Resident non immigrants in US: Indians drop to number two

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Apr 13 (PTI) After being the largest
non-resident immigrants to the US for years, Indians have now
been overtaken by Mexicans, the latest official report for the
year 2008 has revealed.

In 2008, of the more than 3.6 million foreigners
coming to the US on resident non-immigrant visas, Mexico
topped the list with 440,099 followed by a close India with
425,826 admissions.

Japan has been posted as a distant second with 257,401
admissions followed South Korea (216,648), Britain (216,280)
and China (163,433), the report said.

The Annual Flow Report released by the Office of
Immigration Statistics is based on the information gathered
from the I-94 on the number and characteristics of
non-immigrant admissions to the US in 2008.

"The leading countries of citizenship for resident
non-immigrant admissions to the United States in 2008 were
Mexico (12 per cent), India (12 per cent), Japan (7 per cent),
South Korea (5.9 per cent), and the UK (5.9 per cent).

"These five countries accounted for more than 40 per
cent of resident non-immigrant admissions to the US," it said.

Even though Mexico has taken the number one spot, in
actual figures, there has been an increase in the number of
Indians coming to the US on resident immigrant visa status.

For instance in 2006, 309,501 Indians entered the US
under various categories of non-immigrant visas, while in 2007
the figured increased to 403,106.

From 2007 to 2008, notable increases in resident
non-immigrant admissions occurred among citizens from China
(19 per cent increase), Mexico (16 per cent increase), and
India (5.6 per cent increase), the report said.

The increase in admissions from China was largely
accounted for by academic students (F1) and exchange visitors
(J1). The increase from Mexico was primarily attributable to
seasonal agricultural workers (H2A).

The Annual Flow Report said the increased admissions
from India were concentrated among academic student (F1) and
intracompany transferee (L1) classes.

Among top-ten sending countries, Japan and the United
Kingdom had declining resident admissions from 2007 to 2008.

The decrease in admissions from the UK (4.4 per cent
decrease) was concentrated among workers in specialty
occupations (H1B), while the decrease from Japan (4.3 per cent
decrease) was attributable to academic students (F1) and
workers in specialty occupations (H1B).

Further nearly half of academic student admissions
(F1) were nationals of five countries: South Korea (15 per
cent), China (11 per cent), India (9.9 per cent), Japan (6.8
per cent), and Mexico (6.3 per cent).

Between 2006 and 2008, South Korea, China, and India
showed consistent increases in F1 admissions, while admissions
from Japan declined during the same period. PTI