimates, about 1.9 million foreign nationals on various temporary visas* resided in the United States on January 1, 2012. Of the 1.9 million, 45 percent were temporary workers and their families, followed by foreign students and their families (38 percent). Fifty-two percent of the 1.9 million temporary visa holders were from Asia. Another quarter came from Europe and North America. The top five countries of origin—India, China, South Korea, Canada, and Mexico—accounted for 54 percent of the 1.9 million residents on temporary visas.
*Note: this estimate excludes tourists and other short-term visitors.

Read about the size of nonimmigrant population in Estimates of the Size and Characteristics of the Resident Nonimmigrant Population in the United States.

How many visas does the Department of State issue?
The Department of State (DOS) reports the number of visas issued to foreign nationals who wish to enter the United States for the purpose of traveling, conducting business, working, studying, and for other reasons.
In 2013, DOS issued 9,164,349 nonimmigrant visas—a 3 percent increase from the 8,927,090 visas issued in 2012.
The vast majority (77 percent) of the 9.2 million nonimmigrant visas issued in 2013 were temporary business and tourist visas (B-1, B-2, and BCC visas). The next largest visa class (F-1, F-2, and F-3) was for academic students and exchange visitors and their family members, who comprised 6 percent of all nonimmigrant visas issued, followed by H visa categories for temporary workers and trainees and their family members (4 percent).
The distribution by region of the 9.2 million visas issued to foreign nationals in 2013 shows that the majority of temporary visas were issued to nationals from Asia (37 percent), South America (25 percent), and North America (22 percent, including Central America and the Caribbean), followed by Europe (12 percent), Africa (4 percent), and Oceania (0.6 percent).

Notes on Refugees and Asylees

What is the difference between a refugee and an asylee? In the United States, the main difference is the person's location at the time of application.
Refugees are generally outside of the United States when they are considered for resettlement, whereas asylum seekers submit their applications while they are physically present in or at a port of entry to the United States.
Asylum seekers can submit an asylum request either affirmatively or defensively. An asylum seeker present in the United States may submit an asylum request either with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officer (affirmative request), or, if apprehended, with an immigration judge as part of a removal hearing (defensive request). During the interview, an asylum officer will determine whether the applicant meets the definition of a refugee.

Note: The number of visas issued does not necessarily match the number of foreign nationals who entered the United States in the same year because some nonimmigrant visas may not be used.

For more information, see the Department of State publication Report of the Visa Office 2013.

How many immigrants enter the United States as refugees, and where are they from?
In 2013, 69,909 refugees were admitted to the United States, a roughly 20 percent increase from 2012 (58,179). Iraq, Burma, and Bhutan were the primary countries of nationality for refugees admitted since 2010. The nationals of these three countries made up 64 percent (44,920) of all refugees admitted in 2013. The next seven countries of origin for refugee resettlements in 2013 were Somalia, Cuba, Iran, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Altogether, nationals of these ten countries totaled 95 percent (66,624) of all refugee arrivals in 2013.
Each year, the president and Congress set the annual refugee admissions ceiling and regional allocations. For fiscal year (FY) 2015 the ceiling was set at 70,000, same as 2014 (down from 80,000 between 2008 and 2011). The Near East/South Asia regions received 47 percent (33,000) of the total regional allocations in response to refugee crises in Iraq and Burma.

For more information, see the Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions for FY 2015.

How many foreign born enter the United States as asylees, and where are they from?
In 2013, 25,199 principal applicants and their spouses and/or unmarried children under the age of 21 were granted asylum after seeking protection upon arriving or after arrival in the United States (less than the 29,367 persons in 2012). An additional 13,026 individuals outside of the United States were approved for asylum status as immediate family members of principal applicants. (Note that this number reflects travel documents issued to these family members, not their arrival to the United States.)
China was the top country of origin, with 8,604 Chinese receiving asylum status in 2013. Despite a sharp 15 percent decrease from 10,121 in 2012, China still accounted for a lion’s share of total asylees (34 percent). The next four largest origin groups were from Egypt (3,407), Ethiopia (893), Nepal (854), and Syria (811). Together, nationals of these five countries made up 58 percent of all individuals who received asylum status in 2013.

For more information, see Refugees and Asylees in the United States.

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Unauthorized Immigration

How many unauthorized immigrants are in the United States?
According to DHS’ Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS), an estimated 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants resided in the United States as of January 2012 compared to 11.5 million in January 2011. These results suggest little to no change in the unauthorized immigrant population from 2011 to 2012.
MPI developed detailed profiles with estimates and characteristics of the unauthorized immigrant population for the United States overall, 41 states and the District of Columbia, and 94 counties with the largest unauthorized populations.
The highest shares of the 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants resided in California (28 percent), Texas (13 percent), New York (8 percent), and Florida (6 percent). Together, the top four states accounted for about 55 percent of all unauthorized immigrants. Two-thirds of unauthorized immigrants resided in 94 counties, with the top five counties—Los Angeles, CA; Harris, TX; Cook, IL; Orange, CA; and Queens, NY—accounting for close to 20 percent of all unauthorized immigrants.

See Unauthorized Immigrant Population Profiles for the national, state, and county-level profile of the unauthorized in the United States in 2008-12, as well as estimates of those potentially eligible for deferred action.

Note: The data sources and estimating methodologies used by OIS and MPI to describe the unauthorized population are different. Hence the estimates are not fully comparable, and we urge readers not to mix them. The two organizations cover somewhat different topics. For instance, OIS has estimates on the unauthorized population by period of entry, origin, state of residence, age, and sex. MPI developed unauthorized immigrant population profiles that describe education attainment, labor force characteristics, income, health insurance coverage, home ownership, and eligibility for deferred action programs among other indicators.
Where are unauthorized migrants from?
According to MPI estimates, about 8.1 million (71 percent of the total unauthorized population) unauthorized immigrants in the 2008-12 period were born in Mexico and other Central America countries. About 1.5 million (13 percent) were from Asia; 817,000 (7 percent) from South America; 455,000 (4 percent) from Europe, Canada, or Oceania; 317,000 (3 percent) from Africa; and 225,000 (2 percent) from the Caribbean.
Mexico (58 percent), Guatemala (6 percent), El Salvador (3 percent), Honduras (2 percent), and China (2 percent) were the top five countries of birth of the unauthorized immigrant population.
How many unauthorized immigrants reside with U.S. children under 18?
About 4.1 million unauthorized immigrants (close to 40 percent) in the United States in 2008-12 resided with children under 18, according to MPI estimates. Of this group, about 84 percent (3.5 million) resided with at least one U.S.-citizen child under 18, and 16 percent (671,000) resided with non-U.S. citizen children.
How many people will be eligible for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)?
On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama announced an expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for youth who came to the United States as children and a new program—Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA)—that would provide eligible parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents temporary relief from deportation and employment authorization for three years. Launch of the DACA expansion, due to begin in mid-February, and the DAPA program were put on hold by the Obama administration after a U.S. district judge in Texas granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by 26 states against the new deferred action programs.
Prospective beneficiaries for DACA have to meet a series of requirements, including the following:

entered the United States before the age of 16;
have continuously resided in the United States since January 1, 2010;
are of any age;
are currently in school, have graduated from high school or earned a GED, or are honorably discharged veterans of the U.S. armed forces (including the Coast Guard); and
have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors; or otherwise pose a threat to public safety or national security.

MPI estimated that about 1.49 million unauthorized youths and young adults (or 13 percent of the 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants) were eligible to apply under the expanded DACA program because they met both age and education criteria.
Prospective beneficiaries for DAPA have to meet a series of requirements, including the following:

have lived in the United States continuously since January 1, 2010;
had, on November 20, 2014, a son or daughter who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; and
are not an enforcement priority for removal from the United States under the November 20, 2014, Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants Memorandum.

MPI estimated that about 3.71 million, or 33 percent of all unauthorized immigrants, who are parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents and have lived in the United States for at least five years could apply for temporary relief from deportation under the DAPA program. In total, MPI estimates the anticipated new deferred action program and expanded DACA initiative could benefit as many as 5.2 million people—nearly half of the 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.
MPI has also developed estimates of the populations potentially eligible for the anticipated deferred action program for key states and counties. The top five counties with the largest populations potentially eligible for relief from deportation through DACA or DAPA—Los Angeles, CA; Harris, TX; Orange, CA; Cook, IL; and Dallas, TX—account for 1.1 million people, over one-fifth of the total potentially eligible population nationwide.

See detailed state and county-level estimates on the DACA & DAPA eligible populations.

How many DACA applications have been received for the initial DACA program since 2012?
The original DACA program was announced on June 15, 2012, and granted two-year deportation relief and employment authorization to eligible youth. The initial program had somewhat stricter requirements as its target was limited to youth under 31 years old who had resided continuously in the United States since June 2007. MPI estimates that approximately 2.1 million people could be eligible for the initial DACA program, including 1.2 million who were immediately eligible.
Between August 15, 2012, when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began accepting applications, and December 31, 2014, a total of 727,164 applications were accepted for consideration by the agency. Thus, as of December 2014 (the most recent data offered by USCIS at the time of this article’s publication), about 59 percent of the immediately eligible population had applied.
The top states of residence for DACA initial applicants (refers to accepted applications) are California (28 percent), Texas (16 percent), Illinois and New York (5 percent each), and Florida (4 percent). The top countries of origin are Mexico (77 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Guatemala and Honduras (about 2.5 percent each), and Peru and South Korea (1 percent each).
As of the end of December 2014, 638,897 or 88 percent of the accepted 727,164 initial applications had been approved and 38,597 denied.
On June 5, 2014, USCIS began accepting DACA renewal applications, and as of December 2014, 234,991 renewal applications had been accepted by the agency.
The top states of residence for DACA renewal applicants (refers to accepted applications) are California (27 percent), Texas (18 percent), Illinois (7 percent), and New York and Arizona (4 percent each). The top countries of origin are Mexico (76 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), and Guatemala, Honduras, and South Korea (2 percent each).
By the end of December 2014, 63 percent (148,171) of the accepted 234,991 renewal applications had been approved.

For the most up-to-date DACA application and approval estimates, clickhere.
Read more about the DACA-eligible population in the MPI report DACA at the Two-Year Mark: A National and State Profile of Youth Eligible and Applying for Deferred Action.
For more information from USCIS on the DACA program, click here.

How many apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants are there per year?
There were 662,483 apprehensions in 2013 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the two agencies within DHS responsible for the identification and removal of inadmissible noncitizens. Sixty-four percent of all apprehensions (420,789) were reported by the Border Patrol in 2013, up from 364,768 in 2012. About 98 percent of Border Patrol apprehensions (414,397) occurred along the Southwest border.
Additionally, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations made 229,698 administrative arrests (35 percent of total apprehensions in 2013) and ICE Homeland Security Investigations made 11,996 administrative arrests (2 percent).
The leading countries of nationality of those apprehended in 2013 were Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Nationals from these four countries composed 93 percent of all apprehensions, with Mexican nationals constituting the overwhelming majority—64 percent—in 2013 (albeit down from 70 percent in 2012).
Note: Apprehensions are events, not individuals. In other words, the same individual can be apprehended more than once with each apprehension counted separately.
How many people are deported per year?
Both removals and returns* result in the confirmed movement of inadmissible or deportable aliens out of the United States. There were 616,792 removals and returns in 2013, a 5 percent drop from 2012 (648,783 removals and returns).
In 2013, returns accounted for 29 percent (178,371) of total removals and returns, while removals comprised 71 percent (438,421)—an all-time high for removals. The number of removals has generally increased since 1996 when there were 68,657 removals. At the same time, the number of returns has declined, from 1.57 million in 1996 to 178,371 in 2013 (the lowest since 1968), as the government has prioritized using the more formal removals, which make deportees ineligible to return to the United States for at least five years and subject to criminal penalties if they do re-enter.
*Notes: Removals (deportations) are the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable unauthorized immigrant out of the United States based on an order of removal. An unauthorized immigrant who is removed has administrative or criminal consequences placed on subsequent re-entry owing to the fact of the removal. Returns are the confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable unauthorized immigrant out of the United States not based on an order of removal. Most voluntary departures (returns) are of Mexican nationals who have been apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol and are returned to Mexico.
The government fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. All figures for immigration control and enforcement given here are for the government fiscal year.

Read DHS’ Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2013.

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Naturalization Trends

How many foreign born are naturalized citizens?
In 2013, 19.3 million immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens, accounting for 47 percent of the total foreign-born population (41.3 million) and 6 percent of the total U.S. population (316.1 million), according to ACS estimates.
How many immigrants naturalize?
According to DHS data, USCIS naturalized 779,929 lawful permanent residents (LPRs) in 2013. The total number of immigrants naturalized increased by 3 percent between 2012 and 2013.
From a historical perspective, the number of naturalizations has increased dramatically in recent decades. On average, 141,000 LPRs became citizens each year between 1970 and 1979, 205,000 in the 1980s, 498,000 in the 1990s, and 682,000 during the 2000s.
The number of naturalizations reached an all-time high in 2008, increasing sharply by 59 percent from 660,477 in 2007 to 1,046,539 in 2008. This came as a result of impending application fee increases and the promotion of naturalization in advance of the 2008 presidential elections. Naturalizations then fell by almost 29 percent in 2009.

For more background information on naturalization trends, seeNaturalization Trends in the United States.

How many foreign nationals become U.S. citizens through military naturalization?
In 2013, 6,652 foreign-born military personnel naturalized as U.S. citizens—8 percent fewer than in 2012 when the number of military naturalizations was 7,257.

For more historical data on naturalization, see Annual Number of New U.S. Citizens, 1910 to 2013.

Between fiscal years (FY) 2012 and 2014, 90,718 foreign-born military personnel have naturalized on U.S. soil. Another 11,548 have become citizens overseas or aboard Navy ships.

Read USCIS’ Naturalization through Military Service: Fact Sheet.

What are the countries of origin of newly naturalized citizens?
Of those who naturalized in 2013, 13 percent were born in Mexico (99,385) and roughly 6 percent each in India and the Philippines (49,897 and 43,489, respectively). Immigrants from these three countries, together with those from Dominican Republic (39,590), China (35,387), Cuba (30,482), Vietnam (24,277), Haiti (23,480), Colombia (22,196), and El Salvador (18,401) comprised the top ten countries of birth for newly naturalized citizens in 2013 and accounted for half of the 779,929 new U.S. citizens that year.
Where do newly naturalized citizens live in the United States?
In 2013, 55 percent of all newly naturalized citizens lived in one of four states. California had the largest number of newly naturalized citizens, with 21 percent (164,792) of the total newly naturalized. Fourteen percent (107,330) of the newly naturalized resided in New York, 13 percent in Florida (101,773), and 7 percent in Texas (57,947).
Approximately 18 percent of those who naturalized in 2013 lived in the greater New York metropolitan area (136,513) and 9 percent each in the greater Los Angeles and Miami metropolitan areas (70,189 and 66,925, respectively). These areas, together with the greater Washington DC metropolitan area (4 percent), greater Chicago, San Francisco and Houston areas (about 3 percent each), and the greater Boston area (2 percent) were home to half of new U.S. citizens in 2013.
How many green-card holders are eligible to naturalize?
According to the latest available USCIS estimates, 13.3 million LPRs resided in the United States in January 1, 2012. Of them, about 8.8 million were eligible to naturalize.
How long does it take on average for green-card holders to naturalize?
To be naturalized, lawful permanent residents (LPRs) must meet a number of criteria, including being at least 18 years of age, having resided in the United States with LPR status continuously for at least five years, and passing English and civic exams.
According to USCIS estimates, immigrants who naturalized in 2013 spent a median of seven years in LPR status before becoming U.S. citizens. The time varied by country of origin: African born spent about 5 years in LPR status before naturalization, followed by those born in Asia and South America (both 6 years), Europe (7 years), Oceania (8 years), and North America (including Central America, 10 years).
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Visa Backlogs

How many visa applications for permanent immigration (green cards) are backlogged?
Two types of backlogs impact issuance of green cards. The first is due to visa availability. The government caps employment-based, permanent visas for foreign workers and their families at 140,000 per year worldwide. Family-sponsored preferences are limited to 226,000 visas per year. Also, no country can receive more than 7 percent of the total annual number of family-sponsored and employment-based visas (approximately 25,600 visas).
The second type of backlog is due to processing delays of applicants' documents, which is related to government processing capacity as well as increased background and criminal checks.
In February 2015, the U.S. government was processing some family-related visas applications filed as far back as August 1991, and was still processing some employment-related visa applications from December 2003.
In some cases, an application filed 20 years ago by a U.S. citizen to sponsor an unmarried adult child from Mexico is just now being processed in February 2015. Similarly, an application filed 23 years ago by a U.S. citizen sponsoring a sibling from the Philippines is only now being processed by USCIS. However, recent years have witnessed dramatic reductions in the backlogs for certain categories of immigrants, particularly the immediate family members (spouses and children) of LPRs.
Another useful indicator to understand the waiting times is the number of people whose documents are on hold because there are no immigrant visas available for a given family/employment preference or a given country of origin. According to data on the petitions submitted to the Department of State (DOS), there were about 4.4 million applicants (including spouses and minor children) who were on the waiting list as of November 1, 2014. The overwhelming majority were family-sponsored applicants and their immediate family members (4.3 million). About 91,000 were employment-sponsored applicants and their families. Of the overall 4.4 million applicants, 1.3 million were citizens of Mexico, followed by those from the Philippines (429,000) and India (323,000). What these DOS data do not show is the number of family- and employment-based prospective immigrants who are waiting to adjust their status to LPR from within the United States. To our knowledge, the number of people who await green cards from within the United States has not been published by USCIS. In other words, the overall number of people waiting for a green card—within and outside of the United States—is larger than the 4.4 million reported by DOS.

For more details about wait times by immigration category and country of origin, see the U.S. Department of State’s Visa Bulletin.
For more on the green card backlog, read the MPI brief, Going to the Back of the Line: A Primer on Lines, Visa Categories, and Wait Times.

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judy

272,000 from China and Mexico + 129,000 from India = 401,000.

Where did the other 1.3 million come from?

FROM:

There are 196 countries in the world today. Taiwan is not considered an official country by many, which would bring the count down to 195 countries. Although Taiwan operates as an independent country, many countries (including the U.S.) do not officially recognize it as one.
How Many Countries? - Infoplease

www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932875.html

Quote:

The majority of green-card recipients in 2013 (530,802, or 54 percent) were status adjusters—persons who were already living in the United States before 2013, but whose green-card applications were approved that year. Most status adjusters were formerly one of the following: refugees, asylees, temporary workers, foreign students, family members of U.S. citizens or green-card holders, or unauthorized immigrants.

They are primarily from Mexico. So isn't that cute how the federal government claims that China has surpassed Mexico, perhaps in the half they admitted, but certainly not in the half that were already here.

Such games, such ploys, such schemes. Let them in long enough to breed, then give them a green card and a path to citizenship.

The more we learn, the worse it is.

China is behind this Mexican invasion from the start.

W

http://www.alipac.us/f12/these-10-co...grants-319237/