International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Improving Access to Labour market Information for migrants and employers
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the largest of the four, accounts for two thirds of all permanent legal immigration.
It has two broad sub-categories: (i) the immediate relatives of US citizens who are
not subject to any numerical limit and (ii) other family members of US citizens and
relatives of permanent residents with an annual numerical ceiling of about 280,000.
Each year, during the period 2000–2011, about 670,000 foreign-born persons
acquired permanent residency via the family reunification route.
Approximately 15 per cent – on average about 155,000 a year during the period
2000–2011 – of all legal immigrants became permanent residents via the employment
route. A maximum of 50,000 individuals were selected for permanent residency via
the diversity visa each year to promote national origin diversity in foreign inflows. In
addition, approximately 130,000 have been admitted annually as refugees or asylees
on humanitarian grounds (Figure 12.1).
Figure 12.1: Persons obtaining legal permanent resident status
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Total Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens Family-sponsored preferences
Employment-based preferences Diversity Refugees & Asylees
Non-immigrants residing in the country are allowed to change their status from
temporary to permanent residents using any of these routes. Typically, about 40 per
cent of the permits for permanent residency, also called Green Cards, have been
issued to new arrivals and the remaining 60 per cent to foreigners already living in
the country.
Over the past quarter century, the US government has been granting permanent
residence to approximately a million immigrants a year. By historical comparisons,
this represents an unprecedented influx. From an employers’ perspective, however,
the key question is: does the US immigration system allow sufficient inflow of
foreign workers to meet their critical labour requirements? The answer, based on data
on non-immigrant visas released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services,
is negative. In addition to those who come via the legal immigration channels, since
2000, the economy has absorbed close to 1 to 1.5 million workers who arrived on
non-immigrant visas to work in the US, including intra-company transfers, and
another half a million undocumented persons (USDHS, 2012).