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I don’t think this should be a rule and it’s unfair

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Immigrants are not welcome in the U.S. Not even that they are legal.

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HIDDEN CAM: 'Stealing' Illegal Immigrant's Jobs!

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Are Illegals Taking jobs away from Americans?

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This is the list and percentage of jobs that immigrants have in the U.S.

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This page shows various statistics on immigration, like the number of foreign-born people in the U.S., how many immigrants are labor force, how many have children, and how are permanent immigrants admitted into the country. This website is from an American migration institute.

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The United States is in the midst of an historic period in its immigration history, facing a changing composition of the immigrant population, pandemic-related pent-up demand for permanent and temporary visas resulting in extensive backlogs, record pressure at the U.S.-Mexico border, and somewhat decreasing public support for expanded immigration.

Legal permanent and temporary immigration rose in 2022 after a few years of chill brought about by the COVID-19 public-health crisis and the Trump administration's restrictive policies and rhetoric. Amid crises around the world, the Biden administration extended or expanded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain eligible immigrants already in the United States and announced special humanitarian parole programs allowing some migrants from several countries to enter the United States and stay temporarily.

At the southwest border, record numbers of migrant encounters in 2022 accompanied court orders preventing the Biden administration from revoking the Title 42 public-health order authorizing the rapid expulsion of asylum seekers and other migrants. The administration has proposed a revised system to govern asylum at the border, but as of this writing the situation remains in flux. To promote orderly arrival and processing of asylum seekers and expedite the expulsion of unauthorized migrants, in January 2023 the Biden administration announced another humanitarian parole program to include up to 30,000 authorized newcomers from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela every month if they have a U.S. sponsor. This program was followed by controversial proposed changes to U.S. asylum system.

Worldwide, the United States is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries-Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Kingdom-combined, according to the UN Population Division's mid-2020 data. While the U.S. population represents about 5 percent of the total world population, close to 20 percent of all global migrants reside in the United States.

This Spotlight offers information about the approximately 45.3 million immigrants in the United States as of 2021, by compiling the most authoritative and current data available. It provides an overview of historic immigration trends in the United States, sociodemographic information about who is immigrating, through which channels, and how many immigrants become naturalized citizens. It also provides data on the government's enforcement actions and adjudication efforts to process visas.

This article draws on statistics from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI); the U.S. Census Bureau (using its 2021 American Community Survey [ACS], 2022 Current Population Survey [CPS], and 2000 decennial census); and the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State. (Note: DHS and State Department data refer to fiscal years that begin on October 1 and end on September 30; ACS and CPS data refer to calendar years). For more detailed information on U.S. and global immigration data sources and one-click access to these datasets, see the MPI report Immigration Data Matters. All the data tools and maps linked to in this article also can be accessed through MPI's Migration Data Hub.
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Click on the bullet points for more information on each topic:

Immigrants Now and Historically
How many immigrants reside in the United States?
Nearly 45.3 million immigrants lived in the United States in 2021, the most since census records have been kept. In 2021, immigrants comprised 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population, a figure that remains short of the record high of 14.8 percent in 1890 and slightly below the 13.7 percent share they comprised in 2019.

The foreign-born population remained largely flat between 2019 and 2021, with an increase of 337,000 people, or growth of less than 1 percent. While the immigrant population has generally been growing, the increase over the last two years was smaller than the change from 2017 to 2019 (407,000) and much smaller than between 2014 and 2016 (1.3 million). The slowing growth of the immigrant population over the past few years is mirrored by the slowing growth of the overall U.S. population since 2015.
Note: 2020 was an unusual year in many ways, including in immigration flows and in data collection efforts. Many fewer people were able to move across international borders because of pandemic-related border restrictions and policies of sending and receiving countries alike. At the same time, the U.S. Census Bureau experienced significant challenges collecting data in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and released only a few data points from its 2020 ACS. Because of these data challenges, it is difficult to assess the real extent of the changes in the last couple of years. How have the number and share of immigrants changed over time?
In 1850, the first year the United States began collecting nativity data through the census, the country had 2.2 million immigrants, representing nearly 10 percent of the total population.

Between 1860 and 1920, immigrants' share of the population fluctuated between 13 percent and 15 percent, peaking at 14.8 percent in 1890 amid high levels of immigration from Europe. Restrictive immigration laws in 1921 and 1924 limited permanent immigration almost exclusively to those from Northern and Western Europe. Combined with the Great Depression and onset of World War II, this led to a sharp drop in new arrivals from the Eastern Hemisphere. The foreign-born share steadily declined, hitting a record low of 4.7 percent (or 9.6 million immigrants) in 1970 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Size and Share of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 1850-2021
Sources: Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation of data from U.S. Census Bureau, 2010-21 American Community Surveys (ACS), and 1970, 1990, and 2000 decennial census. All other data are from Campbell J. Gibson and Emily Lennon, "Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-Born Population of the United States: 1850 to 1990" (Working Paper no. 29, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 1999).

Since 1970, the share and number of immigrants had increased rapidly, mainly because of increased immigration from Latin America and Asia following important shifts in U.S. immigration law such as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished national-origin admission quotas, the creation of a formal refugee resettlement program with the Refugee Act of 1980, and the Cold War-era grant of preferential treatment to Cuban immigrants. Other factors were the United States' growing economic and military presence in Asia and Latin America, as well as economic and social ties with the United States' southern neighbors, and major economic transformations and political instability in countries around the world. It remains unclear whether the recent leveling off represents a change in the long-term trend or a temporary blip.
Where are most immigrants from originally?
Mexicans are the largest group of U.S. immigrants, comprising 24 percent of the total immigrant population in 2021, which is a decline from 30 percent in 2000. India and China (including Hong Kong and Macao but not Taiwan) were the next two largest sending countries, accounting for approximately 6 and 5 percent, respectively, of the overall foreign-born population. Other top countries of origin include the Philippines (4 percent); El Salvador, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic (each 3 percent); and Guatemala and Korea (each 2 percent).

Together, these ten countries accounted for 56 percent of all immigrants in the United States in 2021.
How do today's top countries of origin compare to those of the past?
The large numbers of immigrants from Latin America and Asia in recent decades represent a sharp turnaround from the mid-1900s, when immigration largely came from Europe. In the 1960s, no single country accounted for more than 15 percent of the U.S. immigrant population, but Italians were the top origin group, making up 13 percent of the foreign born in 1960, followed by Germans and Canadians (about 10 percent each).

Immigrants from Mexico have been the most numerous since 1980, but the composition of new arrivals has changed since 2010. Now, immigrants are more likely to come from Asia, especially India and China. In fact, these two nations displaced Mexico as the top origin countries for new arrivals from 2013 to 2021, but amid the pandemic and related mobility restrictions Mexico has regained its position as the origin of most new arrivals.

In terms of the total size, the immigrant population from India increased by 929,000 and from China/Hong Kong by 572,000 between 2010 and 2021. In contrast, the number of Mexican immigrants in the United States declined by more than 1 million during the same period, representing the largest absolute decline of all immigrant groups.

The number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, Nigeria, Colombia, the Philippines, and El Salvador has increased by at least 200,000 each since 2010. Among the groups numbering at least 100,000 in 2021, the Venezuelan immigrant population increased by the fastest rate between 2010 and 2021 (by 196 percent), followed by immigrants from Nepal (151 percent), Afghanistan (127 percent), Myanmar (also known as Burma, 111 percent), and Nigeria (102 percent). In comparison, the total foreign-born population grew by 13 percent between 2010 and 2021.
How long have current immigrants resided in the United States?
Forty-eight percent of all immigrants in the United States in 2021 arrived prior to 2000 (28 percent entered before 1990 and 20 percent between 1990 and 1999), 24 percent entered between 2000 and 2009, and 28 percent have come since 2010.
How many U.S. residents are from immigrant families?
Immigrants and their U.S.-born children number approximately 87.7 million people, or close to 27 percent of the U.S. population in the 2022 CPS, an increase of approximately 14.7 million (or 20 percent) from 2010.

Demographic, Educational, and Linguistic Characteristics
What is the median age for immigrants?
The immigrant population's median age in 2021 was 47 years, making it older than the U.S.-born population, which had a median age of 37 years. One reason for this difference is that immigrants arrive largely as adults, whereas immigrants' children born in the United States contribute to the younger median age of the native-born population.

Fewer than 1 percent of immigrants were under age 5 in 2021, compared to 6 percent of the U.S.-born population. Children and youth ages 5 to 17 accounted for 5 percent of immigrants and 18 percent of the U.S. born. People of working age (18 to 64 years) comprised 77 percent of the immigrant population, a much higher figure than the 59 percent of those born in the United States. Approximately 17 percent of both immigrants and the U.S. born were 65 years and older.
What is the sex ratio of the immigrant population?
About 51 percent of all U.S. immigrants were female in 2021, compared to 50 percent of the native born. The share has fluctuated slightly over the past four decades, but immigrant women and girls tend to be a slight majority over men and boys. They accounted for 53 percent of the immigrant population in 1980, 51 percent in 1990, 50 percent in 2000, and 51 percent in 2010.
What is the racial makeup of immigrants?
In 2021, 27 percent as Asian of immigrants reported their race as single-race Asian, 21 percent as White, 9 percent as Black, and 20 percent as some other race. About 22 percent reported having two or more races.
Note: These statistics reflect changes in how the Census Bureau asks about race that have been made since the 2020 decennial census. How many immigrants are Hispanic or Latino?
In 2021, 44 percent of U.S. immigrants (19.9 million people) reported having Hispanic or Latino ethnic origins.

Note: The Census Bureau classifies Hispanic and Latino as ethnic categories, separate from the racial categories listed above (see Definitions box for more information).
How many Hispanics in the United States are immigrants?
Most U.S. Hispanics are U.S. born. Of the 62.5 million people in 2021 who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino, 32 percent (19.9 million) were immigrants and 68 percent (42.6 million) were native born.
Which languages are most frequently spoken at home?
Regardless of nativity, in 2021 approximately 78 percent (245.5 million) of all 313.2 million U.S. residents ages 5 and older reported speaking only English at home. The remaining 22 percent (67.8 million) reported speaking a language other than English at home.

Among those who reported speaking a language other than English at home, 61 percent spoke Spanish. Other top languages were Chinese (including Mandarin and Cantonese, 5 percent); Tagalog (almost 3 percent); and Vietnamese, Arabic, French (including Cajun), and Korean (about 2 percent each) (see Table 1).
Table 1. Top Languages Spoken at Home Other than English (ages 5 and older), 2021
Note: Table shows languages with at least 500,000 speakers.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Not including English, Spanish was the most common language spoken at home in all but three states: Hawaii (Ilocano) and Maine and Vermont (French). Not including English or Spanish, Chinese, German, French and Vietnamese were among the commonly spoken languages (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. Map of Most Commonly Spoken Languages other than English and Spanish by State, 2021
Notes: Chinese includes Mandarin and Cantonese; Dakota+ includes Dakota, Lakota, Nakota, and Sioux; French includes Cajun; German includes Pennsylvania Dutch and Swiss; and Tagalog includes Filipino.
Sources: MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS for the United States.
How many immigrants are Limited English Proficient (LEP)?
In 2021, approximately 46 percent (20.8 million) of the 45 million immigrants ages 5 and older were Limited English Proficient (LEP). Immigrants accounted for 80 percent of the country's 25.9 million LEP individuals.

Note: The term "Limited English Proficient" refers to persons ages 5 and older who indicated on the ACS questionnaire that they spoke English less than "very well."

What share of the immigrant population has a college education?

In 2021, 34 percent (13.6 million) of the 40.2 million immigrants ages 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or higher, a rate similar to that of U.S.-born adults (see Figure 3). However, newer arrivals tend to be better educated; 47 percent of immigrants who entered the country between 2017 and 2021 held at least a bachelor's degree.
Figure 3. Educational Attainment of U.S.-Born, Immigrant, and Recently Arrived Immigrant Adults, 2021
Note: Data are for adults ages 25 and older. Recently arrived immigrants are those who entered the United States between 2017 and 2021.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Educational attainment levels vary by immigrants' countries of origin. Approximately 80 percent of immigrant adults from India had a bachelor's degree or more in 2021, more than any other origin country. Other top countries were the United Arab Emirates (78 percent), Saudi Arabia (77 percent), Taiwan (73 percent), Bulgaria, France, and Singapore (67 percent each). Among immigrants who arrived between 2017 and 2021, the share who were college graduates was the highest among Indians (86 percent), followed by those from France, Taiwan, and Spain (between 81 percent and 82 percent). The college-educated share is also high among Venezuelans, who represent the fastest growing U.S. immigrant group. Fifty-seven percent of all Venezuelan immigrant adults and 62 percent of recent arrivals have at least a bachelor's degree.

Immigrant Destinations
Which U.S. states have the largest numbers of immigrants?
The U.S. states with the most immigrants in 2021 were California (10.5 million), Texas (5.1 million), Florida (4.6 million), New York (4.4 million), and New Jersey (2.1 million).

As a percentage of the total population, immigrants made up the largest shares in California (27 percent), New Jersey (23 percent), New York (22 percent), Florida (21 percent), Hawaii (19 percent), and Nevada (18 percent).

For more information on the top states of residence for the foreign born over time, see the interactive tool Immigrant Population by State, 1990-Present.

Want to know where immigrants from a particular region or country of origin settled in the United States? The Migration Data Hub's interactive maps show top immigrant concentrations at state and county or metropolitan-area levels.

Which states have experienced the fastest growth of their immigrant populations?
Traditional immigrant destinations have the largest absolute number of new immigrants, but other states have seen much larger relative growth in their immigrant populations. In some cases, this is because the states' initial foreign-born populations were quite small, so a relatively small absolute increase has translated into high-percent growth (see Table 2). For instance, more immigrants moved to Florida between 2010 and 2021 than any other state (951,000), but the size of the immigrant population in North Dakota grew by the largest relative share (103 percent).
Table 2. Top States by Absolute and Percent Growth in Immigrant Population, 2010-21
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2021 American Community Surveys (ACS).

Immigrants in the Labor Force
How many immigrants are in the U.S. civilian labor force?
Immigrants constituted 17 percent (28.6 million people) of the civilian labor force (166.9 million) in 2021, which comprises both employed and unemployed people. Immigrants' share of the labor force has more than tripled since 1970, when they accounted for approximately 5 percent of the civilian labor force.
What types of jobs do immigrants perform?
Of the 26.8 million employed foreign-born workers ages 16 and older in 2021, the largest share (37 percent) worked in management, professional, and related occupations (see Figure 4).
Figure 4. Employed Workers in the U.S. Civilian Labor Force (ages 16 and older), by Nativity and Occupation, 2021
Note: Numbers may not add up to 100 as they are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2021 ACS.

Income and Poverty

Immigrants tend to have very similar incomes to the native born. Immigrant households in 2021 had a median income of $69,622, compared to $69,734 for native-born households.

Fourteen percent of immigrants were poor (that is, with family incomes below the official poverty threshold of $27,500 for a family of four with two children in 2021), compared to 13 percent of the U.S. born.

Health Insurance Coverage
What share of immigrants have health insurance?
Approximately 57 percent of immigrants had private health insurance in 2021 (compared to 69 percent of the U.S. born), and 32 percent had public health insurance coverage (compared to 38 percent of the U.S. born). Meanwhile, 19 percent lacked health insurance (compared to 7 percent of the U.S. born).

Since implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, health insurance coverage rates have improved for the U.S. population as a whole. In 2013, 32 percent of immigrants were uninsured (compared to 12 percent for the native born), a number that fell to 20 percent in 2017 (and 7 percent for the native born). The Trump administration made multiple changes to ACA policies, including eliminating the individual coverage mandate penalty, ending cost-sharing subsidies to insurers, and cutting funding for navigator programs. The rates of those uninsured have since remained mostly level.

Note: Health insurance coverage is calculated only for the civilian, noninstitutionalized population. Since some people may simultaneously hold both private and public health insurance coverage, estimates of those with public health insurance and those with public coverage may overlap. The sum of these rates therefore may be greater than the total share of people with health insurance.

Children of Immigrants
How many U.S. children live with immigrant parents?
Approximately 18 million U.S. children under age 18 lived with at least one immigrant parent in 2021. They accounted for 26 percent of the 69.7 million children under age 18 in the United States, up from 19 percent in 2000 and 13 percent in 1990.

Most of these children are native born. Second-generation immigrant children born in the United States to at least one foreign-born parent accounted for 88 percent (15.8 million) of all children with immigrant parents. The remaining 12 percent (2.2 million) were born outside the United States.
Note: The data here include only children between ages 0 and 17 (regardless of nativity) who reside with at least one parent. This means that the number of children shown here is smaller than the overall number of U.S. children under 18. Since 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau includes children of same-sex married couples in its count of children in families and subfamilies. How has the number of children in immigrant families changed over time?
Between 2010 and 2021, the number of children ages 17 and under with immigrant parents grew by 6 percent, from 17 million to 18 million. This was a significantly smaller rate of growth than during the era from 2000-2010, when the number grew by 30 percent, from 13.1 million.

This growth has been driven by the steadily increasing number of U.S.-born children born with immigrant parents. Their numbers increased by 9 percent between 2010 and 2021, from 14.6 million up to 15.8 million. This followed rapid growth of 40 percent between 2000-when their population was 10.4 million-to 2010.

Meanwhile, the population of first-generation immigrant children has declined over the last 20 years. It dropped by 8 percent between 2010 and 2021, from 2.4 million to 2.2 million, after a 12 percent decline from 2000 to 2010, at the start of which there were 2.7 million first-generation immigrant children.
How many children living with immigrant parents are in low-income families?
Regardless of nativity, 25.1 million children under 18 lived in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold in 2021 (amounting to $55,000 for a family of four with two children). Of them, 7.7 million (or 31 percent) had one or more foreign-born parent.

Of the 18 million children of immigrants, 43 percent were in low-income families, a higher rate than for children of U.S.-born parents (34 percent of the 51.6 million).
In which states do most children in immigrant families live?
In terms of absolute numbers, the top states for children under age 18 living with immigrant parents in 2021 were California (3.8 million), Texas (2.4 million), New York and Florida (1.4 million each), and New Jersey (803,000). These states accounted for 55 percent of the 18 million U.S. children with immigrant parents.

In terms of the share of children who had immigrant parents, the top states in 2021 were California (where 46 percent of all children had immigrant parents), New Jersey (41 percent), New York (37 percent), and Florida and Nevada (35 percent each).
Which states have experienced the fastest growth of the number of children in immigrant families?
Traditional immigrant destinations such as Florida and Texas experienced the largest absolute growth in the number of children with immigrant parents between 2010 and 2021, but other states have seen much larger relative growth (see Table 3). In states such as North Dakota, the initial number of children with immigrant parents was quite small, so relatively small absolute increases have translated into high-percent growth.
Table 3. Top U.S. States by Absolute and Percent Growth in Children with Immigrant Parents, 2010-21
Source: MPI tabulation of data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2021 ACS.
How many immigrants obtain lawful permanent residence (also known as getting a green card)?
Permanent Immigration

In fiscal year (FY) 2021, 740,000 immigrants became lawful permanent residents (LPRs, also known as green-card holders). This was a 5 percent increase over the 707,000 new green cards issued in FY 2020, which covered the end of the Trump administration and the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic and marked the lowest number since 2003 and the first time the figure dropped below 1 million since 2013, when 991,000 people obtained green cards. The number of new LPRs in FY 2021 represented a decrease of 444,000 (37 percent) from the recent high of almost 1.2 million in FY 2016.

Much of the recent decline in new LPRs is due to the fewer granted to individuals living outside the country, as result of processing and other delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past decade, immigrants obtaining LPR status have been about evenly divided between those already living in the United States who are adjusting their status and those applying from abroad. But in FY 2021, the 227,000 new green cards issued to applicants abroad represented just 31 percent of the total, and an almost 50 percent decline from the nearly 454,000 issued in FY 2019. The overwhelming majority of these new arrivals (83 percent) were immediate family members of U.S. citizens and LPRs.
Under which categories are permanent immigrants admitted?
Meanwhile, approximately 69 percent (513,000) of the 740,000 new LPRs in FY 2021 received green cards from within the United States. Most of these new permanent residents were spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens and LPRs, followed by people who obtained their green cards through employment or after initially entering the country as refugees and asylees.

There are four main pathways to obtain a green card: through a family relationship, employment sponsorship, humanitarian protection (for refugees and asylees), and the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery (also known as the green-card lottery). Some categories within these pathways are capped at the number of new green cards that can be issued each year.
What are the most common countries of origin for new permanent immigrants?
Of the 740,000 immigrants receiving green cards in FY 2021, 52 percent were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (an uncapped visa category), followed by 9 percent who were family-related immigrants (whose admission is limited by visa and country caps). About 26 percent of new LPRs were sponsored by their employers or self-petitioned, including investors who create jobs, a jump from 21 percent of new LPRs in FY 2020 and 14 percent in FY 2019. Meanwhile, 8 percent adjusted from refugee or asylee status and approximately 2 percent were diversity lottery winners.
How many people are selected in the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery and where do they come from?
The top six countries of birth for new LPRs in FY 2021 were Mexico (14 percent), India (13 percent), mainland China (7 percent), the Philippines (4 percent), and the Dominican Republic and Cuba (3 percent apiece). Together, these countries represented about 44 percent of all new green-card recipients in FY 2021.

The Diversity Visa lottery is available to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Created in 1990, the lottery sets aside 55,000 green cards annually, of which 5,000 must be used for applicants under the Nicaraguan and Central America Relief Act of 1997.

Interest in the lottery is significantly higher than the amount of available visas; about 6.7 million qualified applications were filed for the DV-2021, covering 11.8 million applicants plus their spouses and minor children. This number was down from 14.7 million applications in DV-2020 and 14.4 million in DV-2019. (The number of applications varies each year in part because the list of eligible countries is modified annually.) Before receiving permission to immigrate, 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.

In FY 2021, 15,000 people received a green card as diversity immigrants, representing approximately 2 percent of the 740,000 new LPRs. The two leading countries of birth of DV recipients were Nepal and Ukraine, together accounting for about 13 percent of the 15,000 DV recipients in FY 2021. Other top countries of origin were Morocco and Algeria (5 percent each), followed by Albania, Cameroon, Venezuela, and Turkey (4 percent each).

For some countries, the Diversity Visa lottery represents a major share of all new LPRs. For example, 40 percent of all nationals of Fiji and 38 percent of those from Algeria who obtained LPR status in FY 2021 did so through the green-card lottery. Shares were also high for nationals of Tajikistan (31 percent), Djibouti (27 percent), and Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, and Albania (26 percent).

Read the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin for more on the DV lottery.
How many nonimmigrant visas does the State Department issue each year?
Temporary Visas

The 6.8 million nonimmigrant visas issued by the State Department in FY 2022-which include tourists and other short-term visitors-represented a non-surprising, post-pandemic rapid increase of 144 percent from the 2.8 million issued in FY 2021, the lowest number since 1996.

Sixty-six percent of nonimmigrant visas issued in FY 2022 were temporary business and tourist visas (B and BCC visas). The next largest visa class was for academic students and exchange visitors and their family members (F and J visa categories) and temporary workers and trainees and their family members (H visa categories), which each comprised about 11 percent.

The COVID-19 pandemic and Trump administration's travel ban were some of the reasons for the sharp decline in nonimmigrant visa issuances in FY 2021. In FY 2022, the State Department began to issue visas at a rate surpassing pre-COVID levels in categories for students as well as temporary workers, trainees, and their family members. For these nonimmigrant visas (temporary workers, research scholars, short-term scholars, and specialists included), the State Department has waived the interview requirement in an attempt to reduce wait times to enter the country.
How many temporary employment-based visas does the State Department issue each year?
Note: The number of visas issued does not necessarily match the number of foreign nationals who entered the United States that year because some nonimmigrant visas may not be used.
Note: Temporary workers and trainees include workers in specialty occupations (H-1B visa), seasonal agricultural workers (H-2A), seasonal nonagricultural workers (H-2B), workers with extraordinary ability or achievements (O-1 and O-2), athletes and artists (P-1, P-2, and P-3), intracompany transferees (L-1), treaty traders and investors (E-1, E-2, and E-3), people working for employers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and their immediate families (CW-1 and CW-2), representatives of foreign information media (I-1), workers in international cultural exchange programs (Q-1), workers in religious occupations (R-1), and TN visas reserved for Canadian and Mexican professionals, as well as their spouses and minor children. How many nonimmigrant admissions does DHS grant each year?
Roughly 1 million foreign nationals (along with their immediate family members) receive employment-based temporary visas each year. In FY 2022, the Department of State issued a total of 1.1 million such visas in multiple categories, up from 965,000 in FY 2019. Among these were approximately 298,000 H-2A seasonal agriculture workers visas, 208,000 H-1B specialty occupation worker visas, 125,000 H-2B seasonal nonagricultural worker, and 73,000 L-1 intracompany transferee visas.

Foreign nationals were admitted into the United States for nonimmigrant purposes 35.3 million times in FY 2021-a 59 percent decrease from the 86.1 million in FY 2020 and an 81 percent decrease from the 186.2 million in FY 2019. Of the 35.3 million admissions, 21.7 million were admissions of Canadians and Mexicans traveling for business or pleasure, who are exempt from completing the I-94 arrival/departure form at the port of entry; DHS does not provide characteristics for this group.

The remaining 13.6 million temporary admissions of nonimmigrants who filled out the I-94 form were 63 percent fewer than the 37.2 million admissions a year earlier and 83 percent fewer than the 81.6 million in 2019.
Table 4. Nonimmigrant Admissions by Category, FY 2021 (I-94 only)
Most of the I-94 admissions in FY 2021 were those of tourists (66 percent) or temporary workers and their families (14 percent), followed by business travelers (10 percent; see Table 4).

Notes: Nonimmigrant admissions represent the number of entries. Individuals may have multiple entries within the year. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Immigration Statistics only reports characteristics of nonimmigrants who must complete an I-94 arrival/departure form at entry.
Source: MPI tabulation of data from DHS, 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Washington, DC: DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, 2022), available online.

These data are for the number of times people were admitted into the country-not the number of individuals who were admitted (in other words, a single individual can be admitted multiple times in a year). Often, temporary visitors stay in the United States for only a short period, such as for the duration of their vacation or business trip.
Note: Nonimmigrant admissions represent the number of entries. Individuals may have multiple entries within the year. How many U.S. residents have temporary visas?
Only once has the DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) estimated the number of individuals who came temporarily, in FY 2016. For that year, DHS estimated that 42.7 million individuals entered as I-94 nonimmigrants on various temporary visas, each of whom was admitted 1.8 times on average. Of these nonimmigrants, 34.2 million entered as tourists and 3.7 million entered as business visitors; 15 million tourists and 1.7 million business travelers were from Visa Waiver Program countries, meaning they did not need a visa to enter the United States. An additional 1 million international students entered on F-1 visas. OIS additionally estimated that about 290,000 individuals were admitted on high-skilled worker H-1B visas (mostly from India, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico) and nearly 82,00 on nonagricultural temporary or seasonal worker H-2B visas (mostly from Mexico, Jamaica, Guatemala, South Africa, and Canada).

Approximately 3.2 million foreign nationals on various temporary visas resided in the United States during FY 2019, according to the most recent available data from DHS, up from about 2.8 million in FY 2018. About half (1.6 million) were temporary workers and their families, followed by 35 percent who were foreign students and their families (1.1 million).

Sixty percent of temporary-visa holders residing in the United States were from Asia, 17 percent were from elsewhere in North America, and 14 percent were from Europe. The top countries of origin were India (27 percent), China (14 percent), Mexico (9 percent), Canada (6 percent), and South Korea (3 percent). Together, these five countries accounted for approximately 60 percent of all foreign-born U.S. residents on temporary visas.

Note: The population of residents holding temporary visas includes temporary workers, international students, exchange visitors, diplomats, and representatives of foreign governments and international organizations. It excludes tourists and other short-term visitors. North America includes Bermuda, Canada, the Caribbean, and Central America.
How many refugees enter the United States each year, and where were they from?
Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Every year, the president in consultation with Congress sets the annual refugee admissions ceiling and allocations by region of origin. The Biden administration set the ceiling at 125,000 each for FY 2022 and FY 2023, an increase from the revised FY 2021 limit of 62,500 (the Trump administration had originally set the FY 2021 ceiling at 15,000, but the Biden administration modified it after entering office). The lowest limit since the resettlement program was formally created in 1980 was set by the Trump administration for FY 2020, at 18,000.

This number is a ceiling, and the number of resettled refugees does not always reach this limit. Due to the reduced capacity of the resettlement program and COVID-19-related logistic challenges, slightly fewer than 25,500 refugees were resettled in the United States in FY 2022, amounting to 20 percent of the 125,000 allocated spaces for the year. For the first five months of FY 2023 (October 2022 through February 2023), 12,300 refugees arrived in the United States, which is 10 percent of the number of available spaces.
Table 5. Top Countries of Refugee Admissions by Nationality, FY 2022
In FY 2022, refugees' primary countries of nationality were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. Combined, the nearly 19,400 refugees from these countries accounted for 76 percent of all refugees resettled that year. Another 2,600 refugees were resettled from Guatemala, El Salvador, Moldova, and Iraq. Together, nationals of these ten countries comprised 87 percent (more than 22,000) of all refugee arrivals in FY 2022 (see Table 5).
What is the sex ratio and median age of the admitted refugee population?
Source: MPI tabulation of Worldwide Refugee Admissions Processing System (WRAPS) data from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, available online.
What are the most common religions of admitted refugees?
About 49 percent of refugees admitted into the United States in FY 2021 were female. The median age of all FY 2021 arrivals was 22 years old.

Refugees who identified as Christian made up 57 percent of all admitted refugees in FY 2022. Muslim refugees comprised 39 percent of admitted refugees. The remainder included Buddhists (2 percent), Hindus and Jews (less than 0.2 percent combined), and those who reported no religious affiliation or being atheists (about 2 percent).
Note: Refugee demographic data is based on self-identification, so religious breakdowns include major religions as well as denominations. What are the most common languages spoken by refugees?
Overall, the largest share of refugees admitted to the United States have been Christians. Between FY 2010 and FY 2022, Christians represented 48 percent (307,800) of the 637,800 refugees, compared to 34 percent (214,400) who were Muslim. FY 2016 marked the only year since 2010 when the United States resettled more Muslim refugees (38,900 individuals, or 46 percent of the total 85,000 refugees resettled that year) than Christians (37,500 individuals, or 44 percent of the total).
How many asylum applications are filed each year?
In FY 2020, the top languages spoken by refugees were Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, and Kiswahili. Rounding out the top ten were Spanish, Kinyarwanda, Sgaw Karen, Kibembe, Tigrinya, and Dari. Speakers of these ten languages made up 71 percent of all refugees resettled that year.

In FY 2022, nearly 198,000 affirmative applications were filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), representing a 224 percent increase from FY 2021 and the highest number of affirmative applications filed since FY 2017.
What is the asylum approval rate?
Meanwhile, 226,000 defensive asylum applications were filed with the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) in FY 2022. This was the most on record and marks a significant increase from FY 2021, when 65,000 applications were filed.
What is the current asylum application backlog?
The approval rate in FY 2022 for asylum applications filed with USCIS was 34 percent, an increase from 28 percent in FY 2021. Approval rates from applications filed through EOIR also increased, to 47 percent in FY 2022 up from 34 percent in FY 2021.
How many people receive asylum status?
Due to the large application volume and limited resources, both the affirmative and defensive asylum systems have extensive backlogs. Based on USCIS data, the backlog in September 2022 was 605,000 cases, up from nearly 413,000 at the end of FY 2021. In FY 2022, the total backlog for EOIR (including affirmative and defensive claims) was 703,000, down from 714,000 in FY 2021.

In FY 2021, 17,700 individuals were granted asylum after seeking protection upon or after arrival in the United States, including principal applicants, their spouses, and unmarried children under age 21. This represented a 43 percent decrease from the almost 31,000 grants in FY 2020 and a 61 drop from the 46,000 people granted asylum in FY 2019. In FY 2021, an additional 2,150 individuals received derivative asylum status in the United States as immediate family members of principal applicants and 2,170 were approved for derivative status outside the United States. (Note that this number reflects travel documents issued to these family members, not their arrival in the United States.)
Where are most asylum seekers from?
Fifty-eight percent of asylum grants came affirmatively through USCIS (rather than defensively through the immigration courts), of which there were 10,300 in FY 2021, down 37 percent from 16,400 in FY 2020 and 62 percent from 27,000 in FY 2019, the highest since FY 2003.

Venezuela was the top country of origin for those receiving asylum in FY 2021, with 2,100 people (or 12 percent of total asylum grants), followed closely by China, with close to 2,000 individuals (11 percent). Other top countries of origin were El Salvador (with 1,500 individuals), Guatemala (1,300), and Turkey (1,100). Together, nationals of these five countries made up 45 percent of those receiving asylum in FY 2021.
How many unauthorized immigrants are in the United States?
Unauthorized Immigrants
Figure 5. Citizenship and Legal Status of the U.S. Foreign-Born Population, 2019
The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates there were about 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2019, accounting for 23 percent of the U.S. immigrant population. The unauthorized population was largely stable in size from 2007 to 2019. While more recent data are yet not available, the population has likely increased since 2019, due to the large number of border arrivals in recent years.

Notes: DACA is Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and TPS is Temporary Protected Status.
Sources: These 2019 data result from MPI analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015-19 American Community Survey (ACS), pooled, and the 2008 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), weighted to 2019 unauthorized immigrant population estimates provided by Jennifer Van Hook. Data on DACA recipients are from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), "Approximate Active DACA Recipients: As of June 30, 2019," accessed December 8, 2021, available online. Data on TPS beneficiaries are from Jill H. Wilson, Temporary Protected Status: Overview and Current Issues (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2018), available online. Data on asylum seekers are from USCIS, "Form I-765 Application for Employment Authorization, All Receipts, Approvals, Denials Grouped by Eligibility Category and Filing Type," accessed December 8, 2021, available online.
What are unauthorized immigrants' countries of birth?
Almost half of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants resided in three states as of 2019: California (25 percent), Texas (16 percent), and New York (8 percent). The vast majority (81 percent) lived in 176 counties with 10,000 or more unauthorized immigrants each, of which the top five-Los Angeles County, California; Harris County, Texas; Dallas County, Texas; Cook County, Illinois; and Orange County, California-accounted for 20 percent of all unauthorized immigrants.

Mexicans and Central Americans accounted for roughly two-thirds (67 percent, or 7.4 million) of U.S. unauthorized immigrants in 2019, according to MPI estimates. About 1.7 million (15 percent) were from Asia; 907,000 (8 percent) from South America; 440,000 (4 percent) from Europe, Canada, or Oceania; 327,000 (3 percent) from the Caribbean; and 295,000 (3 percent) from Africa.
How many unauthorized immigrants live with children under age 18?
Unauthorized immigrants' top countries of birth were Mexico (48 percent), El Salvador and Guatemala (7 percent each), India (5 percent), and Honduras (4 percent).
How many children under age 18 live with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent?
About 4.3 million unauthorized immigrants (41 percent of all unauthorized immigrants ages 15 and older) lived with one or more children under age 18 in 2019, MPI estimates. Of this group, about 81 percent (3.5 million) resided with at least one U.S.-citizen child under age 18, and 19 percent (806,000) lived with one or more children who were not U.S. citizens.
How many people are eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under original rules and how many applications have been received since its launch in 2012?
Approximately 5.5 million children under age 18 lived with an unauthorized immigrant parent as of 2019, representing 7 percent of the U.S. child population. About 86 percent (4.7 million) of these children were U.S. citizens, 13 percent (726,000) were themselves unauthorized, and 1 percent (61,000) were legally present, including LPRs and those with temporary visas.

The DACA program, announced in 2012, offers two years of deportation relief and work authorization to eligible young unauthorized immigrants. To be eligible, one must be at least 15 years old; have entered the United States before age 16; have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007; be enrolled in school, have earned a high school diploma or its equivalent, or be an honorably discharged veteran; and have not been convicted of a felony, a significant misdemeanor, or three or more misdemeanors; or otherwise pose a threat to public safety or national security.

The Trump administration attempted to terminate DACA in 2017, but after multiple court challenges the program has remained alive, albeit closed to new entrants. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that rescinding DACA violated federal law, and USCIS briefly began accepting new applications. The Biden administration attempted to revive and expand the program, but ongoing court challenges mean that as of this writing DHS is prohibited from granting DACA requests and accompanying requests for employment authorization made by new applicants.

MPI estimates that as of December 2022, 1.5 million individuals were eligible for DACA under its original rules, 1.2 million of whom were immediately eligible under the program's age and educational requirements (the rest were eligible aside from the education requirements or were too young but estimated to be eligible once they reached age 15).

Between August 15, 2012 (when the government began accepting applications) and September 30, 2022, nearly 835,100 applicants were approved, suggesting this is the maximum number of people who have ever held DACA status during the life of the program. USCIS granted 82 percent of the 1 million accepted initial applications; 8 percent (83,600) were denied, and 94,700 remained pending.
How many people currently have DACA status?
Among the 1 million accepted initial applications since the program's inception (as of September 30, 2022), individuals' top states of residence are California (28 percent), Texas (17 percent), Illinois and New York (5 percent each), and Florida (4 percent). The top five countries of origin of accepted applicants are Mexico (79 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Guatemala (3 percent), Honduras (2 percent), and South Korea (1 percent).

USCIS reports that 589,660 individuals had active DACA status as of September 30, 2022.

The top states of residence for active DACA participants were California (29 percent), Texas (16 percent), and Illinois (5 percent), followed by New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona (about 4 percent each).
How many people are covered by Temporary Protected Status?
Active DACA program participants' top countries of origin of were Mexico (81 percent), El Salvador (4 percent), Guatemala (3 percent), Honduras (2 percent), and Peru, South Korea, Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia (about 1 percent each).

Since the Immigration Act of 1990, the United States has occasionally granted a form of humanitarian relief called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) when the origin countries of foreign nationals in the United States experience natural disasters, armed conflicts, or other circumstances making return unsafe. TPS offers work authorization and protection from deportation for periods of six months to 18 months. El Salvador was the first country to be designated for TPS in 1990, to protect Salvadorans who had fled its civil war. Since then, more than 20 countries have been designated for TPS.

In 2021, the Biden administration added Myanmar and Venezuela to the list of eligible countries and expanded eligibility for those from Haiti. Certain Liberians and residents of Hong Kong were designated for Deferred Enforced Departure, a similar status offering temporary protection from deportation and work authorization. In 2022, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Ukraine were also added to the list of TPS countries, and eligibility for those from South Sudan and Sudan was expanded. In January 2023, DHS extended and redesignated TPS for eligible nationals of Somalia for an additional 18 months.

Collectively, nearly 537,000 individuals in the United States had TPS as of November 2022. Sixteen countries are currently designated: Afghanistan, Cameroon, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Yemen.
How many times are unauthorized immigrants stopped at the border each year?
Immigration Enforcement

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported nearly 2.8 million combined enforcement encounters at the southern and northern borders in FY 2022, a major increase from 2 million in FY 2021 and 647,000 in FY 2020, when the pandemic suppressed movement around the world.

The vast majority of these FY 2022 encounters (2.4 million) were at the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the highest number of encounters on record, beating the previous high of 1.6 million in FY 2000. Enforcement encounters at the Southwest border increased significantly starting in March 2021. Motivations for migrants seeking protection in the United States vary, but overall the rapid increase in arrivals reflects uneven economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; crises in the Americas, including major displacement from Cuba Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, as well as ongoing violence in Central America; political persecution and other factors driving emigration from China, India, Russia, and Turkey; the change in U.S. presidential administrations and perception of a unique window of opportunity; ever more sophisticated smuggling networks; and other factors.
How many families and unaccompanied children have been detained at the U.S.-Mexico border?
Notably, data on encounters refer to individual actions, not the number of people who attempted to cross the border without authorization. The Title 42 order to immediately expel migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, which remains in place at least until mid-May 2023, has changed the consequences for individuals crossing the border, and many have responded by repeating attempts on multiple occasions, contributing to higher numbers of encounters.

In FY 2022, authorities recorded 561,000 encounters of family units (children and adults travelling as families) at the border, up from 480,000 in FY 2021. There were also 152,000 encounters of unaccompanied minors at the border in FY 2022, up from 147,000 the previous year.
Note: The term "family unit" refers to individuals-either a child under 18 years old, parent, or legal guardian-apprehended with a family member by the U.S. Border Patrol. How many people are arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within the United States each year?
Family units made up 24 percent of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in FY 2022, unaccompanied minors comprised 6 percent, and single adults accounted for 70 percent) of all encounters. In FY 2022 the largest number of family units came from Honduras, while the plurality of unaccompanied minors were from Guatemala.
How many people are deported per year?
ICE made 142,800 administrative arrests in FY 2022, up from 74,100 the year before. The increase in administrative arrests was largely in the "other immigration violation" category, which ICE attributes to the increase in Southwest border apprehensions and the ICE's assistance to CBP in processing those arrivals.
Note: Removals and returns, which are carried out both by ICE and CBP, result in the confirmed movement of inadmissible or deportable aliens out of the United States. Title 42 expulsions carried out at the border are not included in these numbers.
In FY 2022 ICE conducted nearly 72,200 removals and 117,200 Title 42 expulsions.
How many immigrants are naturalized citizens?
Naturalization Trends

More than 24 million immigrants were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2021, accounting for approximately 53 percent of all 45.3 million immigrants and 7 percent of the total U.S. population (331.9 million).
How many immigrants become U.S. citizens annually?
Of these naturalized citizens, 37 percent were naturalized between 2010 and 2021, 27 percent between 2000 and 2009, and 36 percent prior to 2000.

USCIS naturalized about 814,0000 green-card holders in FY 2021, a 30 percent increase from the 628,000 people who became citizens in FY 2020. There were 789,100 petitions for naturalization filed in FY 2021, a decrease of 18 percent from a year earlier (968,000). At the same time, the number of denied petitions decreased by 6 percent, from 80,600 in FY 2020 to 85,200 in FY 2021.

The amount of time USCIS takes to process naturalization applications increased from an average of 5.6 months in FY 2016 to 11.5 months in FY 2021, but has since declined to 6.7 months as of the end of January 2023.

From a historical perspective, the number of annual naturalizations has increased dramatically in recent decades. On average, fewer than 120,000 LPRs became citizens each year between FY 1950 and FY 1969, 150,000 in the 1970s, 210,000 in the 1980s, 500,000 in the 1990s, 680,000 during the 2000s, and 721,000 between 2010 and 2020.
How many foreign nationals become U.S. citizens through military naturalization?
Naturalizations reached an all-time high in FY 2008, increasing 59 percent from 660,000 the prior year to 1,047,000. This came as a result of impending application fee increases and the promotion of U.S. citizenship in advance of the 2008 presidential election.
Where are newly naturalized citizens from?
In FY 2021, about 4,500 foreign-born military personnel became U.S. citizens, a 72 percent increase from FY 2020 (2,600) and roughly on par with FY 2018 (4,500).
Table 6. Top Countries of Origin of Newly Naturalized Citizens, FY 2021
Of the new U.S. citizens in FY 2021, 14 percent were born in Mexico, 7 percent in India, and 6 percent each in the Philippines and Cuba (see Table 6). Immigrants from these four countries, together with those from China, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Colombia accounted for 50 percent of the 814,000 immigrants who naturalized that year.
Where in the United States do newly naturalized citizens live?
Source: DHS Office of Immigration Statistics, 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

Nearly 60 percent of people naturalized as U.S. citizens in FY 2021 lived in one of five states: California (21 percent, or 171,900 individuals); Florida (13 percent, or 109,200); New York (11 percent, or 90,000); Texas (9 percent, or 77,000); and New Jersey (5 percent, or 40,000).
How many green-card holders are eligible to naturalize?
The top metropolitan areas with the largest number of new naturalizations were the greater New York (116,200), Los Angeles (80,700), Miami (68,900), Washington, DC (30,100), and Dallas (26,200) metropolitan areas. These five metro areas were the home to 40 percent of all newly naturalized citizens in FY 2021.

According to the latest available DHS estimates, about 9.2 million of the 12.9 million green-card holders residing in the United States on January 1, 2022 were eligible to become naturalized citizens based on how long they had held LPR status. The top five nationalities of LPRs eligible to naturalize were Mexico (2.5 million), China (490,000), the Philippines (360,000), Cuba (340,000), and the Dominican Republic (330,000).
How long does it take on average for green-card holders to naturalize?

See the USCIS dashboard on LPRs eligible to naturalize by country of birth, state, or metropolitan area.

On average, immigrants who became U.S. citizens in FY 2021 had previously held green cards for about seven years, the same length of time as those being naturalized in FY 2020 and a decrease from an average of eight years the three previous years. The time varied by region of origin: immigrants born in Africa spent an average of six years in LPR status before naturalization; those born in Asia, the Caribbean, and South America spent an average of seven years in that status; Europeans spent an average of eight years, new citizens from Oceania spent an average of nine years; and those from Central America spent ten years with a green card.
At what rate do immigrants naturalize?
In general, the requirements for naturalization are being at least 18 years of age, passing English and civic exams, residing in the United States with LPR status continuously for at least five years (three years for those married to a U.S. citizen).

The number of green-card holders who naturalize every year depends on many factors, including the number of people who are eligible, application processing times, and stringency and length of background checks. This number can also be affected by barriers to naturalize, such as high application fees, as well as personal motivations. For instance, green-card holders from mainland China may be less inclined to become U.S. citizens because China prohibits dual citizenship, whereas immigrants from countries that allow dual citizenship may have greater incentive.

The share of green-card holders who naturalize within a certain time period, such as within ten years of receiving a green card, varies by country and region of birth and class of admission. This is known as a naturalization rate.

Overall, 53 percent of the immigrant cohort who became LPRs in FY 2008 naturalized by FY 2018, the most recent year for which data are available. A ten-year naturalization rate was the highest for those born in Africa (76 percent) and South America (64 percent) and the lowest for LPRs from North America, including Mexico and Canada (27 percent). The ten-year naturalization rate was nearly 70 percent for Indian-born green-card holders, 60 percent for those from the Philippines, 52 percent for Cubans, 44 percent for LPRs from China, and 27 percent for Mexicans.

In terms of classes of admission, approximately 68 percent of humanitarian migrants and employment-based green-card holders who became LPRs in FY 2008 had become naturalized citizens by FY 2018. Ten-year naturalization rates were lower for those who were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or other family members of U.S. citizens and LPRs (about 47 percent each).
How many visa applications for permanent immigration (green cards) are backlogged?
Visa Backlogs

Because of limits on certain visa categories and per-country caps, the U.S. government in some cases is still processing applications that are more than two decades old. In March 2023, the State Department was processing some family-sponsored visa applications dating to November 1997, and employment-related visa applications from June 2012.

Nearly 4.1 million applicants (including spouses and minor children) were on the State Department's immigrant visa waiting list as of November 1, 2022, a 1 percent decline from the more than 4.1 million applicants in the backlog a year previous.

The overwhelming majority of backlogs were among family-sponsored applicants (more than 3.9 million, including principal applicants and their immediate family members). About 168,000 backlogged applicants were for employment-sponsored channels and their families.

Of the overall 4.1 million applicants, the largest number (1.2 million) were citizens of Mexico, followed by those from the Philippines (296,000), India (294,000), the Dominican Republic (284,000), and Vietnam (229,000). Family- and employment-based prospective immigrants already within the United States who are waiting to adjust their status are not included in the State Department estimates.

USCIS also publishes backlog statistics for petitions approved in one of the five employment-based categories. As of March 2022 (the latest available data as of this writing), nearly 497,000 approved employment-based immigrant petitions were awaiting a priority date. This figure corresponds to the number of primary applicants covered by these petitions but excludes their dependents. To MPI's knowledge, USCIS has not published backlog statistics on other types of green-card applications the agency adjudicates.

In other words, the overall number of people waiting for a green card-within and outside the United States-is likely to be larger than the nearly 4.1 million applicants reported by the State Department (as of November 2022) and 497,000 reported by USCIS (as of March 2022).

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Jeanne Batalova Nicole Ward and Jeanne Batalova

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Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States

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Want to check a fact about U.S. immigration? Interested in putting recent trends into perspective? This article compiles authoritative, up-to-date information about the U.S. immigrant population and how it has changed over time. Data cover immigrants' demographic, educational, and linguistic characteristics; their top states of residence; enforcement activities; refugees and asylum seekers; naturalization trends; visa backlogs; and more.

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This pie charts were taken from the Migration Institute Policy website.
It shows that Immigrants can have different types of jobs in the civilian labor force, they can be in business, science, arts, construction, etc.

They are capable of having good jobs as American citizens, they don't steal them from  citizens, those are only excuses.

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Is the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. declining?

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Is the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. declining?

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Is the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S. declining?

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Immigrant population and its growth percentage in the U.S.

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Immigrant population and its growth percentage in the U.S.

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This charts taken also from the Migration Institute Policy website, show the percent growth in immigrant population and the U.S. states with the largest number of immigrant population, since the year 1990 to 2017.

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Number and percentage of immigrants living in the U.S. 

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Number and percentage of immigrants living in the U.S. 

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This graph shows the number of immigrants as a percentage and its growth every 20 years since 1840.

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Busting The Biggest Immigration Myths In America

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtsBY146Ds

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Immagrints help, not hurt, American workers

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Immagrints help, not hurt, American workers

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https://www.uschamber.com/series/above-the-fold/myth-busted-immigrants-help-not-hurt-american-workers

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Immigrants AREN'T stealing American jobs

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Immigrants AREN'T stealing American jobs

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Most of the US immigrants are documented, the problem is the ignorance, too many people don't get informed with factible data and believe in instantly what others say, for example, powerful people.
Here's a note from The Washington Post, about this famous myth:

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Misinformation about America's immigrant population is rampant.

Some of it is based on bad data. Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk tweeted a claim on Wednesday that more than a third of the murders in America are committed by immigrants in the country illegally. While it should be obvious to an impartial observer that this claim is questionable, Kirk appears to have calculated it based on data published in an opinion piece at the Hill. That article claimed that a tally of murders by the Government Accountability Office covering a period from 1955 to 2010 among immigrants in the country both legally and illegally was, instead, just homicides by undocumented immigrants from 2005 to 2008. Kirk is a strong supporter of President Trump and vice versa. (Earlier that day, Trump had called him a "spectacular person.") Kirk's willingness to present a bit of data that matched Trump's rhetoric may have made him more likely to accept the flawed numbers from the Hill.

Some of the misinformation, on the other hand, appears to be intentional. Trump's own repeated insistence that immigrants bring crime has been debunked repeatedly, including by The Post. He said it at the outset of his campaign, and it was debunked, and he kept on saying it. A new poll from Pew Research Center, for what it's worth, shows that most Americans know that Trump is incorrect. Sixty-five percent of Americans say that immigrants are not more likely to commit serious crimes than native-born Americans, which is true. (Quite the opposite.)

On one immigration-related point, though, Pew showed that Americans aren't quite clear.

There are about 11 million immigrants in the United States who came here illegally. (If you're curious how we can be fairly certain about that, here.) In total, nearly 45 million residents of the United States were foreign-born. In other words, about three-quarters of immigrants in the country are here legally.

Most Americans, though, don't know that. Pew asked respondents whether most immigrants in the United States were here legally or illegally. Only 45 percent said, correctly, that most are here legally. A slightly lower percentage, 42 percent, said illegally.

There are interesting demographic splits. Hispanic respondents, for example, were more likely to say that most immigrants here came illegally. Republicans were more likely to say "illegally" than "legally," by a 11-point margin. Democrats were much more likely to get the question correct. So were younger Americans.

That may overlap with another interesting demographic break. Older Americans are less likely to be college-educated, and non-college-educated respondents were much more likely to get the response wrong. Most college graduates correctly said that most immigrants are here legally. About half of those without college degrees were incorrect.

Further broken down by party, the results are stark. Most non-college-educated Republicans think that most immigrants are here illegally. Nearly three-quarters of college-educated Democrats think that they are here legally. Republican college graduates were only slightly more likely than Democrats without degrees to get the question correct.

Why did so many people get this wrong? It's hard to say, and Pew doesn't speculate. It may be a function of the extent of media coverage of illegal immigration in the overall immigration debate. It's not clear.

But the repercussions of that erroneous impression seem obvious. If you think that the immigration system is so flawed that most immigrants are here after having violated the law, your perception of how to approach immigration from a policy standpoint may reflect that.

Or it may not. Last week we noted another poll from Gallup. That poll found that immigration is seen as a "good thing" by three-quarters of the country, the highest percentage since they started asking the question in 2001.

When Gallup differentiated the question with "legal" immigration, we'll note, support jumped even higher.

Inside a U.S. immigration jail, mothers count the days since they've seen their children

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Analysis | Most immigrants are in the U.S. legally, something most Americans don't know

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Misinformation about America's immigrant population is rampant. Some of it is based on bad data. Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk tweeted a claim on Wednesday that more than a third of the murders in America are committed by immigrants in the country illegally.

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TRUTH vs. perception of crime rates for immigrants

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TRUTH vs. perception of crime rates for immigrants

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Truth vs. perception of crime rates for immigrants

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Comparison of educational attainments of immigrants and U.S. citizens.

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Comparison of educational attainments of immigrants and U.S. citizens.

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Graphs of educational attainment of immigrants and U.S. citizens. This graph shows the percentage of people that reached a specific level in education.

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Some occupations of immigrant workers without completed studies

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Some occupations of immigrant workers without completed studies

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check more information at: https://www.universalhub.com/2018/importance-immigrants-boston-economy

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlOxqSUr59o

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The graph shown below, shares the immigration rate in the U.S. every ten years since 1850. Immigration went down in the early 1900's, but then went up again, and since 1980's, it  has been increasing.

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Immigrants listen to a speech as they wait to become U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles. (Mark Ralson/AFP/Getty Images)

The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world's migrants. The population of immigrants is also very diverse, with just about every country in the world represented among U.S. immigrants.

Pew Research Center regularly publishes statistical portraits of the nation's foreign-born population, which include historical trends since 1960. Based on these portraits, here are answers to some key questions about the U.S. immigrant population.

How many people in the U.S. are immigrants?

The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 44.8 million in 2018. Since 1965, when U.S. immigration laws replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. has more than quadrupled. Immigrants today account for 13.7% of the U.S. population, nearly triple the share (4.8%) in 1970. However, today's immigrant share remains below the record 14.8% share in 1890, when 9.2 million immigrants lived in the U.S.

What is the legal status of immigrants in the U.S.?

Most immigrants (77%) are in the country legally, while almost a quarter are unauthorized, according to new Pew Research Center estimates based on census data adjusted for undercount. In 2017, 45% were naturalized U.S. citizens.

Some 27% of immigrants were permanent residents and 5% were temporary residents in 2017. Another 23% of all immigrants were unauthorized immigrants. From 1990 to 2007, the unauthorized immigrant population more than tripled in size - from 3.5 million to a record high of 12.2 million in 2007. By 2017, that number had declined by 1.7 million, or 14%. There were 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2017, accounting for 3.2% of the nation's population.

The decline in the unauthorized immigrant population is due largely to a fall in the number from Mexico - the single largest group of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. Between 2007 and 2017, this group decreased by 2 million. Meanwhile, there was a rise in the number from Central America and Asia.

Do all lawful immigrants choose to become U.S. citizens?

Not all lawful permanent residents choose to pursue U.S. citizenship. Those who wish to do so may apply after meeting certain requirements, including having lived in the U.S. for five years. In fiscal year 2019, about 800,000 immigrants applied for naturalization. The number of naturalization applications has climbed in recent years, though the annual totals remain below the 1.4 million applications filed in 2007.

Generally, most immigrants eligible for naturalization apply to become citizens. However, Mexican lawful immigrants have the lowest naturalization rate overall. Language and personal barriers, lack of interest and financial barriers are among the top reasons for choosing not to naturalize cited by Mexican-born green card holders, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey.

Where do immigrants come from?

Mexico is the top origin country of the U.S. immigrant population. In 2018, roughly 11.2 million immigrants living in the U.S. were from there, accounting for 25% of all U.S. immigrants. The next largest origin groups were those from China (6%), India (6%), the Philippines (4%) and El Salvador (3%).

By region of birth, immigrants from Asia combined accounted for 28% of all immigrants, close to the share of immigrants from Mexico (25%). Other regions make up smaller shares: Europe, Canada and other North America (13%), the Caribbean (10%), Central America (8%), South America (7%), the Middle East and North Africa (4%) and sub-Saharan Africa (5%).

Who is arriving today?

More than 1 million immigrants arrive in the U.S. each year. In 2018, the top country of origin for new immigrants coming into the U.S. was China, with 149,000 people, followed by India (129,000), Mexico (120,000) and the Philippines (46,000).

By race and ethnicity, more Asian immigrants than Hispanic immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in most years since 2009. Immigration from Latin America slowed following the Great Recession, particularly for Mexico, which has seen both decreasing flows into the United States and large flows back to Mexico in recent years.

Asians are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the U.S. by 2055, surpassing Hispanics. Pew Research Center estimates indicate that in 2065, those who identify as Asian will make up some 38% of all immigrants; as Hispanic, 31%; White, 20%; and Black, 9%.

Is the immigrant population growing?

New immigrant arrivals have fallen, mainly due to a decrease in the number of unauthorized immigrants coming to the U.S. The drop in the unauthorized immigrant population can primarily be attributed to more Mexican immigrants leaving the U.S. than coming in.

Looking forward, immigrants and their descendants are projected to account for 88% of U.S. population growth through 2065, assuming current immigration trends continue. In addition to new arrivals, U.S. births to immigrant parents will be important to future growth in the country's population. In 2018, the percentage of women giving birth in the past year was higher among immigrants (7.5%) than among the U.S. born (5.7%). While U.S.-born women gave birth to more than 3 million children that year, immigrant women gave birth to about 760,000.

How many immigrants have come to the U.S. as refugees?

Since the creation of the federal Refugee Resettlement Program in 1980, about 3 million refugees have been resettled in the U.S. - more than any other country.

In fiscal 2019, a total of 30,000 refugees were resettled in the U.S. The largest origin group of refugees was the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by Burma (Myanmar), Ukraine, Eritrea and Afghanistan. Among all refugees admitted in fiscal year 2019, 4,900 are Muslims (16%) and 23,800 are Christians (79%). Texas, Washington, New York and California resettled more than a quarter of all refugees admitted in fiscal 2018.

Where do most U.S. immigrants live?

Nearly half (45%) of the nation's immigrants live in just three states: California (24%), Texas (11%) and Florida (10%). California had the largest immigrant population of any state in 2018, at 10.6 million. Texas, Florida and New York had more than 4 million immigrants each.

In terms of regions, about two-thirds of immigrants lived in the West (34%) and South (34%). Roughly one-fifth lived in the Northeast (21%) and 11% were in the Midwest.

In 2018, most immigrants lived in just 20 major metropolitan areas, with the largest populations in the New York, Los Angeles and Miami metro areas. These top 20 metro areas were home to 28.7 million immigrants, or 64% of the nation's total foreign-born population. Most of the nation's unauthorized immigrant population lived in these top metro areas as well.

How do immigrants compare with the U.S. population overall in education?

Immigrants in the U.S. as a whole have lower levels of education than the U.S.-born population. In 2018, immigrants were over three times as likely as the U.S. born to have not completed high school (27% vs. 8%). However, immigrants were just as likely as the U.S. born to have a bachelor's degree or more (32% and 33%, respectively).

Educational attainment varies among the nation's immigrant groups, particularly across immigrants from different regions of the world. Immigrants from Mexico and Central America are less likely to be high school graduates than the U.S. born (54% and 47%, respectively, do not have a high school diploma, vs. 8% of U.S. born). On the other hand, immigrants from every region except Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America were as likely as or more likely than U.S.-born residents to have a bachelor's or advanced degree.

Among all immigrants, those from South Asia (71%) were the most likely to have a bachelor's degree or more. Immigrants from Mexico (7%) and Central America (11%) were the least likely to have a bachelor's or higher.

How many immigrants are working in the U.S.?

In 2017, about 29 million immigrants were working or looking for work in the U.S., making up some 17% of the total civilian labor force. Lawful immigrants made up the majority of the immigrant workforce, at 21.2 million. An additional 7.6 million immigrant workers are unauthorized immigrants, less than the total of the previous year and notably less than in 2007, when they were 8.2 million. They alone account for 4.6% of the civilian labor force, a dip from their peak of 5.4% in 2007. During the same period, the overall U.S. workforce grew, as did the number of U.S.-born workers and lawful immigrant workers.

Immigrants are projected to drive future growth in the U.S. working-age population through at least 2035. As the Baby Boom generation heads into retirement, immigrants and their children are expected to offset a decline in the working-age population by adding about 18 million people of working age between 2015 and 2035.

How well do immigrants speak English?

Among immigrants ages 5 and older in 2018, half (53%) are proficient English speakers - either speaking English very well (37%) or only speaking English at home (17%).

Immigrants from Mexico have the lowest rates of English proficiency (34%), followed by those from Central America (35%), East and Southeast Asia (50%) and South America (56%). Immigrants from Canada (96%), Oceania (82%), Europe (75%) and sub-Saharan Africa (74%) have the highest rates of English proficiency.

The longer immigrants have lived in the U.S., the greater the likelihood they are English proficient. Some 47% of immigrants living in the U.S. five years or less are proficient. By contrast, more than half (57%) of immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for 20 years or more are proficient English speakers.

Among immigrants ages 5 and older, Spanish is the most commonly spoken language. Some 42% of immigrants in the U.S. speak Spanish at home. The top five languages spoken at home among immigrants outside of Spanish are English only (17%), followed by Chinese (6%), Hindi (5%), Filipino/Tagalog (4%) and French (3%).

How many immigrants have been deported recently?

Around 337,000 immigrants were deported from the U.S. in fiscal 2018, up since 2017. Overall, the Obama administration deported about 3 million immigrants between 2009 and 2016, a significantly higher number than the 2 million immigrants deported by the Bush administration between 2001 and 2008. In 2017, the Trump administration deported 295,000 immigrants, the lowest total since 2006.

Immigrants convicted of a crime made up the less than half of deportations in 2018, the most recent year for which statistics by criminal status are available. Of the 337,000 immigrants deported in 2018, some 44% had criminal convictions and 56% were not convicted of a crime. From 2001 to 2018, a majority (60%) of immigrants deported have not been convicted of a crime.

How many immigrant apprehensions take place at the U.S.-Mexico border?

The number of apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border has doubled from fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2019, from 396,579 in fiscal 2018 to 851,508 in fiscal 2019. Today, there are more apprehensions of non-Mexicans than Mexicans at the border. In fiscal 2019, apprehensions of Central Americans at the border exceeded those of Mexicans for the fourth consecutive year. The first time Mexicans did not make up the bulk of Border Patrol apprehensions was in 2014.

How do Americans view immigrants and immigration?

While immigration has been at the forefront of a national political debate, the U.S. public holds a range of views about immigrants living in the country. Overall, a majority of Americans have positive views about immigrants. About two-thirds of Americans (66%) say immigrants strengthen the country "because of their hard work and talents," while about a quarter (24%) say immigrants burden the country by taking jobs, housing and health care.

Yet these views vary starkly by political affiliation. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 88% think immigrants strengthen the country with their hard work and talents, and just 8% say they are a burden. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 41% say immigrants strengthen the country, while 44% say they burden it.

Americans were divided on future levels of immigration. A quarter said legal immigration to the U.S. should be decreased (24%), while one-third (38%) said immigration should be kept at its present level and almost another third (32%) said immigration should be increased.
Note: This is an update of a post originally published May 3, 2017, and written by Gustavo López, a former research analyst focusing on Hispanics, immigration and demographics; and Kristen Bialik, a former research assistant.
CORRECTION (Sept. 21, 2020): An update to the methodology used to tabulate figures in the chart "Among new immigrant arrivals, Asians outnumber Hispanics" has changed all figures from 2001 and 2012. This new methodology has also allowed the inclusion of the figure from 2000. Furthermore, the earlier version of the chart incorrectly showed the partial year shares of Hispanic and Asian recent arrivals in 2015; the corrected complete year shares are 31% and 36%, respectively.

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The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. Today, more than 40 million people living in the U.S. were born in another country, accounting for about one-fifth of the world's migrants. The population of immigrants is also very diverse, with just about every country in the world represented among U.S.

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(Myths explained in graphics)

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This graph was taken from the United States Census Bureau website. People from this gubernamental organism recollected data and made estimates of  the amount of people living legally and illegally in the U.S. The results shown in the pie chart indicate that only a quarter of immigrants are undocumented, the rest is legal.