According to the U.S. Chinese News, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released the immigration report for 2008 on the 13th. The number of new immigrants who acquired U.S. citizenship reached 1.047 million in 2008, a sharp increase of 58% compared to the previous year.
The report indicated that in 2008, a total of 1.047 million new immigrants became U.S. citizens, an increase of 58% from the 660,000 recorded in 2007. The main reasons cited were the increase in naturalization application fees and policies encouraging eligible individuals to apply for citizenship. Many new citizens received approval in the second half of 2007 and officially took their oaths in 2008.
By country of origin, the largest group was of Mexican descent, totaling 230,000. This was followed by Indian and Filipino immigrants, with 66,000 and 59,000 respectively. Immigrants from mainland China accounted for 40,000, or 3.8% of the total. Geographically, California had the highest number of new immigrants, with nearly 300,000; Florida followed with 128,000 new immigrants; New York ranked third with 90,000 new immigrants.
Statistics show that the average waiting time from obtaining permanent resident status to acquiring U.S. citizenship is 9 years. African immigrants have the shortest waiting time at 6 years; Asian and European immigrants follow with 7 years; North American immigrants have the longest waiting time, requiring 12 years.
By place of birth, citizens born in China ranked second in the total number of green cards issued in 2008. In that year, the U.S. issued a total of 1.107 million green cards, an increase of 50,000 from 2007. Among them, 80,000 new green card holders were born in China, an increase of 4,000 from 2007, accounting for 7.3% of the total green card approvals. This is lower than the 17% for those born in Mexico but higher than the 5.7% for those born in India and 4.9% for those born in the Philippines.
The report also noted that in 2008, U.S. Customs apprehended 792,000 illegal border crossers, 88% of whom were from Mexico. However, compared to 2007, the number of illegal immigrants decreased by 17%. The Department of Homeland Security deported 97,000 foreign criminals.
Looking back at the history of new immigrants in the U.S. over the past 20 years, in the 1990s, an average of 500,000 new immigrants became citizens each year. From 2000 to 2008, the average annual increase was 680,000. In the 1970s, European immigrants were predominant; from 1976 to 2006, Asian immigrants became the mainstream; after 2007, North American immigrants surpassed Asian immigrants.
