Mokhtari1

Tahereh Mokhtari
KimberlyStrickland
IntermediateCollegeWriting
September21,2015

1. ImmigrationhistoryinUSA
TheUnitedStatesofAmericahasbeenknownasalandofimmigration.The
majorwavesofimmigratescomingtotheUnitedStateswereduringthecolonialera
whichwasthefirstpartofthe19thcenturyandfromthe1880sto1920.TheUnited
StatesofAmericaexperiencedhundredsofthousandsofAfricanslaveimmigrantsfrom
the17thto19thcenturiesagainsttheirwill.Nowadays,AsiaandLatinAmericahavethe
majornumberofimmigrationstotheUnitedStatesinordertobecomeaU.S.citizen.

2. Whyimmigrate?
ThereareseveralreasonswhypeopleimmigratetotheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
Forreligiouspeoplethiscountryprovidesthefreedomtopracticetheirfavoritereligion.
Forsome,thiscountryprovidesshelterfromwarandconflict.Thesekindsofimmigrants
areoftenknownasrefugees.Foralargenumberofyoungpeoplefromthepoorerpartof
world,thiscountryoffersjobandeducationopportunities.Ingeneral,peopleimmigrate
totheU.Smainlybecauseinthiscountrypeoplesfromdifferentethnicity,religion,or
politicalopinionaretreatedwithrespectandbecauseitofferstheopportunitytobuilda
betterlifecondition,betterfutureandbetterenvironmentforfamilies.

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3. Whoisalawfulpermanentresident?
A lawful permanent resident (LPR) or green card recipient is defined by
immigrationlawasapersonwhohasbeengrantedlawfulpermanentresidenceinthe
United States. There are certain rights and responsibilities conferred to a Lawful
Permanentresidentstatussuchaslivingandworkingpermanentlyinanyplaceofthe
UnitedStates.Theycanalsobeownerofproperties.Attendingpublicschools,colleges
anduniversitiesareadditionalrightsthatmayconfertotheLPR.Furthermore,Meeting
certaineligibilityrequirementstheymayapplytobecomeU.S.citizen.

4. Beingalegalimmigrantcriteria
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Being18yearsofage
ContinuousresidenceintheUnitedStatesforfiveyears
Beingalawabidingcitizenduringthetimeoftheresidency
Nothavinganyoutstandingorpendingdeportation
Beingabletospeak,writeandreadEnglish
BeingknowledgeableaboutbasicU.S.historyandgovernments
Swearinganoathofloyaltytotheunitedstates

5. Lawfulpermanentresidentsstatisticsinyear2013

5.1

RegionandCountryofBirth
In this section the percentage of people from different regions and countries
becominglawfulpermanentresidentsin2013ispresented(seefig.1).Asitisshownby
thegraph,themajorityoflawfulpermanentresidentsintheyear2013werefromAsia.
North America had the second highest rate of LPRs to the United States. However,
Oceania had the lowest percentage of LPRs. While Asians and North Americans

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collectively, comprised 72% of LPRs, Oceanians, South Americans, Europeans and

Africanscompriseonly28%ofLPRs.
Fig.1.PersonsObtainingLawfulPermanentResidentStatusbyRegionandCountryofBirth:
FiscalYear2013

5.2

Typeandmajorclassofadmission
Thereisaclassificationforlawfulpermanentresidentstatusbasedonthetype
andclassofadmission,whichareasfollows:

Unknow

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5.3

Familysponsoredpreferences
Based onthechartbelow,therearefourtypesoffamilysponsoredpreferences
(see fig. 2). The most number of LPRs were spouses, children and unmarried sons/
daughtersofalienresidentsoftheU.S.citizens.Thisisfollowedbyanotherstatuswhich
includesbrothersorsistersofU.Scitizens.Thenextstatusincludesunmarriedsonsor
daughtersofU.S.citizensandtheirchildren.Lastlythestatuswiththeleastnumberof
LPRsincludedmarriedsonsordaughterofU.S.citizensandtheirspousesandchildren.

Fig.2.PersonsObtainingLawfulPermanentResidentStatusbyFamilySponsoredPreferences:
FiscalYear2013
100,000
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
First: Unmarried sons/daughters of U.S. citizens and their children

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5.4

ImmediaterelativesofU.S.citizens
ThenumberofpersonsobtainingLPRstatus becauseofbeinganimmediate
relative ofU.S. citizens is illustrated in graphbelow (see fig.3). Immediate relatives
includespouses,children,siblingsorparents.ThespousesoftheU.S.citizenshadthe
mostnumberofLPRstatus inyear2013andtheirchildrenhadtheleastnumberof
attainedLPRstatus.

Fig.3.PersonsObtainingLawfulPermanentResidentStatusbyImmediateRelativesofU.S.
Citizens:FiscalYear2013

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

50,000

0
Spouses

5.5

Children 1

Parents

Employmentbasedpreferences
An employmentbased preference is another category of LPR status. As it is
demonstratedinthechartbelow(seefig.4),themajority(around70000)ofthepeople
whoappliedforanLPRthroughtheemploymentbasedstatusin2013wereprofessionals

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withadvanceddegreesoraliensofexceptionalability.Fortythousandpeoplewhogotthe
LPRs through employmentbased status were skilled workers, professionals, and
unskilled workers, which is roughly the same as the number of priority workers. A
minorityofthepeopleinthiscategorywerespecialimmigrantsandemploymentcreators.

Fig.4.PersonsObtainingLawfulPermanentResidentStatusbyEmploymentBased
Preferences:FiscalYear2013
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0

5.6

OtherCases
7,270
62
5,763
138
643
556
0

42,235
45,618

77,395

50,000

AllothercasesofLPRstatusacquisitionintheyear2013areclassifiedinninegroups

100,000

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(seefig.5).ThemajorityofthesepersonsobtainedLPRstatusasrefugees.Diversityand
Asyleesgroupsareapproximatelysimilar45618and42235respectively.Asthefigure
presentsHaitianRefugeeImmigrationFairnessAct(HRIFA)hasthelowestnumber(62)
ofLPRsintheyear2013.
Fig.5.PersonsObtainingLawfulPermanentResidentStatusbyOtherCases:FiscalYear2013
6

References

2013YearbookofImmigrationStatistics.Washington,D.C:DepartmentofHomelandSecurity,
OfficeofImmigrationStatistics,2014.Print.