Report on Permanent Residency Admissions

Last week we discussed the recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on unauthorized aliens.    Today, we discuss the companion CRS report, analyzing the permanent residency admissions to the U.S.   Both reports are helpful in providing some current information on the state of the U.S. immigration system and on the conflicting priorities which are likely to be part of the new comprehensive immigration reform, if and when it happens.

CRS Report on Permanent Admissions

The U.S. permanent admission policy is driven by four major principles: the reunification of families (family-based), the admission of immigrants with needed skills (employment-based), the protection of refugees (asylum), and the diversity of admissions by country of origin (DV lottery).

The CRS report on permanent admissions seeks to analyze the legal permanent residents (LPRs or green card holders) population in the U.S.   By way of contrast to the CRS report on unauthorized aliens, statistics on the permanent resident population and recent admissions are readily available and accurate.

During FY2008, a total of 1.1 million aliens became LPRs in the United States. Of this total, 64.7% entered on the basis of family ties.  Other major categories in FY2008 were employment-based LPRs (including spouses and children) at 15.0%, and refugees/asylees adjusting to LPR status at 15.0%. Over 17% of all LPRs come from Mexico, which sent 189,989 LPRs in FY2008.

Adjustment of Status v. Consular Processing

Many LPRs are adjusting status from within the United States rather than receiving visas issued abroad by Consular Affairs before they arrive in the United States. In the past decade, the number of LPRs arriving from abroad has remained somewhat steady, hovering between a high of 421,405 in FY1996 and a low of 358,411 in FY2003. Adjustments to LPR status in the United States has fluctuated over the same period, from a low of 244,793 in FY1999 to a high of 819, 248 in FY2006.

Approximately 58% (or 640,568) of all LPRs admitted in 2008 adjusted their status in the U.S. as opposed to going through consular processing abroad.     Most (89.8%) of the employment-based immigrants adjusted to LPR status within the United States in FY2008. Many (51.4%) of the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens also did so that year. Only
25.0% of the other family-preference immigrants adjusted to LPR status within the United States in FY2008.

Country Breakdown

In FY2008, Mexico led all countries with 189,989 foreign nationals who became LPRs. The People Republic of China followed at a distant second with 80,271 LPRs. India followed with 63,352 LPRs. The Philippines came in fourth with 54,030 LPRs. Three of these top countries exceeded the per-country ceiling for preference immigrants because they benefitted from special exceptions to the per-country ceilings. Mexico did so as a result of the provision in INA that allows 75% of family second preference (i.e., spouses and children of LPRs) to exceed the per-country ceiling, while India and China exceeded the ceiling through the exception to the employment-based per-country limits.