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what are the current laws on immigration 

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what are the current laws on immigration 

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https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works

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U.S. immigration law is based on the following principles: the reunification of families, admitting immigrants with skills that are valuable to the U.S. economy, protecting refugees, and promoting diversity. This fact sheet provides basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed and functions.

The body of law governing U.S. immigration policy is called the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The INA allows the United States to grant up to 675,000 permanent immigrant visas each year across various visa categories. On top of those 675,000 visas, the INA sets no limit on the annual admission of U.S. citizens' spouses, parents, and children under the age of 21. In addition, each year the president is required to consult with Congress and set an annual number of refugees to be admitted to the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

Once a person obtains an immigrant visa and comes to the United States, they become a lawful permanent resident (LPR). In some circumstances, noncitizens already inside the United States can obtain LPR status through a process known as "adjustment of status."

LPRs are eligible to apply for nearly all jobs (i.e., jobs not legitimately restricted to U.S. citizens) and can remain in the country permanently, even if they are unemployed. After residing in the United States for five years (or three years in some circumstances), LPRs are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. It is impossible to apply for citizenship through the normal process without first becoming an LPR.

Each year the United States also admits a variety of noncitizens on a temporary basis. Such "non-immigrant" visas are granted to everyone from tourists to foreign students to temporary workers permitted to remain in the country for years. While certain employment-based visas are subject to annual caps, other non-immigrant visas (including tourist and student visas) have no numerical limits.

I. Family-Based Immigration

Family unification is an important principle governing U.S. immigration policy. The family-based immigration system allows U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring certain family members to the United States. Family-based immigrants are admitted either as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or through the family preference system.

An unlimited number of visas are available every year for the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Prospective immigrants in this category must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. Immediate relatives are:

spouses of U.S. citizens;

unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens (under 21 years old); and

parents of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a parent).

A limited number of visas are available every year under the family preference system. Prospective immigrants in the family preference system must meet standard eligibility criteria, and petitioners must meet certain age and financial requirements. The family preference system includes:

adult children (married and unmarried) and brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a sibling); and

spouses and unmarried children (minor and adult) of LPRs.

In order to balance the overall number of immigrants arriving based on family relationships, Congress established a complicated system for calculating the available number of family preference visas for any given year. The number is determined by starting with 480,000 (the maximum number in principle allocated for all family-based immigrants) and then subtracting the number of immediate relative visas issued during the previous year and the number of aliens "paroled" into the United States during the previous year. Any unused employment preference immigrant numbers from the preceding year are then added to this total to establish the number of visas that are available for allocation through the family preference system. However, by law, the number of family-based visas allocated through the preference system may not be lower than 226,000. The number of immediate relatives often exceeds 250,000 in a given year and triggers the 226,000 minimum for preference visas. As a result, the total number of family-based visas often exceeds 480,000. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, family-based immigrants comprised 68.8 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.

The family-based immigration system is summarized in Table 1.
Table 1: Family-Based Immigration System

Immediate Relatives

U.S. Citizen adults

Spouses, unmarried minor children, and parents

* Plus any unused visas from the 4th preference.

** Plus any unused visas from 1st and 2nd preference.

***Plus any unused visas from the all other family-based preferences.

Worldwide level of family preference allocation: 480,000 minus visas issued to immediate relatives and parolees, plus unused employment-visas from previous fiscal year. Floor for preference categories: 226,000.

Source: William A. Kandel, Permanent Legal Migration to the United States, (CRS Report No. R42866) (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2014), https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R42866.pdf.

In order to be admitted through the family-based immigration system, a U.S. citizen or LPR sponsor must petition for an individual relative, establish the legitimacy of the relationship, meet minimum income requirements, and sign an affidavit of support stating that the sponsor will be financially responsible for the family member(s) upon arrival in the United States or adjustment to LPR status within the United States. The individual relative also must meet certain eligibility requirements that include submitting to a medical exam and obtaining required vaccinations (including a COVID-19 vaccination), an analysis of any immigration or criminal history, as well as demonstrating that they will not become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.

The spouses and children who accompany or follow the principal immigrant (the one sponsored by the U.S. citizen or LPR under the family-preference category) are referred to as derivative immigrants. Derivative immigrants also count toward the numerical caps for the categories in Table 1. That means that many of the visa slots allotted for members of these categories are often actually used by the spouses and children of the members. For example, in FY 2019, 61,031 people were admitted in the category "brothers and sisters" of U.S. citizens, but only 22,179 of them were actual brothers or sisters of U.S. citizens. The rest were spouses (14,956) and children (23,896) of the siblings of U.S. citizens.

II. Employment-Based Immigration

The United States provides various ways for immigrants with valuable skills to come to the country on either a permanent or a temporary basis.

Temporary Visa Classifications

Temporary employment-based visa classifications permit employers to hire and petition for foreign nationals for specific jobs for limited periods. Most temporary workers must work for the employer that petitioned for them and have limited ability to change jobs. There are more than 20 types of visas for temporary nonimmigrant workers. These include L-1 visas for intracompany transfers; various P visas for athletes, entertainers, and skilled performers; R-1 visas for religious workers; various A visas for diplomatic employees; O-1 visas for workers of extraordinary ability; and various H visas for both highly skilled and lesser-skilled workers. The visa classifications vary in terms of their eligibility requirements, duration, whether they permit workers to bring dependents, and other factors. In most cases, these workers must leave the United States if their status expires or if their employment is terminated. It may be possible, depending on the type of job and the foreign national's qualifications, for an employer to sponsor the worker for permanent employment. A foreign national does not have to be working for the employer in order to be sponsored. However, depending on the permanent immigration category sought and the foreign national's current nonimmigrant category, he or she may be able to complete the steps to become an LPR while continuing to live and work in the United States.

Permanent Immigration

The overall numerical limit for permanent employment-based immigrants is 140,000 per year. This number includes the immigrants plus their eligible spouses and minor unmarried children, meaning the actual number of employment-based immigrants is less than 140,000 each year. Any unused family preference immigrant numbers from the preceding year are added to this cap to establish the number of visas that are available for allocation through the employment-based system. The total number of available visas is then divided into five preference categories. For some categories, the sponsor must first test the U.S. labor market under terms and conditions established by the Department of Labor, and the Secretary of Labor must certify that the petitioner's application meets certain requirements before the sponsor may file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For some categories, the sponsor's first step is to file a petition with USCIS or the foreign national may self-petition. The final step is the foreign national's application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad or an application to adjust status to LPR if in lawful status in the United States. For consular processing, the immigrant visa application cannot be filed until after USCIS approves the immigrant petition. For adjustment of status, the time to file the application depends on whether a visa number is considered to be immediately available.

The employment-based immigration system is summarized in Table 2.
Table 2: Permanent Employment-Based Preference System

Skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals with college degrees, or "other" workers for unskilled labor that is not temporary or seasonal.

40,040***

"Other" unskilled laborers restricted to 5,000

*Plus any unused visas from the 4th and 5th preferences.

**Plus any unused visas from the 1st preference.

***Plus any unused visas from the 1st and 2nd preference.

Worldwide level of employment-based immigrants: 140,000 for principal applicants and their dependents.

Source: Ruth Ellen Wasem, U.S. Immigration Policy on Permanent Admissions, (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, March 13, 2012), 4, https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32235.pdf.

In FY 2019, immigrants admitted through the employment preferences made up 13.5 percent of all new LPRs in the United States.

III. Per-Country Ceilings

In addition to the numerical limits placed on the various immigration preference categories, the INA also places a limit on how many immigrants can come to the United States from any one country. Currently, no group of permanent immigrants (family-based and employment-based combined) from a single country can exceed seven percent of the total number of people immigrating to the United States in a single fiscal year. This is not a quota to ensure that certain nationalities make up seven percent of immigrants, but rather a limit that is set to prevent any immigrant group from dominating immigration flows to the United States.

IV. Refugees and Asylees

Refugees are admitted to the United States based upon an inability to return to their home countries because of a "well-founded fear of persecution" due to their race, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Refugees apply for admission from outside of the United States, generally from a "transition country" that is outside their home country. The admission of refugees turns on numerous factors, such as the degree of risk they face, membership in a group that is of special concern to the United States (designated yearly by the president and Congress), and whether or not they have family members in the United States.

Each year, the president, in consultation with Congress, determines the numerical ceiling for refugee admissions. The overall cap is broken down into limits for each region of the world. After September 11, 2001, the number of refugees admitted into the United States fell drastically. After the Bush administration put new security checks in place, annual refugee admissions returned to their previous levels and rose during the Obama administration. During the Trump administration, the refugee ceiling fell sharply, from 110,000 in FY 2017 to 45,000 in FY 2018 and 30,000 in FY 2019. For FY 2020, the ceiling was set at an all-time low of 18,000-although only 11,814 were actually admitted (the lowest number of admitted refugees since the system was created in 1980.) The FY 2021 ceiling was set at 15,000 by the Trump administration, but was subsequently raised to 62,500 by the Biden administration. However, as of August 31, 2021, only 7,637 refugees had been admitted with just one month remaining in the current fiscal year.

Of the 62,500 admissions determined by the president for FY 2021, the regional allocations are shown in Table 3 below. Given the slow pace of admissions, it is unlikely that any of these allocations will be met.
Table 3: Presidential Determination on Refugee Admissions, FY 2021
Asylum is available to persons already in the United States who are seeking protection based on the same five protected grounds upon which refugees rely. They may apply at a port of entry at the time they seek admission or within one year of arriving in the United States. There is no limit on the number of individuals who may be granted asylum each year, nor are there specific categories for determining who may seek asylum. In FY 2019, 46,508 individuals were granted asylum.

Refugees and asylees are eligible to become LPRs one year after admission to the United States as a refugee or one year after receiving asylum.

V. The Diversity Visa Program

The Diversity Visa Program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 as a dedicated channel for immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Each year, 55,000 visas are allocated randomly through a computer-generated lottery to nationals from countries that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years. Of the 55,000, up to 5,000 are made available for use under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act program, created in 1997 to provide relief to certain asylum seekers who applied for asylum before a specific date. This results in a reduction of the actual annual diversity visa limit to 50,000. The program was originally intended to favor immigration from Ireland (during the first three years of the program at least 40 percent of the visas were exclusively allocated to Irish immigrants). Diversity visas are now distributed on a regional basis and benefit Africans and Eastern Europeans in particular.

To be eligible for a diversity visa, potential applicants from qualifying countries must have a high-school education (or its equivalent) or have, within the past five years, a minimum of two years working in a profession requiring at least two years of training or experience. Spouses and minor unmarried children of the principal applicant may also enter as derivatives.

Immigration bans implemented by the Trump administration effectively shut down the Diversity Visa Program in 2020 and left roughly 43,000 of that year's lottery winners without their visas. Those 2020 lottery winners who did not receive visas by the end of the fiscal year lost their chance to immigrate to the United States, prompting some of them to file lawsuits against the federal government in an effort to obtain their visas. Although the Biden administration subsequently lifted the immigration bans, the Diversity Visa Program has resumed at a very slow pace. By the end of June 2021, the State Department had issued only 3,094 diversity visas for FY 2021. Some FY 2021 lottery winners have filed lawsuits demanding that the State Department issue their visas before the end of the fiscal year.

VI. Other Forms of Humanitarian Relief

Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is is granted to people who are in the United States but cannot return to their home country because of "natural disaster," "extraordinary temporary conditions," or "ongoing armed conflict." TPS is granted to a country for six, twelve, or eighteen months and can be extended beyond that if unsafe conditions in the country persist. TPS does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.

Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) provides protection from deportation for individuals whose home countries are unstable, therefore making return dangerous. Unlike TPS, which is authorized by statute, DED is at the discretion of the executive branch. DED does not necessarily lead to LPR status or confer any other immigration status.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program established in 2012 which permits certain individuals who were brought to the United States while under the age of 16 and who have resided continuously in the United States since June 15, 2007, to remain in the United States and work lawfully for at least two years, so long as they have no significant criminal record and have graduated high school or college or received a degree equivalent. It does not confer any path to permanent legal status and requires renewal every two years. In 2017, the Trump administration attempted to end DACA, but this action was challenged in court. In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration's attempt to terminate the program was unlawful. The Trump administration subsequently tried to impose new limits on DACA, but this action was also challenged in court and a federal judge in New York ordered the administration to set aside the newly imposed limits. Separately, a federal judge in Texas ruled that DACA was unlawful and that no new, first-time applications should be accepted. In January 2021, President Biden issued a memorandum reaffirming the federal government's commitment to DACA and pledging to appeal the Texas ruling.

Humanitarian parole allows certain individuals to enter the United States, even though they may not meet the definition of a refugee and may not be eligible to immigrate through other channels. Parolees may be admitted temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.

VII. U.S. Citizenship

In order to qualify for U.S. citizenship through naturalization, an individual must have had LPR status (a green card) for at least five years (or three years if he or she obtained the green card through a U.S.-citizen spouse or through the Violence Against Women Act, VAWA). There are other exceptions including, but not limited to, members of the U.S. military who serve in a time of war or declared hostilities. Applicants for U.S. citizenship must be at least 18 years old, demonstrate continuous residency, demonstrate "good moral character," pass English and U.S. history and civics exams (with certain exceptions), and pay an application fee, among other requirements.

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How the United States Immigration System Works

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U.S. immigration law is very complex, and there is much confusion as to how it works. This fact sheet provides basic information about how the U.S. legal immigration system is designed.

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why were the restrictions not as strong before

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why were the restrictions not as strong before

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in WW1 the U.S. passed laws for the protection of the states. before there wasn't much danger so laws weren't implemented

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for jobs, school, safer environment, retirement, and better resources.

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People immigrate to the US to work, reunite with family, study, or seek personal safety. In 2021, 42% of the 1.5 million people who immigrated to the US came for work.

What reasons for immigration does the government track?

The US government generally allows legal immigration for five broad reasons: work, school, family, safety, and encouraging diversity.

People immigrating for work or school are often granted temporary entry rather than permanent residency. Immigration for family generally means the immigrant has a relative who is already in the US as a citizen, green card holder, or temporary visa holder with whom they want to be reunited with. Those who immigrate for safety are refugees or asylum-seekers. And finally, up to 50,000 immigrants obtain green cards annually through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program lottery that grants entry to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.

How many immigrants came for each reason in 2021?

Of the 1.5 million people who immigrated to the US in 2021, about 42% came for work, 32% for school, and 23% for family. Nearly 2% were seeking safety, and about 0.9% were admitted on Diversity Immigrant Visas.

How have reasons for immigration evolved over the past 15 years?

Since 2006, work has consistently been the top reason people immigrate to the US, with the exception of 2013-2015 when immigration for work was equal to or slightly lower than for school.

School is usually the second most common reason for immigration except for 2018, when a higher percentage of people began immigrating for family reunification than education. In 2021 school again became the second most common reason.

Safety and diversity have consistently been the fourth and fifth most common reasons for immigration, respectively.

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Of all people legally immigrating to the US in 2021, about 42% came for work, 32% for school, and 23% for family.

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how many people immigrate to the U.S a year

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how many people immigrate to the U.S a year

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in 2021 around 1.5 million people immigreated to the U.S.

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immigrating is a long and time consuming processes that doesn't earn you citizenship

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what people are immigrating to the U.S. 

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what people are immigrating to the U.S. 

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most people how applied are from Mexico

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Legal immigration to the United States occurs through an alphabet soup of visa categories, but a small number of pathways. Family relationships, ties to employers, or the need for humanitarian protection are the top channels for immigrants seeking temporary or permanent U.S. residence. And to a lesser extent, people can come if they possess sought-after skills or are selected in the green-card lottery. Visa categories have varying requirements, are subject to different numerical caps, and offer differing rights and responsibilities.

Today's legal immigration system, which rests on laws enacted in 1965 and 1990, has two main visa categories: permanent visas (formally known as immigrant visas) and temporary ones (nonimmigrant visas).

Permanent Immigration

Immigrants seeking permanent residence in the United States apply for a green card, the informal term for lawful permanent resident (LPR) status. LPRs are allowed to remain indefinitely, provided they are not convicted of a crime that makes them removable. They can apply for U.S. citizenship after five years, or three years if they marry a U.S. citizen.

In recent years, the United States has granted about 1 million green cards annually; while the share varies a bit from year to year, roughly half are given to immigrants already in the United States who are adjusting from another status (for example temporary worker or student). The remainder go to applicants outside the United States. In both cases, the majority of these visas require sponsorship by a relative or employer.

Family reunification has long had a central role in the U.S. immigration system, more so than some other major immigrant-receiving countries. (Family migration accounts for about 40 percent of all permanent immigration across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries). While the share varies from year to year, roughly two-thirds of legal immigration to the United States is on the basis of family ties, with the rest divided between employment-based and humanitarian immigration and those arriving through the green-card lottery (also called the diversity visa).

Note: The preference categories listed above have annual caps, as is explained below.
Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, "Lawful Permanent Residents," multiple years, available online.

The Family Route

There are both numerically limited and unlimited categories that U.S. citizens and green-card holders can access to petition to bring in a relative.

Immediate family of U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens can sponsor their spouses, unmarried children under age 21, and parents for a green card. This category does not have annual numerical limits.

Family-sponsored preference visas. There are 226,000 green cards reserved each year for other categories of relatives. U.S. citizens can sponsor adult children and siblings, while green-card holders can sponsor their spouses and unmarried minor or adult children.

The Employment Route

There are 140,000 green cards available each year for immigrants in five employment-based categories (formally known as "preferences"). The categories were created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, and the numerical caps were set then and have not been adjusted since, as is also the case with the family preferences.

Almost all employment-based immigrants, except some very high-skilled immigrants and investors, must have an employer who will sponsor them for a visa.

Spouses and children of immigrants who get an employment-based green card count against the 140,000 cap. This means in reality that less than half of employment green cards given out annually go to people selected for employment reasons.

Other Routes

While about 80 percent of green cards annually are issued via the family and employment routes, the U.S. immigration system has a few other channels for entry for permanent residence.

Diversity visa. Nationals from countries that send few immigrants to the United States can enter the Diversity Visa program, which allocates up to 50,000 visas annually. After all lottery applications are submitted in a given year, a number that spanned more than 14 million in fiscal year (FY) 2018, the U.S. government conducts a virtual lottery of qualified applicants, randomly selecting winners who will be invited to apply for a green card if they meet some basic criteria.

Refugees and asylees. People may be granted refugee status or asylum, and given the right to live in the United States permanently, if they can demonstrate they have experienced persecution or have a well-founded fear that they will be persecuted "on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." Asylum is granted to people who are already in the United States, while refugee status is provided to people who are vetted abroad and approved for resettlement. Resettled refugees and those granted asylum are eligible to apply for a green card after one year.

Note: This figure reflects admissions, not green-card grants.
Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2017, "Refugees and Asylees," available online.

There are a number of other small categories of green cards available. Some are paths created to respond to particular situations, such as visas made available to people who worked as interpreters or translators for the U.S. military in Iraq or Afghanistan. Other green cards are available to people who it is in the national interest to help, such as victims of crimes or human trafficking who aid in the investigation and/or prosecution of their perpetrators.

Which National-Origin Groups Are the Top Recipients of Green Cards?

While a small number of countries predominate-Mexico, China, Cuba, India, the Dominican Republic, and the Philippines at the top of the list-the diversity of origins is such that no individual country has a sizeable share of the overall number of green cards issued in a particular year.

Note: On an annualized basis for fiscal years 2013-17, the United States issued a total of 1,073,755 green cards.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "Lawful Permanent Residents," available online.
Limitations on Green Cards
For the capped preference categories in the family and employment streams, U.S. law imposes a limit on how many immigrants from any particular country can receive green cards in a given year. Under the per-country cap set in the Immigration Act of 1990, no country can receive more than 7 percent of the total number of employment-based and family-sponsored preference visas in a given year. There are no per-country limits for uncapped categories, such as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

Because of the numerical caps and per-country caps on certain green-card categories, there are significant waits for some categories, with sharper effects on a few countries. For example, as of April 2019, the wait for U.S. citizens to sponsor adult, unmarried children was more than seven years for most parts of the world, but was 12 years for relatives from the Philippines-and more than 21 years for those from Mexico. As of November 2018, there were 3.7 million people waiting in line abroad for a family-sponsored green card, and 121,000 awaiting an employment-sponsored green card.

Source: State Department, "Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants in the Family-Sponsored and Employment-Based Preferences Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2018," available online.

Temporary Immigration

Beyond permanent admissions, the United States also admits hundreds of thousands of workers, foreign students, and exchange visitors annually for temporary residence through a broad swath of visa categories, assigned letters of the alphabet from A through V. While temporary visas do not lead directly to a green card, temporary visa holders in some cases can get one if they are able to find a family member or employer to sponsor them.

Some temporary visas (B, C, and D) allow foreigners to enter for tourism or short business trips. Others allow students to study at U.S. colleges and universities or to participate in cultural exchange programs (F, J, and M visas). And there are many other temporary visa classes, including for temporary workers.

In most cases, temporary workers can bring spouses and minor children with them, but those family members do not have the right to work. Temporary workers usually have to remain with their sponsoring employer in order to maintain the right to stay in the United States, unless they can find another employer to sponsor them.

Below are some examples of temporary worker visas:

H-1B: The H-1B visa for "specialty occupations" allows workers to stay for up to two three-year work periods, or longer if they are in line for a green card. H-1B visas are capped at 85,000 visas per year, but renewals do not count against the cap, nor do H-1Bs sponsored by a college, university, or certain nonprofit organizations. Employers wishing to sponsor an H-1B worker must attest to the Labor Department about the wages and working conditions they will offer H-1B workers.

H-2A: The H-2A visa is for foreign agricultural workers, who can stay in the United States for up to three years. There is no numerical limit on H-2A visas. Employers sponsoring H-2A workers must demonstrate that they have tried and failed to hire U.S. workers, must be certified by the Labor Department, and must provide housing and pay at least a specified wage, which is set above the local minimum wage.

H-2B: The H-2B visa, which is usually granted for short periods but can be extended for up to three years, is available for workers filling nonagricultural seasonal or temporary jobs, such as landscapers, crab pickers, life guards, or resort workers. There are currently 66,000 visas available per year. In recent years, Congress has authorized the Homeland Security Secretary to increase the cap if the determination is made that there is sufficient need for additional workers.

L: The L visa allows entry for workers transferring from a foreign branch of a company to a U.S. branch. There is no numerical limit on L visas. L visa holders can stay for seven years if they are a manager or executive in the company, and for five years if they are a "specialized knowledge" employee. Spouses of L visa holders are allowed to work in the United States.

O: The O visa is for people with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, business, or athletics. There is no numerical limit on O visas, and holders can stay for up to three years.

TN: The TN classification, established by the North American Free Trade Agreement, allows professional workers from Mexico and Canada to live and work in the United States. There are no numerical caps for TN workers, and their period of stay is not limited.

Source: State Department, "Table XVI (B) Nonimmigrant Visas Issued by Classification (Including Border Crossing Cards): Fiscal Years 2014 - 2018," Report of the Visa Office 2018, available online.

Resources

To learn more about the U.S. immigration system, here are some useful resources:
Download Explainer

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Explainer: How the U.S. Legal Immigration System Works

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Through which visa categories can immigrants move temporarily or permanently to the United States? What are the main channels by which people come, and who can sponsor them for a green card? Are there limits on visa categories? And who is waiting in the green-card backlog?

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How can immigrating to the U.S. be made into an easier and simpler process? :

-Immigration is a process that can restricts people from safety

-It also is a long process and

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how does someone immigrating to the U.S. 

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how does someone immigrating to the U.S. 

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immigrating to the U.S. is usually first come first serve but in some aspects its like applying for a raffle

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Understand the Immigration System in 8 Minutes