In the fiscal year of 2023, about ******* people between the ages of 15 and 24 years old received legal permanent residence status, also known as a green card, in the United States. A total of about ********* green cards were given out that year.

United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data was reported at 1,127,167.000 Person in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1,183,505.000 Person for 2016. United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data is updated yearly, averaging 451,510.000 Person from Sep 1900 (Median) to 2017, with 118 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,827,167.000 Person in 1991 and a record low of 23,068.000 Person in 1933. United States Immigrants Admitted: All Countries data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Department of Homeland Security. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.G087: Immigration.

In the fiscal year of 2021, about ******* immediate relatives of U.S. citizens received legal permanent residency, also known as a green card, in the United States. A further ******* people received a green card based on employment preferences in that year.

In the fiscal year of 2023, about ******* people living in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area received legal permanent resident status, also known as a green card, in the United States. In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro area, about ****** people received a green card in that year.

In the fiscal year of 2023, about ******* females obtained legal permanent resident status in the United States. A total of ********* green cards were given out nationwide in that year.

In the fiscal year of 2023, ******* immigrants to the United States from Asia received legal permanent resident status, also known as a green card. In that same year, ****** immigrants from Europe received a green card.

This data collection contains information on the characteristics of aliens who became legal permanent residents of the United States in fiscal year 1996 (October 1995 through September 1996). Data are presented for two types of immigrants. The first category, New Arrivals, arrived from outside the United States with valid immigrant visas issued by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. The second category, Adjustments, were already in the United States with temporary status and were adjusted to legal permanent residence through petition to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Variables include port of entry, month and year of admission, class of admission, and state and area to which the immigrants were admitted. Demographic information such as age, sex, marital status, occupation, country of birth, country of last permanent residence, and nationality is also provided.

Eurostat's annual collections of statistics on international migration flows are structured as follows:

• NOWCAST: Annual collection of provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least 6 months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2014/205/oj/eng" target="_self">Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional monthly data on migrants covering at least 6 months of the reference year on a voluntary basis.
• DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual collection of provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional data on total migrants at national level on a voluntary basis.
• POPSTAT (population statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional data collection on demography and migration, for population, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces by a large number of breakdowns. (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).

The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements’.

The quality of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and quality of information provided by the national statistical institutes.

For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements.

The following data on migrants are collected under unified demographic data collection:

• Immigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of previous residence.
• Immigrants by country of citizenship and country of birth.
• Emigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of next residence.

US Naturalizations Statistics

Trends and statistics on US naturalizations from 1999 to 2017

By Throwback Thursday [source]

About this dataset

The dataset US Naturalizations 1999-2017 provides information on the naturalization process of immigrants in the United States during the period from 1999 to 2017. The dataset includes various features or columns, capturing valuable insights into trends and statistics related to immigrants becoming US citizens.

Firstly, there is a column that specifies the year in which each naturalization case occurred, allowing for analysis and comparison over time. Additionally, there is a column indicating the country of birth of each individual who went through the naturalization process. This information allows for an exploration of patterns and trends based on country of origin.

The dataset also includes columns providing details about gender and age groups. By examining the distribution of naturalized individuals across different genders and age ranges, one can gain insights into demographic patterns and changes in immigration over time.

Furthermore, this dataset features columns related to occupation and educational attainment. These variables contribute to understanding the socio-economic characteristics of immigrants who became US citizens. By analyzing occupational trends or educational levels among naturalized individuals, researchers can gain valuable knowledge regarding immigrant integration within various industries or sectors.

Moreover, this dataset contains data on whether an applicant had previous experience as a lawful permanent resident (LPR) before being granted US citizenship. This variable sheds light on pathways to citizenship among those who have already obtained legal status in the United States.

Finally, there are columns providing information about processing times for naturalized cases as well as any special exemptions granted under certain circumstances. These details offer insights into administrative aspects related to applicants' journeys towards acquiring US citizenship.

In summary, this comprehensive dataset offers a wide range of variables that capture important characteristics related to immigrants becoming US citizens between 1999 and 2017. Researchers can use this data to analyze trends based on year, country of origin, gender/age groups, occupation/education levels,and pathways to citizenship such as previous LPR status or special circumstances exemptions

How to use the dataset

• Understand the columns: Familiarize yourself with the different columns available in this dataset to comprehend the information it offers. The columns included are:

  • Year: The year of naturalization.
  • United States: The number of individuals naturalized within the United States.
  • Continents:
    • Africa: Number of individuals born in African countries who were naturalized.
    • Asia: Number of individuals born in Asian countries who were naturalized.
    • Europe: Number of individuals born in European countries who were naturalized.
    • North America (excluding Caribbean): Number of individuals born in North American countries (excluding Caribbean nations) who were naturalized.
    • Oceania: Number of individuals born in Oceanian countries who were naturalized, including Australia and New Zealand.
    • South America: Number of individuals born in South American countries who were naturalized.

• Overview by year: Analyze the total number of people being granted US citizenship over time by examining the United States column. Use statistical methods like mean, median, or mode to understand trends or identify any outliers or significant changes across specific years.

• Continent-specific analysis:

  a) Identify patterns among continents over time by examining each continent's respective column (Africa, Asia, Europe, etc.). Compare growth rates and determine any regions experiencing higher or lower rates compared to others.

  b) Determine which continent contributes most significantly to overall US immigration by calculating continent-wise percentages based on total immigrants for each year.

• Identify region-specific trends:

  a) Analyze immigration patterns within individual continents by dividing them further into specific regions or countries. For example, within Asia, you can examine trends for East Asia (China, Japan, South Korea), Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Philippines), or South Asia (India, Bangladesh).

  b) Perform comparative analysis between regions/countries to identify variations in immigration rates or any interesting factors influencing these variances. ...

The New Immigrant Survey (NIS) is a nationally representative, multi-cohort, longitudinal study of new legal immigrants to the United States and their children. The sampling frame is based on the electronic administrative records compiled for new legal permanent residents (LPRs) by the U.S. government (via, formerly, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and now its successor agencies, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS)). The geographic sampling design takes advantage of the natural clustering of immigrants. It includes all top 85 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and all top 38 counties, plus a random sample of MSAs and counties. The baseline survey (ICPSR 38031) was conducted from June 2003 to June 2004 and yielded data on: 8,573 Adult Sample respondents 810 sponsor-parent of the Sampled Child 4,915 spouses and 1,072 children aged 8-12. Interviews were conducted in the respondents' language of choice. Round 2 instruments were designed to track changes from the baseline and also included new questions. As with the Round 1 questionnaire, questions that were used in social-demographic-migration surveys around the world as well as the major U.S. longitudinal surveys were reviewed in order to achieve comparability.

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F12064410%2F468b9ab69fbaa3eea94ab7c13537052f%2Fimmigration%20flag.png?generation=1673145948097950&alt=media" alt="">

15,341 DAYS (October 1st, 1979 - September 30th, 2021)

This is a dataset that describes annual statistics regarding US immigration between the 1980-2021 fiscal years.

All data are official figures from the Department of Homeland Security's government website that have been compiled and structured by myself. There are several reasons for the decision to only examine immigration data from 1980 to 2021. Since 1976, a fiscal year for the US government has always started on October 1st and ended the following year on September 30th. If the years prior to 1976 were included, the data may be incorrectly represented and cause further confusion for viewers. Additionally, the United States only tracked refugee arrivals after the Refugee Act of 1980, a statistic that is prominently featured in the dataset. As a result, the start date of 1980 was chosen instead of 1976.

Data Sources

The primary data sources used were the "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics" webpages from the Department of Homeland Security. As a whole, the website not only provided figures about US immigration that were perfect for making time series analyses, but also explored the logistics behind the annual trends found.

1. The Department of Homeland Security's 2021 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics - The Office of Immigration Statistics' 2021 Flow Reports and Population Estimates provide text, tables, and charts on lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, nonimmigrant admissions, naturalizations, enforcement actions, and the unauthorized population. Being the latest version released to date, the 2021 yearbook is the most comprehensive report publicly available and tends to feature data of past years for reference.
2. The Department of Homeland Security's Directory of Past Immigration Yearbooks - Past yearbooks were referenced in order to find the missing data from the fiscal years during 2000-2021. There is a single yearbook covering the fiscal years during 1996-1999, but that was the oldest publications featured in the directory.
3. The Center for Immigration Studies's File Library - In order to procure immigration data during the fiscal years of 1980-1999, I found free versions of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's paywalled yearbooks from the Center for Immigration Studies. By doing so, I was able fill in the missing values and finish the dataset.

Statistics Being Tracked

• Immigrants Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status - Number of immigrants who obtained lawful permanent resident status in the United States, otherwise known as green card holders.
• Refugee Arrivals - Number of refugees who arrived in the United States. Excludes Amerasian immigrants except for the fiscal years of 1989 and 1991. Figures are based on refugee's arrival date.
• Noncitizen Apprehensions - Number of noncitizens apprehended in the United States. Data from 2020 to 2021 includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encounters that resulted in expulsion on public health grounds (due to the pandemic).
• Noncitizen Removals - Number of noncitizens removed from the United States. Removals are the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States based on an order of removal.
• Noncitizen Returns - Number of noncitizen returns from the United States. Returns are the confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States not based on an order of removal.

Dataset History

2023-01-07 - Dataset is created (465 days after the end of the 2021 fiscal year).

GitHub Repository - The same data but on GitHub.

Code Starter

Link to Notebook

In the fiscal year of 2023, about 1.17 million immigrants received legal permanent resident status in the United States. This is an increase from the previous year, when about 1.02 people received legal permanent resident status. 1991 was the year with the highest number of residency permits granted in United States history - this was largely due to the signing of the Immigration Act of 1990, which greatly eased restrictions on legal migration and naturalization.

Residence permits data collection refers to residence permits as any authorisation issued by the authorities of a Member State allowing a third-country national (non-EU citizen) to stay legally on its territory. These statistics cover also some specific cases in which the third-country nationals have the right to be move to and stay in other EU Member States.

Data is based on administrative sources¹, provided mainly by the Ministries of Interior or related Immigration Agencies. Data are generally disseminated in July in the year following the reference year, subject to data availability and data quality.

Residence permits statistics is based on http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007R0862" target="_blank">Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007 (Migration Statistics Regulation) as amended by the Regulation 2020/851 and it covers the following topics:

• the main RESPER data collection based on Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation
  • First residence permits;
  • Residence permits issued on the occasion of changing the immigration status or reason to stay;
  • Residence permits valid at the end of the year;
  • Long-term residence permits valid at the end of the year;
  • Long-term permits issued during the year.

• Statistics collected on voluntary basis
  • Residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status.

The definitions used for residence permits and other concepts (e.g. first permit) are presented in the section 3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions. The detailed data collection methodology is presented in Annex 9 of this metadata file.

Temporary protection status is considered of different administrative nature then the residence permits reported in RESPER data collection. Therefore, persons benefitting from temporary protection are not included in any of the Residence permits statistics. These persons are subject of another data collection on Temporary Protection (TP).

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Residence data contain statistical information based on Article 6 of http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007R0862" target="_blank">Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007. This legal framework refers to the initial residence permits data collection with 2008 first reference period (e.g. first residence permits; change of immigration status or reason to stay; all valid residence permits in the end of the year and long-term residence permits valid in the end of the year) and it provides also a general framework for newer data collections based on specific European legal acts (e.g. statistics on EU Blue Cards and statistics on single permits) or provided on voluntary basis (e.g. residence permits issued for family reunification with beneficiaries of protection status).

Regulation 2020/851 amending Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007 was recently implemented. The amendment introduced several changes to the statistics on Asylum and Managed Migration. Some data collections become mandatory starting with the 2021 reference period, while new statistics are subject to pilot studies for further assessing the feasibility of collecting these statistics.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Starting with the 2021 reference period, there were several improvements in the data collection, including the methodological aspects. These changes were introduced through the implementation of Regulation 2020/851 amending Council Regulation (CE) No 862 of 11 July 2007. More details are available in the Annex 9.

Starting from 2025, the residence permits and EU directives data collection now includes six metadata files in total. Countries are required to submit six distinct files. For those that have not yet provided the updated six files, the previous metadata format, included in the annex of this metadata file (Annex 10), remains available as a reference.

INDICATORS

The indicators presented in the table 'Long-term residents among all non-EU citizens holding residence permits by citizenship on 31 December (%)' are produced within the framework of the pilot study related to the integration of migrants in the Member States, following the Zaragoza Declaration.

The Zaragoza Declaration, adopted in April 2010 by EU Ministers responsible for immigrant integration issues, and approved at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 3-4 June 2010, called upon the Commission to undertake a pilot study to examine proposals for common integration indicators and to report on the availability and quality of the data from agreed harmonised sources necessary for the calculation of these indicators. In June 2010 the ministers agreed "to promote the launching of a pilot project with a view to the evaluation of integration policies, including examining the indicators and analysing the significance of the defined indicators taking into account the national contexts, the background of diverse migrant populations and different migration and integration policies of the Member States, and reporting on the availability and quality of the data from agreed harmonised sources necessary for the calculation of these indicators".

These indicators are produced on the basis of residence permit statistics collected by Eurostat on the basis of Article 6 of the Migration Statistics Regulation 862/2007. As a denominator data on the stock of all valid permits to stay at the end of each reporting year are used. As a numerator data on the stock of long-term residents are used. Two types of long term residents are distinguished in accordance with the residence permit statistics: EU long-term resident status (as regulated by the Council Directive 2003/109/EC) and the National long-term resident status (as regulated by the national legislation in the Member States).

DATA CONSISTENCY

The data providers should use the same methodological specifications provided by Eurostat and some collected tables from should be cross-consistent according to this methodology. However, consistency issues between tables exist due to some technical limitations (e.g. different data sources) or different methodology applied to each table (see the quality information from below or the national metadata files) or different point in time of producing each tables.

¹There are few exceptions referring to the situation in which the administrative registers cannot provide the required information and some estimations are made. For example, the statistics for the United Kingdom (2008-2019) use different data sources to those used in EU Member States and EFTA countries. For that reason, the statistics on residence permits published by Eurostat for UK may not be fully comparable with the statistics reported by other countries. Statistics for the United Kingdom are not based on records of residence permits issued (as the United Kingdom does not operate a system of residence permits), but instead relate to the numbers of arriving non-EU citizens permitted to enter the country under selected immigration categories. According to the United Kingdom authorities, data are estimated from a combination of information due to be published in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 'Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom' and unpublished management information. The 'Other reasons' category includes: diplomat, consular officer treated as exempt from control; retired persons of independent means; all other passengers given limited leave to enter who are not included in any other category; non-asylum discretionary permissions. Another example is the data on stock of all valid residence permits for Denmark, see Annex 8 (Data quality of valid residence permits in Denmark).

Debates about migration are often in the news. People quote numbers about how many people are entering and leaving different countries. Governments need to plan and manage public resources based on how their own populations are changing.

Informed discussions and effective policymaking rely on good migration data. But how much do we really know about migration, and where do estimates come from?

In this article, I look at how countries and international agencies define different forms of migration, how they estimate the number of people moving in and out of countries, and how accurate these estimates are.

Migrants without legal status make up a small portion of the overall immigrant population. Most high-income countries and some middle-income ones have a solid understanding of how many immigrants live there. Tracking the exact flows of people moving in and out is trickier, but governments can reliably monitor long-term trends to understand the bigger picture.

Who is considered an international migrant? In the United Nations statistics, an international migrant is defined as “a person who moves to a country other than that of his or her usual residence for at least a year, so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence”.1

For example, an Argentinian person who spends nine months studying in the United States wouldn’t count as a long-term immigrant in the US. But an Argentinian person who moves to the US for two years would. Even if someone gains citizenship in their new country, they are still considered an immigrant in migration statistics.

The same applies in reverse for emigrants: someone leaving their home country for more than a year is considered a long-term emigrant for the country they’ve left. This does not change if they acquire citizenship in another country. Some national governments may have definitions that differ from the UN recommendations.

What about illegal migration? “Illegal migration” refers to the movement of people outside the legal rules for entering or leaving a country. There isn’t a single agreed-upon definition, but it generally involves people who breach immigration laws. Some refer to this as irregular or unauthorized migration.

There are three types of migrants who don’t have a legal immigration status. First, those who cross borders without the right legal permissions. Second, those who enter a country legally but stay after their visa or permission expires. Third, some migrants have legal permission to stay but work in violation of employment restrictions — for example, students who work more hours than their visa allows.

Tracking illegal migration is difficult. In regions with free movement, like the European Union, it’s particularly challenging. For example, someone could move from Germany to France, live there without registering, and go uncounted in official migration records.2 The rise of remote work has made it easier for people to live in different countries without registering as employees or taxpayers.

Eurostat's annual collections of statistics on international migration flows are structured as follows:

• NOWCAST: Annual collection of provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least 6 months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2014/205/oj/eng" target="_self">Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional monthly data on migrants covering at least 6 months of the reference year on a voluntary basis.
• DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual collection of provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014) and provisional data on total migrants at national level on a voluntary basis.
• POPSTAT (population statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional data collection on demography and migration, for population, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces by a large number of breakdowns. (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).

The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements’.

The quality of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and quality of information provided by the national statistical institutes.

For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate — legal acts and other agreements.

The following data on migrants are collected under unified demographic data collection:

• Immigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of previous residence.
• Immigrants by country of citizenship and country of birth.
• Emigrants by age, sex and:
  • Country of citizenship;
  • Country of birth;
  • Country of next residence.