Many people around the world desire to move to the United States. For many people around the globe, living the American life is a dream and is worth permanent move. For this reason, hundreds of thousands of people apply for U.S. immigration visas every year.
The infographic uses annual data taken from the U.S.
Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to envision the countries
whose citizens are receiving the highest number of U.S. immigrant visas.
U.S. Immigration Processes
The U.S. immigration process starts with a visa application.
A visa, in the context of immigration, is basically a permit to enter the
country, issued to those looking to work and live in the United States. There
are two type of visas: immigrant and non-immigrant.
Non-immigrant visas
These visas usually are for temporary workers, but they also
serve other purposes, like basic travel for tourists from certain countries. Even
when this type of visa is obtained for work purposes, they expire and do not
lead to green cards or citizenship.
Some examples of non-immigrant visas categories include:
members of the press, diplomatic representatives, foreign military personnel
stationed in the U.S., athletes, and a plethora of other unique situations. The
very popular, and nearly impossible to get, H-1B visas are actually
non-immigrant visas.
Immigrant visas
This type of visa can either be family based or employment based. The purpose behind Immigrant visas is that they eventually lead to permanent status in the U.S., either through green cards or citizenship. A common example of an immigration visa is the K-1 visa or the “fiancé visa” for individuals marrying American citizens.
Who’s Getting U.S. Immigrant Visas?
More than 285,000 U.S. immigrant visas were issued last year.
The list below shows how it is distributed across top 10 countries worldwide.
|
Rank |
Country |
Immigrant Visas Issued (2021) |
|
1 |
Mexico |
40,597 |
|
2 |
China |
18,501 |
|
3 |
Dominican Republic |
17,941 |
|
4 |
Philippines |
15,862 |
|
5 |
Afghanistan |
10,784 |
|
6 |
Vietnam |
10,458 |
|
7 |
India |
9,275 |
|
8 |
El Salvador |
7,813 |
|
9 |
Pakistan |
7,213 |
|
10 |
Bangladesh |
5,503 |
Mexican citizens received the highest number of visas to
immigrate permanently to the U.S. at nearly 40,600. Canada, another neighboring
country of the Unites States, is ranked at 43rd, only receiving 1,464 visas.
China and India also rank high on the list, ranking at #2 and #7 respectively.
Ukraine is the only European country to make it to top 25. In
2021, prior to the Russian invasion, Ukrainians obtained 3,019 visas. A number
of the top visa recipient nations are marked by violence and political unrest,
like Afghanistan (#5) and Iran (#25).
One surprising thing to find out beyond the top 25 is that eight
North Korean citizens received immigration visas last year. Moreover, a number
of countries only received a handful of U.S. immigrant visas which include
Luxembourg’s two, and Timor-Leste’s one count.
The bulk of the highest ranking countries regionally, are
located in Asia, followed by North America and Africa.
The State of U.S. Immigration
Nearly 15% of the U.S. population is made up of immigrants,
and is the home to the highest number of total immigrants in the world, at 50.6
million.
In terms of the number of visas issued yearly, there is a
federal ceiling of 700,000 and certain countries have their own specific caps
on how many their citizens can receive, as commanded by the United States.
Although these numbers change hugely year by year, they have not come close to
the limit in the last decade.
Overall, whether for economic purposes, reunification of
families, or in fleeing from danger, people are continuing to come to the
United States.
It is predicted that in the period between 2016 and 2060, the
share of the U.S. population that is American-born is going to grow by 20%.
Meanwhile, the share of the population that is foreign-born is expected to jump
by 58%.
