US Immigration Countries of Origin

Are you considering US immigration? People have been immigrating to the United States for hundreds of years from countries throughout the world. However, you might be interested in knowing which regions and countries have the most immigrants.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported that in 2013 Mexico was the largest source country (28) of US immigrants. This was followed by South/East Asia (26%). There were also large immigrant groups from:

  • Caribbean
  • Central America
  • Middle East
  • South America
  • Sub-Saharan Africa

However, since then India and China have passed Mexico as the countries having the most US immigrants. This was a major milestone since Mexico is one of the US’ border countries along with Canada.

In terms of temporary/non-immigrant visas, these visas are issued to tourists and business visors, temporary workers, students, and reps from international organizations or foreign governments. In 2014 the Us Dept. of State issued about 9.9 million non-immigrant visas. Around two-thirds of them were temporary visitors for business and pleasure. China had the most temporary visas (1.8 million) and was followed by the countries of Mexico, Brazil, and India.

A major event in 2015 was when China and India passed Mexico as the top sources of new US immigrants. This was based on new data reported by the US Census Bureau. It indicated a flow of US immigration from countries throughout the world. It also helps to show how the country will change during the future.

Latinos are still the top ethnic group in terms of the US’ legal and undocumented immigrants. However, China now sends a higher number of immigrants to the US. A US Census Bureau survey showed that 147,000 Chinese arrived in the US in 2013. India was in second place with 129,000 immigrants to the US. Mexico was third with 125,000 immigrants.Other top countries in the rankings included Korea, Japan, and the Philippines.

The information was reported in San Diego at a conference of the Population Association of America. A statistician reported that the results follow a decade increase of Asian migration and a drop in Mexican migration.

Eric Jansen reports that the shift in immigration flows shows changes in the US’ racial/ethnic figures. Hispanics are still the biggest racial/ethnic minority group. However, nearly two-thirds of the Asian population was born abroad while the figure among Hispanics was 35.2%. That was for the year 2013.

Jansen stated that the data shows that it’s likely the effects of immigration on the general population growth will be higher for Asians than Hispanics.

Meanwhile, demographers weren’t surprised by the figures. The Brookings Institution stated that the US has many employment activities for people from Asian countries like engineering and high-tech. Many people immigrate to the US for graduate school then stay in the US.

The Mexican economy had slowly improved as of 2015 and the population growth was slowing down. Meanwhile, the Great Recession had ended many of the low-wage jobs that drew many people from Latin American countries like Mexico to the US.  Frey explains that as the Anglo population gets older younger people from Asia, Latin America, etc. can help to build the US labor force.