Immigration to the United States

The French gift Statue of Liberty was a common sight to many immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island

Immigration to the United States is the act of immigrating, or moving, to the United States from another nation. The United States has a long history of immigration, from 1600 to the present. Millions came from Europe in the 19th century, from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the present day. Throughout American history, immigration has caused controversy regarding the political loyalties and values of people who have moved from one nation to another. The British settlers of the colonial era moved from one part of the British Empire to another (as did the Dutch), and did not change their nation, but the Germans did and nearly everyone else did so. (For statistical purposes in this article everyone who arrived in the colonial period is called an immigrant.) (The Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland after 1945 are not considered immigrants, since they were US citizens.) Given the geography, most immigrants came long distances. However the French Canadians who came down from Quebec after 1860, and the Mexicans who came north after 1911, found it easy to move back and forth. Indeed with cheap jet travel after 1965, a return to the country of origin became fast and fairly inexpensive.

Historical immigration

There are a number of discernable categories of immigrants to the United States, each with unique and shared issues. Immigration to the United States is the act of immigrating, or moving, to the United States from another nation. The United States has a long history of immigration, from 1600 to the present. Millions came from Europe in the 19th century, from Asia, Africa, and Latin America in the present day. Throughout American history, immigration has caused controversy regarding the political loyalties and values of people who have moved from one nation to another. The British settlers of the colonial era moved from one part of the British Empire to another (as did the Dutch), and did not change their nation, but the Germans did and nearly everyone else did so. (For statistical purposes in this article everyone who arrived in the colonial period is called an immigrant.) (The Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland after 1945 are not considered immigrants, since they were US citizens.) Given the geography, most immigrants came long distances. However the French Canadians who came down from Quebec after 1860, and the Mexicans who came north after 1911, found it easy to move back and forth. Indeed with cheap jet travel after 1965, a return to the country of origin became fast and fairly inexpensive. Immigration to the United States is the act of immigrating, or moving, to the United States from another nation.

Colonization of North America

According to the source, The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy by Kory L. Meyerink and Loretto Dennis Szucs, the following were the countries of origin for new arrivals coming to the United States before 1790. The regions marked * were part of Great Britain:

Group	Immigrants before 1790
Africa	360,000 (most as slaves)
England*	230,000
Ulster*	135,000
Germany	103,000
Scotland*	48,500
Ireland	8,000
Netherlands	6,000
Wales*	4,000
France	3,000
Jews	2,000
Sweden	500

Early immigration laws prevented Asians and Africans from entering the USA legally (except as chattels in the latter case). For most Europeans, however, immigration was relatively free and unrestricted until the 1800s and the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

Voluntary migration from Europe

The population of the colonies that later became the United States grew from zero Europeans in the mid-1500s to 4.6 million Europeans and 900,000 African slaves in 1790. At that time, it is estimated that 3/4 of the population were of British descent with Germans forming the second-largest free ethnic group and making up some 7% of the population.

Between 1629 and 1640, some 20,000 Puritans emigrated from England, most settling in the New England area of North America. In an event known as the Great Migration, these people became the Yankees of New England, who later spread out to New York and the Upper Midwest.

From 1609 to 1664, some 8,000 Dutch settlers peopled the New Netherlands, which later became New York and New Jersey.

Between 1645 and 1670, some 45,000 Royalists and/or indentured servants left England to work in the Middle Colonies and Virginia.

From about 1675 to 1715, the Quakers made their move, leaving the Midlands and North England behind for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The Quaker movement became one of the largest religious presences in early colonial America.

Germans migrated early into several colonies but mostly to Pennsylvania, where they made up a third of the population by the time of the Revolution.

Between about 1710 and 1775, around 135,000 Irish people left Ulster, (the northern province of Ireland), and settled in western Pennsylvania, Appalachia and the western frontier: these places later would become Kentucky and Tennessee.

Unfree labor: Slave trade, indentured servitude and convict shipments

The majority of African slaves came to the future United States before it gained independence. The numbers remain less than clear, but it is believed that some 300,000 slaves arrived in the British North American colonies before 1776, and some 100,000 were imported in the period between then and 1860. The international slave trade was made illegal in 1808.

A large number of indentured servants, from the British Isles, Ireland and Continental Europe (especially Germany), came to the future United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the bulk arriving in the half-century before 1776. Most were teenagers who served terms of four to fourteen years and arrived in the colonies of Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia. About 50,000 British convicts also crossed the seas to North America in an penal transportation system between 1700 and 1770.

Immigration 1790 to 1849

Germans made up almost one-tenth of the population of the country by the end of the 18th century. At least 500,000 Germans immigrated in the first half of the 19th century. 20,000 came in the years 1816-1817, fleeing a famine. Some 61,000 fled to America after the failed Revolutions of 1848.

File:Stamp-us-irish-immigration.jpg

U.S. postage stamp commemorating the vast Irish immigration to North America during the Great Potato Famine

Immigration 1850 to 1930

For statistics, see table 4 at the end of this article.

Between 1850 and 1930 about 5 million Germans immigrated to the United States with a peak in the years between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans left Germany and settled mostly in the Midwest. Between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 British (mostly Protestant) and 4.5 million Irish (mostly Catholic) entered America. Before the 1840's most Irish immigrants were Irish Presbyterians or Scotch-Irish. After 1840, the Catholics arrived in large numbers, in part because of the famines of the 1840s. .

Between 1840 and 1930, about 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec to emigrate to the United States and settled mainly in New England. Given the Quebec population at the time, this was a massive exodus. 13.6 million Americans claimed to have French ancestry in the 1980 census. A large proportion of them have ancestors who emigrated from French Canada.

The years 1910 to 1920 were the highpoint of Italian immigration to the United States. Over 2 million Italians immigrated in those years, with a total of 5.3 million immigrating between 1820 and 1980. About a third of them returned to Italy, after working an average of 5 years in the US.

About 1.5 million Swedes and Norwegians immigrated to the United States within this period, due to opportunity in America and poverty and religious oppression in united Sweden-Norway. This accounted for around 20% of the total population of the kingdom at that time. They settled mainly in the Midwest after their arrival in America; Minnesota in particular has a large proportion of people with Swedish and Norwegian ancestry. Danes, however, had comparably low immigration rates due to a better government and economy; most Danish immigrants were Mormon converts who moved to Utah.

Over 2 million Eastern Europeans, mainly Catholics, immigrated during the years of 1880 to 1924. People of Polish ancestry are the largest Eastern European ancestry group in the United States. Immigration of Eastern Orthodox ethnic groups was much lower.

From 1880 to 1924, around 2 million Jews moved to the United States, mostly seeking better opportunity in America and fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe. After 1933 Jews who tried to flee Nazi Germany were often denied access to the United States, highlighted by the event of the S.S. St. Louis.

Laws concerning immigration and naturalization

The first naturalization law in the United States was the 1795 Naturalization Act which restricted citizenship to "free white persons" who had resided in the country for five years. The next significant change in the law came in 1870, when the law was broadened to allow both whites and African-Americans, though Asians were still excluded from citizenship. Immigration was otherwise unlimited.

In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act specifically forbade Chinese immigration, overturning the 1868 Burlingame Treaty that had encouraged it. The "temporary" ban was extended repeatedly and made permanent in 1904. It was the culmination of decades of agitation, particularly by Californians, who had passed their own Anti-Coolie Act in 1862. The ban was deeply resented in Asia, but was not repealed until 1943, and only then to reward a World War II wartime ally.

In order to avoid the same humiliation, the Empire of Japan negotiated the Gentlemen's Agreement in 1907, a protocol that required Japan to prevent her citizens from emigrating to the U.S. in exchange for better treatment of those already living there.

Congress also banned persons because of their health, beliefs, or lack of education. An 1882 law banned entry of "lunatics" and infectious disease carriers, and the 1901 Anarchist Exclusion Act kept people out because of their political beliefs. A literacy requirement was added in Immigration Act of 1917.

In 1921, the United States Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration. The quotas were based on the number of foreign-born residents of each nationality who were living in the United States as of the 1910 census. A more complex quota plan replaced this "emergency" system under the Immigration Act of 1924. One major change was that the reference census used was changed to that of 1890, which greatly reduced the number of Southern and Eastern European immigrants. Immigrants from most of the Western Hemisphere, however, were admitted outside the quota system.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (the McCarran-Walter Act) revised the quotas again, basing them on the 1920 census. For the first time in American history, racial distinctions were omitted from the U.S. Code. Nevertheless, most of the quota allocation still went to immigrants from Ireland, the United Kingdom and Germany. The anti-subversive features of this law are still in force and have been used to bar the entry of countless individuals based upon their political expressions.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 (the Hart-Cellar Act) abolished the system of national-origin quotas. There was, for the first time, a limitation on Western Hemisphere immigration (120,000 per year), with the Eastern Hemisphere limited to 170,000. Most of these numbers were allocated to immigrants who were relatives of United States citizens.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed, creating for the first time penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants. IRCA also contained an amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the United States, and mandated the intensification of the activities of the United States Border Patrol, increasing the militarization of the US-Mexico border.

By one account, the actual number of annual legal immigrants was estimated at 500,000 to 600,000 in 1989. This subsequently increased and is now well over 1 million annually, not including illegal migration or temporary work visas.

Several pieces of legislation signed into law in 1996 marked a turn towards harsher policies for both legal and illegal immigrants. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) vastly increased the categories of criminal activity for which immigrants, including green card holders, can be deported and imposed mandatory detention for certain types of deportation cases. As a result, well over 1,000,000 individuals have been deported since 1996.

See also: List of United States Immigration Acts

Contemporary immigration

Contemporary immigrants settle very predominantly in seven states: California, New York, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois. The combined total immigrant population of these seven states formed 70% of the total foreign-born population as of 2000.

Nonimmigrant visas (mostly work visas)

There are a number of employment-based temporary visas (defined as "nonimmigrant" visas under the immigration law), including the following popular ones, among others:

H-1B

The H-1B classification is for professional-level jobs that require a minimum of a bachelor's degree in a specific academic field. In addition, the employee must have the degree or the equivalence of such a degree through education and experience. Before the H-1B petition can be filed with USCIS the employer must file a "Labor Condition Application" (LCA) with the Department of Labor demonstrating that it is paying the required wage for this position in the geographic region where the job is located. The required wage for the position is the higher of the "actual wage" that is paid to other employees in this position or the "prevailing wage" which is determined by government surveys and the state labor office offices.

As a general rule, a person who is in one nonimmigrant status may not change status or change employers in that status until he or she applies with USCIS for such a change, and such change is granted. However, a provision called "H-1B portability" permits certain individuals already in the United States in H-1B status to commence employment for a new employer once a new employer's H-1B petition is filed with USCIS.

At the dawn of the 21st century, the controversy revived when many high-tech and software-engineering workers started to arrive from abroad on "H-1B" visas. H-1B expansion was widely unpopular, but was supported by a number of different groups, including campaign donations from corporate interests and from persons who support the arrival of persons from abroad who are highly skilled. Critics claimed that these visas decreased the wages of American citizens, displaced American citizens, enabled corporations to enforce extreme workplace discipline and get around laws concerning working conditions, created national security problems and increased the risk of transmitting new diseases to the United States. However, except for isolated cases of abuse, these fears are mostly unwarranted. In order to obtain an H-1B visa, the employer must show that it will pay the higher of the prevailing local wage or the wage it pays other U.S. who have similar education and experience. The employer is not required to prove there are no American workers available to perform the work unless the employer has a high percentage of current workers in H-1B status ("H-1B dependent"). However, some economists saw H-1B expansion as an assault on the American middle class that benefited the wealthy and made it impossible to maintain traditional American standards of living, or provide incentives to improve productivity as rapidly as nations like Japan with more restrictive immigration policies.

The companies who imported the workers usually argued that the U.S. lacked enough American citizens to do the work. A few economists argued that, whatever the truth of that assertion, importing the workers provided more benefits to the U.S., and otherwise the recruiting companies would simply offshore the entire operation. It was claimed this would likely prove worse for the U.S. economy as a whole, because in the first scenario foreign national workers living in the United States would at least spend money in the United States, while the multi-national corporations that would purportedly export the jobs to overseas locations would probably not pass down as much of the savings to the U.S. consumer who purchased for them.

L-1 intracompany transferee

The L-1 classification is for international transferees who have worked for a related organization abroad for at least one year in the past three years that will be coming to the United States to work in an executive or managerial (L-1A) or specialized knowledge capacity (L-1B).

To qualify as an international executive, the employee must meet the following requirements:

• Direct the management of the organization or a major component or function;
• Establish the goals and policies of the organization, component, or function;
• Exercise wide latitude in discretionary decision-making; and
• Receive only general supervision or direction from higher-level executives, the board of directors, or stockholders of the organization.

To qualify as an international manager, the employee must meet the following requirements:

• Manage the organization or department, subdivision, function or component of the organization;
• Supervise and control the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manage an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization;
• The authority to hire and fire, or recommend hire/fire and other personnel actions (such as promotion and leave authorization), or if no employees are directly supervised, functions at a senior level within the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed; and
  • Exercises discretion over the day-to-day operations of the activity or function for which the employee has authority.

To qualify as a specialized knowledge transferee, the employee must meet the following requirements:

• Possess knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets; or
• An advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company.

An employee has specialized knowledge if the knowledge is different from that generally found in the particular industry. Possible characteristics of an employee who possesses specialized knowledge including knowledge that is valuable to the employers competitiveness in the market place; knowledge of foreign operating conditions as a result of special knowledge not generally found in the industry; has worked abroad in a capacity involving significant assignments which have enhanced the employer's productivity, competitiveness, image or financial position; possesses knowledge which normally can be gained only through prior experience with that employer; or possesses knowledge of a product or process which cannot be easily transferred or taught to another individual.

TN Visa (TN-1) for Canadians/Mexicans to work in the United States

General Information about TN Status Since the effective date of January 1, 1994, (NAFTA) facilitates travel to and employment in the United States (U.S.) of certain Canadian and Mexican workers. NAFTA created TN classification for eligible Canadian and Mexican professional workers and affected terms of Canadians' admissions to the U.S. under other classifications. A TN position must require services of a NAFTA professional whose profession is noted in Appendix 1603.D.1 (see attached Appendix 1603.D.1); the TN employee must possess the credentials required as well as proof of qualifying citizenship. TN status allows unlimited multiple entries to the U.S. for the period of service required by the U.S. employer (includes foreign employers), up to a maximum of one year, extendible indefinitely as long as the temporary purpose of the employment continues.

There is no annual limit on Canadians granted TN status.

Self-Employment in the U.S. Not Permitted TN: Members of Appendix 1603.D.1 professions who are self-employed outside the U.S. may pursue business relationships from outside the U.S. (e.g. contracts for services) with U.S.-based companies and obtain TN status to engage in these prearranged activities in the U.S. However, under TN classification an alien is not permitted to come to the United States to engage in self-employment in the United States, nor to render services to a corporation or other entity in which he/she is a controlling owner or shareholder. Other NAFTA Admissions Categories Nationals Canada and Mexico may also seek admission as B-1 (business visitor), E-1 (treaty trader), E-2 (treaty investor), or L-1 (intra-company transferee) nonimmigrants under NAFTA. This bulletin does not address those alternatives.

TN Processing and Admissions Procedure Canadians may apply for TN-1 classification directly at a U.S. Class "A" port-of-entry, at a U.S. airport handling international traffic, or at a U.S. pre-flight/pre-clearance station in Canada1. Documentation must include:

• Proof of Canadian citizenship,
• $50 filing fee,
• Proof of required Appendix 1603.D credentials; and
• Letter from U.S. employer (or a sending employer in Canada) describing nature and duration of professional employment and salary/wages in the U.S2.

Canadian citizens are visa exempt and do not need consular visas to travel or apply for admission to the U.S. TN-1 applicants at land ports-of-entry must also pay a modest I-94 fee.

TN-2 non-immigrants from Mexico must be approved beneficiaries of I-129 petitions filed by prospective US employers and approved by the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Nebraska Service Center. Documentation must include:

• Proof of Mexican citizenship,
• Form ETA-90353 Labor Condition Attestation (LCA) certified by the US Labor Department,
• $130 filing fee,
• Proof of the purpose for entry, and proof of participation in a permitted NAFTA professional activity.

Mexicans applying for admission to the US under TN-2 classification must obtain visas at US consulates. Note that the above requirements will sunset on December 31, 2003. On and after January 1, 2004, Mexican TNs will file the necessary paperwork with a Department of State Consulate in Mexico in order to receive a TN visa. Visit the Department of State web site for more information on the procedures Mexican citizens must follow in order to obtain a TN visa.

Family Members Spouses and unmarried children under 21 of Canadian and Mexican professionals obtain TD status. They can be included on the application of the TN principal (no separate filing fees) and admitted for the same duration of stay. TD nonimmigrants may study in the US under this classification, but are not authorized for employment. Canadian dependents' eligibility may be adjudicated at a US port-of-entry. Although Mexican family members are automatically included in TN petitions filed at the Nebraska Service Center, they must file separate application for TD visas at US consulates. Note: Dependents are not required to be Canadian or Mexican citizens.

K Visas for immediate relatives

Even though these visas are issued to people who have the intent to immigrate permanently to the United States, they are still technically classified as nonimmigrant visas (temporary). U.S. citizens may petition the USCIS for a K temporary visa for fiancé(e)s, spouses and unmarried dependent children of said fiancé(e)s and spouses. In the case of fiancé(e)s, the K-1 visa will allow them to stay in the U.S. for 90 days to marry the petitioning citizen and apply for adjustment of status to legal permanent resident. If the marriage is not concluded within that time, the fiancé(e) will be subjected to removal proceedings. In the case of spouses, the K-3 visa is valid for two years and may be extended indefinitely as long as the marriage on which it is based is not dissolved. The holders of K-3 and K-4 status are eligible for work authorization and may leave and re-enter the United States as long as their visas are still valid.

V Visas and LIFE act for Spouses of Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card Holders)

Unification of Legal Permanent Residents, (LPRs, a.k.a. Green Card Holders) with their spouses continues to stay under the Radar Screens of policy makers. The issue of Lawful Permanent Residents torn from their families for years is not a new problem. A mechanism to unite families of LPRs was created by the Legal Immigration Family Equity Act of 2000 (the LIFE Act) by the introduction of a 'V Visa,' signed into law by President Bush. Unfortunately, it effectively expired and is no longer available.

Legal Permanent Residents who have opted to get married to foreigners are unable to be united with their spouses and young families. The foreign spouse of a US Green Card holder must wait for approval of an 'immigrant visa' from the State Department before entering the US. Due to a backlog in processing, such visas can take a upwards of five years to be approved. In the interim, the spouse cannot enter the US on any other visas, or as visitors. LPRs are in a uniquely disadvantaged situation:

• Visitors and non-immigrants coming to the US on temporary visas for work, business or studies (including on H1, L1, B, and F1 visas) can sponsor their dependant spouses to travel along with them.
• American Citizens can sponsor their spouses to come to the US in non-immigrant status and then convert to an immigrant status under the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act (the "LIFE Act")

The V visa page has more details on the V visa as enacted by the LIFE Act.

Adjustment of Status

Adjustment of status is the final step of what is commonly called the green card process, i.e. that of becoming a legal permanent resident. It requires that the foreign national in question file an I-485 Application for Adjustment of Status, most often based on a preexisting and approved or approvable I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker or I-130 Petition for Alien Relative. Due to comprehensive immigration reform in 2002, I-485 applications and I-130 or I-140 petitions may be filed concurrently given the immediate availability of an immigrant visa number. The application must be filed with an I-693 Medical Examination of Alien issued by a licensed Civil Surgeon and a G-325A Biographic Information form, which documents provide a complete medical and immunological history as well as a record of the foreign national's places of employment and residence for the last five years. The USCIS then sets a date for the foreign national to have their fingerprints, picture and signature recorded for their FBI background check and entry in the USCIS database. An interview with an USCIS officer is required in the vast majority of cases.

A pending adjustment of status application entitles the applicant to work and travel authorization in the forms of an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) card and Advance Parole documents that must be renewed on a yearly basis. The application may be considered abandoned if the applicant does not attend a biometrics appointment or interview. Applications may also be denied for any of the following reasons:

1. The underlying immigrant petition is denied or withdrawn
2. The applicant is found to have entered or resided in the United States illegally (although this is waived for one who originally entered with a valid visa and is an immediate relative of the US citizen-petitioner)
3. The applicant is judged as undesirable on the grounds of prior criminal convictions, affiliation with unsuitable political parties or organizations (e.g. former members of the Communist Party), poor character or debilitating health problems, as well as other grounds.

If an adjustment application is approved, a permanent residency card (green card) valid for ten years is issued to the applicant. Legal permanent residents (LPRs) are free to work and reside in the United States and may leave and re-enter without a visa although they are required to present the green card at the port-of-entry to an immigration officer. After five years LPRs are eligible to apply for naturalization, except that an LPR who obtained the green card through marriage may apply for naturalization after three years if he or she is still living with the same spouse who originally filed the petition for the LPR.

Political asylum

In contrast to economic refugees, who generally do not gain legal admission, other classes of refugees can gain legal status through a process of seeking and receiving political asylum, either by being designated a refugee while abroad or by physically entering the United States and requesting asylee status thereafter.

Asylum is offered as part of the United States' obligation under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Under these agreements, a refugee is a person who is outside his or her country of nationality (or place of habitual residence if stateless) who, owing to a fear of persecution on account of a protected ground, is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the state. Protected grounds include race, nationality, religion, political opinion and membership of a particular social group. The signatories to these agreements are obliged not to return or "refoul" refugees to the place where they would face persecution.

Advocates of refugee protection claim that for the most part, such persons are fleeing warfare; escaping persecution based on political or religious beliefs; or are victims of torture in their countries of origin. Critics claim the process has been widely abused and large numbers of people claim persecution simply to obtain the benefits of living in the United States. The primary benefit for such an asylum applicant is the eligibility for a work permit (employment authorization) by simply filing an application for asylum with USCIS (former INS). To the later dismay of a large number of these applicants, however, if their claims of persecution are not backed up by genuine evidence or proofs, the claims are eventually denied and they are placed in removal (deportation) proceedings in the Immigration Court. Since the effective date of the 1996 IIRIRA legislation, an applicant must apply for asylum within one year of entry or be barred from doing so unless there were certain exceptional circumstances. Some asylum cases have been also granted based on sexual orientation or gender, where cultural norms of the home country create and sustain conditions that make life unsafe or unbearable for the individual.

As of 2004, recipients of political asylum faced a wait of approximately 14 years to receive permanent resident status after receiving their initial asylee status, because of an annual cap of 10,000 green cards for this class of individuals. However, in May 2005, under the terms of a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit, Ngwanyia v. Gonzales, brought on behalf of asylees against USCIS, the government agreed to make available an additional 31,000 green cards for asylees during the period ending on September 30, 2007. This is in addition to the 10,000 green cards allocated for each year until then. This should speed up the green card waiting time considerably for asylees. However, the issue is rendered somewhat moot, since the enactment of the REAL ID Act of 2005 (Division B of United States Public Law 109-13 (H.R. 1268)) eliminated the cap on annual asylee green cards and currently an asylee who has continuously resided in the US for more than one year in that status has an immediately available visa number.

Miscellaneous legal immigration

In removal proceedings (deportation) in front of an immigration judge, cancellation of removal is a form of relief that is available for certain long-time residents of the United States. It allows a person being faced with the threat of removal to obtain permanent residence if that person: (1) has been physically present in the U.S. for at least ten years, (2) has had good moral character during that period, (3) has not been convicted of certain crimes, and (4) can show that removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to his or her US citizen/permanent resident spouse, children, or parent. Unfortunately, this form of relief is only available when a person is served with a Notice to Appear (like a civil summons) to appear in the proceedings in the Immigration Court. Many persons have received their green cards in this way even though removal or deportation was looming.

Member of Congress may submit private bills granting residency to specific named individuals. A special committee vets the requests, which require extensive documentation. Congress has bestowed the title of "Honorary Citizen of the United States" to six people. The only two living recipients were Winston Churchill and Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa), the other instances were posthumous honors.

The Central Intelligence Agency has the statutory authority to admit up to one hundred people a year outside of normal immigration procedures, and to provide for their settlement and support. The program is called "PL110" after the legislation that created the agency, Public Law 110, the Central Intelligence Agency Act.

Illegal immigration

One consequence of laws restricting the number and ethnicity of persons entering the USA is a phenomenon referred to as illegal immigration, in which persons enter a country and obtain work without legal sanction. In some cases, this is accomplished by entering the country legally with a visa, and then simply choosing not to leave upon expiration of the visa. In other cases people enter the country surreptitiously without ever obtaining a visa.

Much of the controversy today with immigration to the U.S. involves an increasing number of activists calling for a reduction in illegal immigration. Critics of these activists say that those who call for an end to "illegal immigration" really advocate an end to all immigration, but do not realize it. Two claims made against immigration reduction activists by those opposed to restrictions on immigration are:

1. All the problems associated with illegal immigration (race to the bottom in wages, etc.) also apply almost equally to legal immigrants.
2. They allegedly misunderstand the immigration process and do not realize that many immigrant workers who they see as replacing American citizens in jobs they can do have immigrated completely legally, albeit without citizenship (this number exceeds the number of illegal immigrants on a per-country basis).

On the other hand, those who would reduce immigration argue that illegal immigrants do not pay some taxes, yet they sometimes utilize the services and structures paid for by public money. All illegals pay the full range of sales taxes and (through landlords), property taxes. Most of them have such low incomes that they owe little or no federal income tax. They do owe a Social Security tax. If they are employees, their employer deducts payroll taxes (that is, income and Social Security taxes). Usually the illegals have a false Social Security number--easily obtainable--which means their Social Security taxes are paid, but they get no credit and no refund. When employers pay illegal as an "independent contractor" they are usually in the undertaxed or untaxed underground economy (as are many citizens and legals.)

The other side of the issue is how much the illegals receive in public services, such as police and fire protection, public schooling, and emergency hospital care. The estimates are highly uncertain. (Many critics count as a cost the schooling of American born children of immigrants, who of course are full citizens.) In terms of welfare benefits, most illegals are young (so few are old enough to receive Social Security or Medicare); since the Welfare Reform of 1996, few are eligible for welfare payments.

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The environmental consequences have been debated by a number of conservation advocacy groups including the Sierra Club and National Wildlife Federation. The latter focuses on world population control instead of the politics of immigration. They suggest that the illegals would be less of a burden on the environment if they stayed in Mexico, since they would be so much poorer there and able to purchase far less.

Political issues surrounding immigration

Debates over immigration numbers

In recent years a debate has arisen over the effect of high immigration levels into the United States on such issues as labor, wages, and ecology. A movement has emerged which supports lower levels of legal and illegal immigration into the U.S. The most important of these groups is the Federation for American Immigration Reform. See: immigration reduction. There is also the issue of illegal immigrants coming to the US and giving birth, thus having children who are American citizens.

Immigration in popular culture

The history of immigration to the United States of America is, according to the claims of some, the history of the United States itself and the journey from beyond the sea is an element found in the American myth, appearing over and over again in everything from The Godfather to Gangs of New York to "The Song of Myself" to Neil Diamond's "America" to the animated feature An American Tail.

See also

• European colonization of the Americas
• Demographics of the United States
• Ellis Island
• Citizenship
• Emigration
• Immigration
• Nationality
• Naturalization
• List of United States Immigration Acts
• Chinese American (includes lengthy history of Chinese immigration to the United states)
• Thai immigration to the United States
• Finnish immigration to North America

References

1. ^ NWF Population and Environment Key Resources [1].

Secondary sources

• Archdeacon, Thomas J. Becoming American: An Ethnic History (1984)
• Berthoff. Rowland Tappan. British Immigrants in Industrial America, 1790-1950 (1953).
• Bodnar, John. The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America Indiana University Press, (1985)
• Briggs, John. An Italian Passage: Immigrants to Three American Cities, 1890-1930 Yale University Press, (1978)
• Daniels, Roger. Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since 1850 University of Washington Press, (1988)
• Daniels, Roger. Coming to America 2nd ed. (2002)
• Daniels, Roger. Guarding the Golden Door : American Immigration Policy and Immigrants since 1882 (2005)
• Diner, Hasia. The Jews of the United States, 1654 to 2000 (2004)
• Diner, Hasia. Hungering for America : Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration (2003)
• Eltis, David; Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives (2002) emphasis on migration to Americas before 1800
• Gjerde, Jon, ed. Major Problems in American Immigration and Ethnic History (1998) primary sources and excerpts from scholars.
• Glazier, Michael, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Irish in America (1999), articles by over 200 experts, covering both Catholics and Protestants.
• Greene, Victor R. A Singing Ambivalence: American Immigrants Between Old World and New, 1830-1930 (2004), coving musical traditions
• Joseph, Samuel; Jewish Immigration to the United States from 1881 to 1910 Columbia University Press, (1914)
• Kulikoff, Allan; From British Peasants to Colonial American Farmers (2000), details on colonial immigration
• Meagher, Timothy J. The Columbia Guide to Irish American History. (2005)
• Miller, Kerby M. Emigrants and Exiles (1985), influential scholarly interpretation of Irish immigration
• Henry A. Pochmann, and Arthur R. Schultz; German Culture in America, 1600-1900: Philosophical and Literary Influences (1957)
• Sowell, Thomas. Ethnic America: A History (1981), by a conservative economist
• Thernstrom, Stephan, ed. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (1980) (ISBN 0674375122), the standard reference, covering all major groups and most minor groups
• U.S. Immigration Commission, Abstracts of Reports, 2 vols. (1911),
• Carl Wittke, We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant (1939), covers all major groups
• Yans-McLaughlin, Virginia ed. Immigration Reconsidered: History, Sociology, and Politics Oxford University Press. (1990)

Recent: post 1965

• Bogen, Elizabeth. Immigration in New York (1987)
• Bommes, Michael and Andrew Geddes. Immigration and Welfare: Challenging the Borders of the Welfare State (2000)
• Borjas, George. Friends or Strangers (1990)
• Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Immigration Policy and the America Labor Force John Hopkins University Press, 1984.
• Briggs, Vernon M., Jr. Mass Immigration and the National Interest (1992)
• Fawcett, James T., and Benjamin V. Carino. Pacific Bridges: The New Immigration from Asia and the Pacific Islands . New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1987.
• Foner, Nancy. In A New Land: A Comparative View Of Immigration (2005)
• Levinson, David and Melvin Ember, eds. American Immigrant Cultures 2 vol (1997) covers all major and minor groups
• Meier, Matt S. and Gutierrez, Margo, eds. The Mexican American Experience : An Encyclopedia (2003) (ISBN 0313316430)
• Portes, Alejandro, and Robert L. Bach. Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
• Portes, Alejandro, and Jozsef Borocz. "Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on Its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation." International Migration Review 23 (1989): 606-30.
• Portes, Alejandro, and Ruben Rumbaut. Immigrant America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
• Reimers, David. Still the Golden Door: The Third World Comes to America Columbia University Press, (1985).
• Smith, James P, and Barry Edmonston, eds. The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration (1998), online version
• Yang, Philip Q. Immigration to the United States: Structural Determinants (1995), statistical

External links

History

• Asian-Nation: Early Asian Immigration to the U.S.
• European Immigration to the United States
• Cyndi's List - Immigration & Naturalization
• U.S Immigration Records & Passenger Lists Research Guide 1820-1940s
• Network for German (Westphalian) Emigration to America since the 19th Century
• The Education of Immigrant Children in New York City
• One Chinese American Family's Story about coming to American under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
• Irish Catholic Immigration to America
• Scotch-Irish Immigration to Colonial America

Immigration policy

• American Immigration Law Foundation - Immigration Policy Center
• Brookings Institute: Immigration Policy webpage
• Carrying Capacity Network
• Read Congressonal Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Immigration
• Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies - Immigration webpage
• Center for Immigration Studies
• Coalición de Derechos Humanos
• Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America
• Fair Immigration Reform Movement
• Federation for American Immigration Reform
• Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition
• The Legalization Site
• Lonewacko: Immigration category
• Migration Policy Institute
• National Immigration Forum
• National Immigration Law Center
• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
• New American Opportunity Campaign
• NumbersUSA
• Population-Environment-Balance
• Project USA
• Rights Working Group
• U.S. Immigration.
• Urban Institute: Immigration Studies webpage
• VDARE
• ZaZona
• unitefamilies.org Lobby group working towards introduction of a 'V Visa'

Current immigration

• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
• Cornell University's Legal Information Institute: Immigration
• TN Visa Problems to Watch Out For

The 1850 United States census was the first federal U.S. census to query about the "nativity" of citizens—where they were born, either in the United States or outside of it—and is thus the first point at which solid statistics become available. From the U.S. Census [2], this chart shows the place of birth of the non-native population. Note that the same immigrant will be counted in each census during which they lived, so the numbers are of the cumulative number of living non-native citizens.

Table 4.	Region and Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population, With Geographic Detail Shown in Decennial Census Publications of 1930 or Earlier: 1850 to 1930 and 1960 to 1990
	Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census Internet Release date: March 9, 1999 (See text for sources, definitions, and explanations)

<TR ALIGN="right">

Line number		Region and country or area	1990*	1980*	1970*	1960*
1		Total	19,767,316	14,079,906	9,619,302	9,738,091
2		Reported by region and/or country	18,959,158	13,192,563	9,303,570	9,678,201
3		Europe	4,350,403	5,149,572	5,740,891	7,256,311
4		Northern and Western Europe	2,058,853	2,384,257	2,629,200	3,334,971
5		Northern Europe	968,271	1,083,499	1,271,591	1,694,430
6		British Isles	809,972	866,966	937,474	1,171,777
7		United Kingdom	640,145	669,149	686,099	833,055
8		Great Britain	623,614	649,318	645,262	764,893
9		England	405,588	442,499	458,114	528,205
10		Scotland	104,168	142,001	170,134	213,219
11		Wales	10,638	13,528	17,014	23,469
12		Great Britain n.e.c.	103,220	51,290	(NA)	(NA)
13		Northern Ireland	16,531	19,831	40,837	68,162
14		Ireland	169,827	197,817	251,375	338,722
15		Scandinavia	158,299	216,533	334,117	522,653
16		Denmark	34,999	42,732	61,410	85,060
17		Finland	22,313	29,172	45,499	67,624
18		Iceland	5,071	4,156	2,895	2,780
19		Norway	42,240	63,316	97,243	152,698
20		Sweden	53,676	77,157	127,070	214,491
21		Western Europe	1,090,582	1,300,758	1,357,609	1,640,541
22		Low countries	132,617	142,748	155,513	173,069
23		Belgium	34,366	36,487	41,412	50,294
24		Luxembourg	2,053	3,125	3,531	4,360
25		Netherlands	96,198	103,136	110,570	118,415
26		Austria	87,673	145,607	214,014	304,507
27		France	119,233	120,215	105,385	111,582
28		Germany	711,929	849,384	832,965	989,815
29		Switzerland	39,130	42,804	49,732	61,568
30		Other Western Europe	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
31		Southern and Eastern Europe	2,285,513	2,748,547	3,090,991	3,907,020
32		Southern Europe	1,054,141	1,336,805	1,363,195	1,541,441
33		Greece	177,398	210,998	177,275	159,167
34		Italy	580,592	831,922	1,008,533	1,256,999
35		Portugal	210,122	209,968	119,899	80,276
36		Azores	29,656	32,531	28,865	22,586
37		Portugal	180,466	177,437	91,034	57,690
38		Spain	76,415	73,735	57,488	44,999
39		Other Southern Europe	9,614	10,182	(NA)	(NA)
40		Eastern Europe	1,231,372	1,411,742	1,727,796	2,365,579
41		Albania	5,627	7,381	9,180	9,618
42		Bulgaria	8,579	8,463	8,609	8,223
43		Czechoslovakia	87,020	112,707	160,899	227,618
44		Estonia	9,210	12,169	12,163	13,991
45		Hungary	110,337	144,368	183,236	245,252
46		Latvia	26,179	34,349	41,707	50,681
47		Lithuania	29,745	48,194	76,001	121,475
48		Poland	388,328	418,128	548,107	747,750
49		Romania	91,106	66,994	70,687	84,575
50		Soviet Union	333,725	406,022	463,462	690,598
51		Turkey in Europe	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
52		Yugoslavia	141,516	152,967	153,745	165,798
53		Other Eastern Europe	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
54		Europe n.e.c.	6,037	16,768	20,700	14,320
55		Asia	4,979,037	2,539,777	824,887	490,996
56		Armenia	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)
57		China 1/	529,837	286,120	172,132	99,735
58		India	450,406	206,087	51,000	12,296
59		Japan	290,128	221,794	120,235	109,175
60		Palestine	21,070	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
61		Syria	36,782	22,081	14,962	16,717
62		Turkey in Asia	55,087	51,915	48,085	52,228
63		Other Asia	3,595,727	1,751,780	418,473	200,845
64		Africa	363,819	199,723	80,143	35,355
65		Africa excl. Atlantic Islands	349,451	189,266	61,463	27,053
66		Atlantic Islands	14,368	10,457	18,680	8,302
67		Oceania	104,145	77,577	41,258	34,730
68		Australia	42,267	36,120	24,271	22,209
69		Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)
70		Other Oceania	61,878	41,457	16,987	12,521
71		Latin America	8,407,837	4,372,487	1,803,970	908,309
72		Caribbean	1,938,348	1,258,363	675,108	193,922
73		Cuba	736,971	607,814	439,048	79,150
74		Other Caribbean	1,201,377	650,549	236,060	114,772
75		Central America	5,431,992	2,553,113	873,624	624,851
76		Mexico	4,298,014	2,199,221	759,711	575,902
77		Other Central America	1,133,978	353,892	113,913	48,949
78		South America	1,037,497	561,011	255,238	89,536
79		Northern America	753,917	853,427	812,421	952,500
80		Canada	744,830	842,859	812,421	952,500
81		Canada-French	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
82		Canada-Other	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
83		Newfoundland	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
84		Other Northern America	9,087	10,568	(NA)	(NA)
85		Region or country not reported	808,158	887,343	315,732	59,890
86		Born at sea	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
87		Not reported	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)

Line number		Region and country or area	1930	1920	1910	1900	1890	1880	1870	1860	1850		Line number
1		Total	14,204,149	13,920,692	13,515,886	10,341,276	9,249,547	6,679,943	5,567,229	4,138,697	2,244,602		1
2		Reported by region and/or country	14,197,553	13,911,767	13,506,272	10,330,534	9,243,535	6,675,875	5,563,637	4,134,809	2,202,625		2
3		Europe	11,784,010	11,916,048	11,810,115	8,881,548	8,030,347	5,751,823	4,941,049	3,807,062	2,031,867		3
4		Northern and Western Europe	5,850,256	6,241,916	7,306,325	7,204,649	7,288,917	5,499,889	4,845,679	3,773,347	2,022,195		4
5		Northern Europe	3,415,551	3,501,149	3,953,947	3,917,815	4,056,160	3,212,431	2,867,926	2,271,661	1,358,887		5
6		British Isles	2,147,733	2,172,723	2,573,534	2,783,082	3,122,911	2,772,169	2,626,241	2,199,079	1,340,812		6
7		United Kingdom	1,402,923	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)		7
8		Great Britain	1,224,091	1,135,489	1,221,283	1,167,623	1,251,402	917,598	770,414	587,775	379,093		8
9		England	809,563	813,853	877,719	840,513	908,141	662,676	550,924	431,692	278,675		9
10		Scotland	354,323	254,570	261,076	233,524	242,231	170,136	140,835	108,518	70,550		10
11		Wales	60,205	67,066	82,488	93,586	100,079	83,302	74,533	45,763	29,868		11
12		Great Britain n.e.c.	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	951	1,484	4,122	1,802	(NA)		12
13		Northern Ireland	178,832	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)		13
14		Ireland	744,810	1,037,234	1,352,251	1,615,459	1,871,509	1,854,571	1,855,827	1,611,304	961,719		14
15		Scandinavia	1,267,818	1,328,426	1,380,413	1,134,733	933,249	440,262	241,685	72,582	18,075		15
16		Denmark	179,474	189,154	181,649	153,690	132,543	64,196	30,107	9,962	1,838		16
17		Finland	142,478	149,824	129,680	62,641	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		17
18		Iceland	2,764	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		18
19		Norway	347,852	363,863	403,877	336,388	322,665	181,729	114,246	43,995	12,678		19
20		Sweden	595,250	625,585	665,207	582,014	478,041	194,337	97,332	18,625	3,559		20
21		Western Europe	2,434,705	2,740,767	3,352,378	3,286,834	3,232,757	2,287,458	1,977,753	1,501,686	663,308		21
22		Low countries	206,375	207,038	172,534	127,719	107,349	86,461	65,157	37,353	11,161		22
23		Belgium	64,194	62,687	49,400	29,757	22,639	15,535	12,553	9,072	1,313		23
24		Luxembourg	9,048	12,585	3,071	3,031	2,882	12,836	5,802	(NA)	(NA)		24
25		Netherlands	133,133	131,766	120,063	94,931	81,828	58,090	46,802	28,281	9,848		25
26		Austria	370,914	575,627	626,341	275,907	123,271	38,663	30,508	25,061	946		26
27		France	135,592	153,072	117,418	104,197	113,174	106,971	116,402	109,870	54,069		27
28		Germany	1,608,814	1,686,108	2,311,237	2,663,418	2,784,894	1,966,742	1,690,533	1,276,075	583,774		28
29		Switzerland	113,010	118,659	124,848	115,593	104,069	88,621	75,153	53,327	13,358		29
30		Other Western Europe	(NA)	263	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		30
31		Southern and Eastern Europe	5,918,982	5,670,927	4,500,932	1,674,648	728,851	248,620	93,824	32,312	9,672		31
32		Southern Europe	2,133,092	1,939,600	1,544,149	539,968	216,387	66,249	30,416	21,726	8,152		32
33		Greece	174,526	175,976	101,282	8,515</TD>	1,887	776	390	328	86		33
34		Italy	1,790,429	1,610,113	1,343,125	484,027	182,580	44,230	17,157	11,677	3,679		34
35		Portugal	108,775	103,976	77,634	40,376	25,735	15,650	8,973	5,477	1,274		35
36		Azores	35,611	33,995	18,274	9,768	9,739	7,512	4,431	1,361	(NA)		36
37		Portugal	73,164	69,981	59,360	30,608	15,996	8,138	4,542	4,116	1,274		37
38		Spain	59,362	49,535	22,108	7,050	6,185	5,121	3,764	4,244	3,113		38
39		Other Southern Europe	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	472	132	(NA)	(NA)		39
40		Eastern Europe	3,785,890	3,731,327	2,956,783	1,134,680	512,464	182,371	63,408	10,586	1,520		40
41		Albania	8,814	5,608	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		41
42		Bulgaria	9,399	10,477	11,498	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		42
43		Czechoslovakia	491,638	362,438	219,214	156,891	118,106	85,361	40,289	(NA)	(NA)		43
44		Estonia	3,550	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		44
45		Hungary	274,450	397,283	495,609	145,714	62,435	11,526	3,737	(NA)	(NA)		45
46		Latvia	20,673	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		46
47		Lithuania	193,606	135,068	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		47
48		Poland	1,268,583	1,139,979	937,884	383,407	147,440	48,557	14,436	7,298	(NA)		48
49		Romania	146,393	102,823	65,923	15,032	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		49
50		Soviet Union	1,153,628	1,400,495	1,184,412	423,726	182,644	35,722	4,644	3,160	1,414		50
51		Turkey in Europe	2,257	5,284	32,230	9,910	1,839	1,205	302	128	106		51
52		Yugoslavia	211,416	169,439	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		52
53		Other Eastern Europe	1,483	2,433	10,013	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		53
54		Europe n.e.c.	14,772	3,205	2,858	2,251	12,579	3,314	1,546	1,403	(NA)		54
55		Asia	275,665	237,950	191,484	120,248	113,383	107,630	64,565	36,796	1,135		55
56		Armenia	32,166	36,628	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		56
57		China 1/	46,129	43,560	56,756	81,534	106,688	104,468	63,042	35,565	758		57
58		India	5,850	4,901	4,664	2,031	2,143	1,707	586	(NA)	(NA)		58
59		Japan	70,993	81,502	67,744	24,788	2,292	401	73	(NA)	(NA)		59
60		Palestine	6,137	3,203	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		60
61		Syria	57,227	51,901	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		61
62		Turkey in Asia	46,654	11,019	59,729	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		62
63		Other Asia	10,509	5,236	2,591	11,895	2,260	1,054	864	1,231	377		63
64		Africa	18,326	16,126	3,992	2,538	2,207	2,204	2,657	526	551		64
65		Africa excl. Atlantic Islands	8,859	5,781	3,992	2,538	2,207	2,204	2,657	526	551		65
66		Atlantic Islands	9,467	10,345	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		66
67		Oceania	17,343	14,626	11,450	8,820	9,353	6,859	4,028	2,140	588		67
68		Australia	12,816	10,914	9,035	6,807	5,984	4,906	3,118	1,419	(NA)		68
69		Sandwich Islands (Hawaii)	(X)	(X)	(X)	(X)	1,304	1,147	584	435	588		69
70		Other Oceania	4,527	3,712	2,415	2,013	2,065	806	326	286	(NA)		70
71		Latin America	791,840	588,843	279,514	137,458	107,307	90,073	57,871	38,315	20,773		71
72		Caribbean	106,241	78,962	47,635	25,435	23,256	16,401	11,570	7,353	5,772		72
73		Cuba	18,493	14,872	15,133	11,081	(NA)	6,917	5,319	(NA)	(NA)		73
74		Other Caribbean	87,748	64,090	32,502	14,354	(NA)	9,484	6,251	(NA)	(NA)		74
75		Central America	651,976	491,330	223,651	107,290	79,045	69,106	42,736	27,699	13,458		75
76		Mexico	641,462	486,418	221,915	103,393	77,853	68,399	42,435	27,466	13,317		76
77		Other Central America	10,514	4,912	1,736	3,897	1,192	707	301	233	141		77
78		South America	33,623	18,551	8,228	4,733	5,006	4,566	3,565	3,263	1,543		78
79		Northern America	1,310,369	1,138,174	1,209,717	1,179,922	980,938	717,286	493,467	249,970	147,711		79
80		Canada	1,310,369	1,138,174	1,209,717	1,179,922	980,938	717,157	493,464	249,970	147,711		80
81		Canada-French	370,852	307,786	385,083	395,126	302,496	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		81
82		Canada-Other	915,537	817,139	819,554	784,796	678,442	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		82
83		Newfoundland	23,980	13,249	5,080	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)		83
84		Other Northern America	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	129	3	(NA)	(NA)		84
85		Region or country not reported	6,596	8,925	9,614	10,742	6,012	4,068	3,592	3,888	41,977		85
86		Born at sea	5,008	5,336	6,927	8,196	5,533	4,068	2,638	2,522	(NA)		86
87		Not reported	1,588	3,589	2,687	2,546	479	-	954	1,366	41,977		87

• Indicates sample data.
  

(NA) Not available.
n.e.c. Not elsewhere classified.
1/ Prior to 1980, Taiwan included with China. See Table 3. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division [3]

External links

• US Immigration: 1820 to 1998
  
• Immigrants Admitted, by Class of Admission, from the 2000 census
  
• Immigrants, by Country of Birth, from the 2000 census
• Immigrants Admitted as Permanent Residents Under Refugee Acts, by Country of Birth
• Immigrants Admitted, by Leading Country of Birth and State