Asians benefit from immigration sponsorship by relatives (“chain migration”): People of Asian origin obtaining legal permanent resident (“green card”) status in U.S., by broad class of admission, 2015
Immediate relative | Other family | Employment | Diversity | Refugees and asylees | Other | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vietnam | 44% | 52% | 3% | |||
Bangladesh | 42% | 52% | 5% | 1% | ||
Pakistan | 45% | 38% | 13% | 4% | ||
Philippines | 53% | 28% | 19% | |||
Japan | 57% | 3% | 36% | 3% | ||
China | 37% | 19% | 30% | 13% | ||
India | 32% | 23% | 43% | 2% | 1% | |
Taiwan | 40% | 14% | 43% | 3% | ||
Thailand | 44% | 4% | 4% | 46% | 2% | |
South Korea | 38% | 6% | 56% | |||
Nepal | 17% | 5% | 11% | 27% | 41% | |
Burma | 5% | 4% | 1% | 89% | ||
Bhutan | 1% | 99% | ||||
All Other Asian | 29% | 10% | 10% | 11% | 31% | 8% |
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to disclosure requirements. Legal permanent resident (LPR) status, commonly referred to as a “green card,” is also known as a “permanent immigrant visa.” LPR status allows immigrants who meet certain requirements to become naturalized citizens after five years, or sooner, in some cases. Diversity refers to the Diversity Visa lottery, in which people who are nationals of a country that is underrepresented in terms of who gets green cards may apply for the chance to obtain a green card (U.S. CIS 2018). The employment-based (EB) green card pathway has five “preference” categories (U.S. CIS 2021b).
Source: Adapted from Wong 2018. The data are derived from 2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics Table 10 (U.S. DHS OIS 2016).
This chart appears in:
- Domestic Workers Chartbook: A comprehensive look at the demographics, wages, benefits, and poverty rates of the professionals who care for our family members and clean our homes
- Domestic workers 2020 alt
- Advancing anti-racist economic research and policy: Perspectives and resources on race, ethnicity, and the economy
- Asian Americans and the anti-racist equity agenda: Contradictions and common ground