In this article, I’m going to discuss 10 facts about immigration to the United States of America. This list of facts would be helpful and nice to know items of information for prospective immigrants to the US.
Millions of people around the world apply for immigrant visas for the US. You can “google” or check “immigration to the United States” and the result may astound you; it ranks first or second to other countries. So I wrote this article to help those of you who want to immigrate to the US.
What is an immigrant
I’d like to share with you the definition of immigration according to the US Immigration glossary. It states that “Immigration is the act of leaving one’s countries and moving to another country of which they are not natives, nor citizens, to settle or reside there, especially as permanent residents or naturalized citizens, or to take-up employment as a migrant worker or temporarily as a foreign worker”.
10 Facts about immigration to the United States
#1. According to the Pew Research Center, the majority of the world’s immigrants reside in the United States. This group of people is diverse, coming from all countries of the world. There are 44.4 million of them and account for 13.6 percent of the total US population in 2017.
#2. As of the year 2017, 77 percent of the entire immigrant population of the United States came legally. This population was classified as permanent legal residents and are “green card” holders. The breakdown of the
#3. The majority of the immigrant population in the United States came from Mexico. Thanks to the Bracero Program created by the US Government in 1944 which allows Mexicans to come to the country. The programs main purpose was to fill the labor shortages created during World War II. So the labor force worked and stayed temporarily. However, even after the program ended in 1964, many of the former workers illegally re-entered the United States to continue working for their previous employers.
Types of visas used to immigrate in the United States
#4. An estimated 40 to 50 percent of illegal immigrants living in the United States came in legally through various ports of entry across the country. These were athletes, clergies, employees, journalists, students, or tourists that applied for legal entry by securing non-immigrant visas. However, these immigrants did not return home when their visas expired, and, as a result, they became unauthorized residents of the US.
#5. Family-oriented visas or chain migration represents the vast majority of a legal immigrant in the US. These visas are for an immediate relative or family-sponsored, employer-sponsored employment, religious workers, returning residents and many more.
#6. The United States immigration process allows priority to foreign nationals who have; a. close family relationship with a US citizen or legal permanent residents, b. have needed work skills, c. have refugee or asylum status, or d. are natives of countries with low immigration rates to the US.
#7. Another interesting fact is the establishment of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the green card lottery. This program afforded 50,000 immigrant visas to applicants from countries with very low immigrants during the last five years. And 20 million people around the world apply for this visa program every year because of
Other facts about immigration in the United States
#8. For stricter entry into the country, US immigration made a list of banned individuals from entering the United States. These people were blacklisted because of theirunacceptable behavior. Here are a few examples from the list: Hamid Aboutalebi; an Iranian diplomat and ambassador, Nelson Mandela; now deceased, Boy George; British artist and singer, Diego Maradona; Argentina soccer player and coach, and many more.
#9. The US Immigration Service can and will deport any immigrant who violates his or her terms of stay. You as a tourist must not accept a job. Likewise, a student must continue going to school to avoid deportation. Several other grounds for deportation of an immigrant include; aggravated felony, marriage fraud, and document fraud. Additionally, falsely claimed to be a US citizen, convicted of any drug violation, and others as listed in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
#10. There are an estimated 904,000 immigrants in the United States that identify as LGBT. A quarter of a million them
Are you interested in coming to the US? This list of facts about immigration to the United States would be a piece of great information for you. In
Resources about facts about immigration to the United States
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel.html