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| FAQ: Why Support Immigrant Services |
- Who Is an Immigrant? How many immigrants come to the US each year?
According to U.S. law, an immigrant is a foreign-born individual who has been admitted to reside permanently in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).
- Why do immigrants come to the US?
- Most immigrants – about three quarters – come to join close family members. Through family-sponsored immigration, a U.S. citizen can sponsor his or her foreign-born spouse, parent (if the sponsor is over the age of 21), minor and adult married and unmarried children, and brothers and sisters. A Lawful Permanent Resident can sponsor his or her spouse, minor children, and adult unmarried children.
- Some immigrants come to the U.S. because of employment opportunities. Through employment-based immigration, a U.S. employer can sponsor an individual for a specific position where there is a demonstrated absence of U.S. workers.
- By winning one of a limited number of immigrant visas available in the annual diversity visa lottery that is open to immigrants from certain countries.
- Others come to the United States to seek protection from persecution. A refugee is a person outside of the United States who seeks protection on the grounds that he or she fears persecution in his or her homeland. To obtain refugee status, a person must prove that he or she has a "well-founded fear of persecution" on the basis of at least one of five specifically-enumerated and internationally recognized grounds. Those grounds include the person's race, religion, membership in a social group, political opinion, or national origin.
- A person who has already entered the United States, and who fears persecution if sent back to his or her country, may apply for asylum here. Once granted asylum, the person is called an "asylee." Like a refugee, an asylum applicant must also prove that he or she has a "well-founded fear of persecution" based on the same enumerated grounds. Both refugees and asylees may apply to become LPRs after one year.
- How many are undocumented?
Most immigrants – about 75% - come to the US legally. Many undocumented immigrants don’t come to the US by crossing a border illegally. In fact, four out of ten enter legally with student, tourist, business or some other temporary visa and become “illegal” when they stay in the US after their visa expires.
- Where do immigrants live in Massachusetts and New Hampshire?
772,983 people in Massachusetts, or 12.2% of the population, is foreign-born. 17.6% of the population over 5 years of age speaks a language other than English at home. Immigrants represent 25.5% of the population in Suffolk County (where IIBoston is located) and 15.2% of the population of Middlesex County (where IILowell is located). Immigrants are also highly represented in Essex County (11.3%), Bristol County (11/7%) and Norfolk County (11.8%).
54,143 people in New Hampshire, or 4.3% of the population, is foreign-born. 7.6% of the population over 5 years of age speaks a language other than English at home. Immigrants represent 6.8% of the population in Hillsborough County (where II New Hampshire is located).
- Where do Immigrants come from?
In 1998, the “Top Ten” countries from which the US received legal immigrants were: Mexico (130,661), China (41,034), India (34,288), Philippines (33,176), Dominican Republic (20,267), Vietnam (16,534), Cuba (15,415), Jamaica (14,819), El Salvador (14,329) and Canada (14,295).
In 2000, the “Top Ten” places from which refugees fled and were resettled in the US were: Bosnia and Hercegovina, the Former Soviet Union, Somalia, Iran, Vietnam, Sudan, Cuba, Iraq, Croatia and Liberia.
- How do immigrants contribute to our economy?
Immigrants wear many hats in American society. They are family members, students, workers, business owners, investors, clergymen, and members of the armed services-to name just a few of their roles. According to the most comprehensive study ever done on immigrants, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) found that in all their combined roles, immigrants make indispensable contributions to our economy. They compose an increasingly essential proportion of our workforce.
Immigrants are a Plus for our Economy – Immigrants and their children bring long-term economic benefits to the United States as a whole. Immigrants add about $10 billion each year to the U.S. economy.
Immigrants Pay Their Way – By conservative estimates, immigrant households paid an estimated $133 billion in direct taxes to federal, state, and local governments in 1997. The typical immigrant and his or her descendants pay an estimated $80,000 more in taxes than they will receive in local, state, and federal benefits over their lifetimes.
Immigrant-Founded Businesses Are an Important Revenue Source – Businesses founded by immigrants are a source of substantial economic and fiscal gain for U.S. citizens. Ten high-tech firms founded by immigrants, generated $28 billion in revenues in 1996. These and other businesses started by immigrants add at least another $29 billion to the total amount of taxes paid by immigrants.
As They Assimilate, Immigrants Become Net Economic Contributors – Immigrants’ earnings rise over time as they climb the economic ladder of success in America. In their first years in the United States, immigrants typically are a net cost to the country, but over time— usually after 10 to 15 years in the United States—they turn into net contributors.
An Education and Training Windfall – Most immigrants arrive in the United States in the prime of their working years. More than 70 percent of immigrants are over the age of 18 when they arrive in the United States. That means there are roughly 17.5 million immigrants in the United States today whose education and upbringing were paid for by the citizens of the sending country, not American taxpayers. The windfall to the United States of obtaining this human capital at no expense to American taxpayers is roughly $1.43 trillion. This makes immigrants a fiscal bargain for our country.
Immigrant Workers are Essential to the U.S. Economy – During the recent unprecedented expansion in the American economy, immigrant workers were essential in filling jobs ranging from computer programmers to hotel and restaurant workers. As America's workforce ages, and the "baby boomers" retire, immigrants will again play an essential role in reducing a long-term projected labor shortage. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that between 1998 and 2008, the number of jobs will increase by 20 million, but the number of workers will increase by just 17 million. In Massachusetts, immigrants were responsible for 82% of the growth in the labor force from the mid-1980s to 1997.
Immigrants Are Net Contributors to Social Security and Medicare – The total net benefit (taxes paid over benefits received) to the Social Security system in today’s dollars from continuing current levels of immigration is nearly $500 billion for the 1998-2022 period and nearly $2.0 trillion through 2072. Our population is aging, and each worker will be supporting a growing population of retirees. Immigrant workers will be an essential component to solving the long-term problem of financing Social Security.
Beyond Fiscal Calculations –Immigrants contribute to America life in many ways other than the size of their tax payments and the amount they pump into our economy. Their enrichment of our culture and the overall vitality they bring to American society are immeasurable in fiscal terms. They are a vital benefit to all Americans.
- How do immigrants become citizens?
One third of the foreign-born population in the US in 2000 were naturalized citizens.
Naturalization is the process by which eligible legal immigrants become U.S. citizens. Through the naturalization process, immigrants display a willingness to become full members of our society. The process is not an easy one. It requires that immigrants live in the U.S. for a certain number of years, learn our language, study our history and government, show that they are of "good moral character" and have not committed serious crimes and, finally, swear allegiance to the United States. Over time, most immigrants become citizens.
An applicant for citizenship must be at least 18 years of age, and must have resided continuously in the U.S. as a Legal Permanent Resident for at least five years prior to filing. Immigrants who have been married to a U.S. citizen for three years and immigrants who have been active in the armed forces can generally naturalize after just three years. (In 2002, President Bush issued an Executive Order expediting naturalization for noncitizens serving in active-duty during the “war on terrorism.”) Children who are adopted from another country to automatically have U.S. citizenship conferred to them as long as one or both parents are U.S. citizens, the child is under 18, and the child is legally residing in the U.S. with the U.S. citizen parent or parents.
Immigrants must be of "good moral character," usually determined by checking with the FBI for any record of a criminal background. A person must also demonstrate an ability to speak, read, and write ordinary English and have a general understanding of U.S. government and history. Long-time older permanent residents are exempt from the English requirement if they are 50 years or older and have been living in the U.S. for at least 20 years, or if they are 55 years or older and have been living in the U.S. for at least 15 years. These immigrants must still demonstrate knowledge of U.S. history and government, but they may do so in their native language. Certain persons with disabilities are exempt from the requirement to demonstrate knowledge of U.S. history and government.
After submitting an application and fee to the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services
(BCIS), an appointment is made with the applicant to take his or her fingerprints, which are checked by the FBI. An interview is then scheduled with the applicant, during which a BCIS examiner reviews the application and determines if the applicant meets the requirements for U.S. citizenship. To demonstrate English proficiency and knowledge of U.S. history and government, the applicant must be prepared to answer several history and civics questions. They may also be asked to read a sentence or brief passage from a BCIS textbook, and to write a sentence dictated by the examiner.
Approved candidates for citizenship must take an Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance, giving up foreign allegiances and titles and swearing to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the U.S. If the person has a severe disability preventing him or her from understanding, or communicating an understanding of, the meaning of the Oath, the person may obtain a waiver of the Oath requirement. The final step in the naturalization process
Sources:
The majority of the information presented herein is copyright by the National Immigration Forum – http://www.immigrationforum.org/; for more information on immigration please click here to view their publication “2003 Basic Immigration Facts”.
Additional sources include US Citizenship and Immigration Services Data and http://www.uscis.gov/.
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