- "In absolute numbers, the United States has by far the highest number of immigrant population in the world, with 50,661,149 people as of 2019."
Step-by-step procedures involved while applying for permanent residency or citizenship including necessary documents, fees, eligibility criteria and timelines.
Immigration Policy: The general rules and regulations governing the admission and status of immigrants in a country.
Visa Types and Requirements: The different types of visas available and the requirements of each for obtaining various privileges such as work, study or tourist-related activities.
Federal and State Agencies: The different departments and agencies tasked with enforcing immigration laws and regulations including the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the US Citizenship and Immigration Service.
Immigration Law: The legal framework that governs the immigration process and how it operates from a legal standpoint.
Immigration Application Process: The various steps involved in applying for immigration including completing forms, filing applications, submitting documentation and attending interviews/tests.
Employment-Based Immigration: The process of obtaining a work permit, employment authorization and/or permanent residency based on employment factors such as a job offer from an employer in the country of resettlement.
Family-based Immigration: The process of sponsoring a family member for immigration including determining eligibility, submitting applications and completing legal requirements.
Asylum and Refugee Status: The process of seeking asylum and/or refugee status including making claims, filing applications and completing legal requirements to ensure protection from persecution or harm.
Naturalization and Citizenship: The process of obtaining citizenship that is open to immigrants who meet various requirements including residency, language and other criteria.
Immigration Enforcement: The process of enforcing immigration laws through law enforcement activities including border control, deportation, detention and prosecution.
Family-based immigration: This type of immigration allows U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to bring over their immediate and extended family members to live and work in the United States.
Employment-based immigration: This type of immigration allows U.S. employers to sponsor foreign workers for various types of employment visas. This includes temporary visas, such as the H-1B visa for skilled workers, and permanent residency visas, such as the EB-5 visa for investors.
Diversity visa lottery: This is a program that allows individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States to apply for a chance at a green card. Winners are chosen at random via a lottery system.
Asylum and refugee status: Asylum is a form of protection granted to individuals who are fleeing persecution or violence in their home country. Refugee status is similar, but it is for individuals who are already outside of their home country and unable to return due to persecution or the risk of death.
Citizenship: This is the process of becoming a legal U.S. citizen. This can be done through birthright, naturalization, or acquisition of citizenship through one's parents.
Special programs: This includes various programs that allow individuals to come to the United States for a specific purpose or period of time, such as the J-1 visa for cultural exchange programs or the F-1 visa for international students.
Humanitarian parole: This is a temporary form of admission to the United States that is granted to individuals who have urgent humanitarian reasons for coming to the country but do not meet the criteria for a visa or other form of admission.
TPS (Temporary Protected Status): This is a temporary form of protection given to individuals from countries experiencing armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions.
U visa for victims of crime: This is an immigration status that can be granted to individuals who have been victims of certain crimes and have cooperated with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of the crime.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): This is a program that provides temporary protection from deportation to individuals who were brought to the United States as children and meet certain eligibility criteria.
- "This represents 19.1% of the 244 million international migrants worldwide."
- "In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants in the United States."
- "Of these, 48% were the immediate relatives of United States citizens, 20% were family-sponsored, 13% were refugees or asylum seekers, 12% were employment-based preferences, 4.2% were part of the Diversity Immigrant Visa program..."
- "Between 1921 and 1965, policies such as the national origins formula limited immigration and naturalization opportunities for people from areas outside Northwestern Europe."
- "The civil rights movement led to the replacement of these ethnic quotas with per-country limits for family-sponsored and employment-based preference visas."
- "Between 2018 and 2021, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has quadrupled."
- "Census estimates show 45.3 million foreign born residents in the United States as of March 2018."
- "Some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens."
- "The United States led the world in refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined."
- "The evidence suggests that on average, immigration has positive economic effects on the native population."
- "It is mixed as to whether low-skilled immigration adversely affects low-skilled natives."
- "Studies also show that immigrants have lower crime rates than natives in the United States."
- "The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding such issues as maintaining ethnic homogeneity, workers for employers versus jobs for non-immigrants, settlement patterns, impact on upward social mobility, crime, and voting behavior."
- "This represents 14.4% of the United States' population."
- "The United States admitted a total of 1.18 million legal immigrants (618k new arrivals, 565k status adjustments) in 2016."
- "Of these, 48% were the immediate relatives of United States citizens, 20% were family-sponsored, 13% were refugees or asylum seekers, 12% were employment-based preferences..."
- "Census estimates show 45.4 million in September 2021, the lowest three-year increase in decades."
- "Exclusion laws enacted as early as the 1880s generally prohibited or severely restricted immigration from Asia..."
- "Quota laws enacted in the 1920s curtailed Southern and Eastern European immigration."