Indians become third biggest immigration group in US

United States, 21st June: The Indian immigrants in the US have become the third largest immigration group in the US being just behind the Mexicans and the Filipinos, a think tank based in Washington DC has stated. 

This happens to be the first time in the history of the US since the year 1960 when the data began to be collected that the Indian immigrants have passed ahead of immigrants hailing from Hong Kong and China. 

The report maintains that presently, there are nearly 1.6 million Indian immigrants in the US. 
The report by the MPI (Migration Policy Institute) uses the data by 2000 Census, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics for the year 2008 and 2009 and the figures of the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey of 2008, stated Aaron Terrazas, an author of the study.

The number of Indian-Americans in the US has been unfazed by the recent global economic crisis that had a serious impact on the immigrant groups of the other nations, the study asserted. 

So, the new figures revealed by the study of the immigrants in the US have placed Indian-Americans only a few thousands behind the Filipino immigrants in the US. 

The study also reiterated that as per the CPS (Current Population Surveys) of US Census, in the year 2009, the number of Indian immigrants moving to the US was far greater than those of Filipino immigrants. 

Meanwhile, according to findings by the US DHS’ (Department of Homeland Security’s) OIS (Office of Immigration Statistics), the number of Indian immigrants and Filipino immigrants entering the US in the current year seems to be equal, adds Terrazas.

Majority of Indians immigrating to the US are on job/employment based or family-based. In addition, Indians immigrants also enter the US on US student visas or US temporary work visas and majority of them become permanent residents in the US. 

On the other hand, at least 50 percent of Mexicans immigrate to the US through illegal means to work in the US, stated Terrazas. 

The details of the study findings reveal that out of the total 2.3 million Indian immigrants living in the US in the year 2008, nearly 66.4 percent were Indian-born and 20 percent were having US citizenship at birth.