USA

Total immigrant entries into the United States for authorized permanent residents in fiscal year 2013 was 990,600 people, 5% lower than the 2010 level.

Family immigration accounted for two-thirds (649,600) of this total, while 161,000 immigrants (16%) were for work purposes, an increase of 9% compared to 2010. The visa diversity program granted another 50,000 immigrant visas for lottery. For the same year, the United States received 68,243 asylum applications. The cap on resettled refugees was set at 70,000 for 2013. In total, 119,600 people were admitted on humanitarian grounds; this includes migrants who received refugee status during their stay in the country and became permanent residents.

In 2013, the United States issued approximately 1.6 million temporary nonimmigrant visas (excluding government officials, business visitors, crew members, and tourists), primarily for study or work, 20% more than in 2010.

The number of naturalizations, which peaked at 1,046,500 in 2008, declined to less than 700,000 annually in the period 2009-2011, but rose to 779,900 in 2013. The largest number of naturalized persons was of Mexican origin (13% of all naturalizations).

The foreign-born population residing in the United States in 2013 was 41.3 million, 13% of the total population. It comes mainly from other American countries, including the Caribbean, and from Asia. The main countries of birth for this population were Mexico (11.6 million or 28%), India (2 million), the Philippines (1.8 million), and China (1.8 million). Other countries in the Americas with more than half a million people residing in the United States in 2013 were El Salvador, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Canada, Jamaica, Colombia, Haiti, and Honduras.

Working-age migrant men from other countries in the Americas had particularly high participation rates in the US labor market, with 86% percent of them working or seeking employment in the period 2012-2013. This was 4 percentage points higher than for other migrants born outside the Americas and 12 points higher than for the native population. They were also less affected by unemployment than the native population. Immigrant women from other countries in the Americas, on the other hand, have lower participation rates and higher unemployment rates than other migrants born outside the Americas and than the native population. The unemployment rates of American immigrants decreased slightly between 2010-2011 and 2012-2013, in the same proportion as for the native population.

Migrants from the United States living in Europe had a low unemployment rate (6%) and showed large differences in their participation rates between men and women; in fact, the participation rate of women was 17.5 percentage points below that of men.

Annually, between 2009 and 2012, approximately 200,000 people born in the United States have moved to other OECD countries or to other countries in the Americas. Emigration from the United States went mainly to Canada and to countries in Asia or Europe such as Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. Emigration has also increased to some Latin American countries such as Mexico and Chile, where immigration of people born in the United States more than doubled from 2005 to 2012 but remained below 5,000 annually.

The largest groups of emigrants from the United States settled in other OECD countries were located in Mexico, where the United States was the leading country of birth for foreign-born persons with more than 738,000 immigrants in 2010, followed by Canada (263,000 immigrants in 2011), the United Kingdom (146,000 immigrants in 2012), Australia (96,000 immigrants in 2012), and Israel (85,000 immigrants in 2011). Many of the people born in the United States who live in Mexico are children of Mexican migrants to the United States who returned to Mexico.

More than 12,000 US citizens have acquired the citizenship of another OECD country annually in the period 2005-2012. The main citizenships adopted are those of the main countries of destination. An increase in the acquisition of citizenships from smaller destination countries was also observed, in particular Eastern European countries after joining the European Union in 2007 and Luxembourg, which allows dual citizenship since January 1, 2009. .

In the first half of 2014, police records and a United Nations report alerted national authorities to an unprecedented increase in unaccompanied children from Central America crossing the border from Mexico. This increase may have been driven by a combination of factors, including increased violence in Central America and the possibility of immigration reform, although new immigrants are not covered by recent policy initiatives (see below).

The US immigration system has seen several policy initiatives in the last two years.

In 2012, President Obama, through an executive order, announced a policy of deferred action for childhood arrivals (“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” or DACA). This policy establishes the postponement of removals of people who came to the United States as children and provides them with work authorizations without formally granting them legal status. On November 20, 2014, DACA is renewed and employment authorizations are extended from two to three years. This change applies to first requests as well as renewal requests. The initial cap of 31 years no longer applies. The eligibility deadline by which a DACA applicant must be in the United States was adjusted from June 15, 2007 to January 1, 2010.

In 2013, the Obama administration delivered an immigration reform bill titled, “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” that combined provisions for border security, a path to citizenship for undocumented migrants, and immigration reforms. legal immigration regulations. This comprehensive reform was divided into five titles. Title I contained provisions for border security with increases in personnel and equipment for Customs and Border Protection, the establishment of more favorable rules for migrants and persons in deportation proceedings, and the training of border and police officers in Mexico, Honduras , El Salvador and Guatemala. Title II made it easier to serve farm workers illegally residing in the United States, creating a merit and points-based admission system and extending a waiver of inadmissibility provisions for undocumented migrants who entered the country before the age of 16 and for parents of children in legal status in the country . Title III included provisions for the elimination of the one-year time limit for filing an asylum application and for granting employment authorization 180 days after the submission of an asylum application. Title IV listed changes to nonimmigrant visa programs, especially the right to work for some spouses of H-1B permit holders and the establishment of an EB-6 immigrant investor visa. Title V introduced an additional fee on employer applications for nonimmigrant visas,

The bill passed the Senate in June 2013 but was never discussed in the House of Representatives. That is why immigration reform in the United States remains stalled, with little prospect of a solution in sight.

Once again by executive order, President Obama announced on November 20, 2014 the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA. DAPA allows individuals to apply for temporary withholding of removal if they have a son or daughter who is a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident, if they have resided in the United States continuously since before 2010, as long as they do not have been considered priority subjects for deportation under the new policy. Individuals who apply for deferred action under these criteria are also entitled to work authorization. Both deferred action and work authorization are valid for three years. Applicants will pay work authorization and biometric fees. The final decision on whether to grant deferred action will be determined on an individual basis. Applicants will undergo a background check against all relevant national security and criminal databases including Department of Homeland Security and FBI databases. Applicants are also required to have been physically present in the United States in November 2014. DAPA does not apply to recent undocumented immigrants or those intending to immigrate to the United States. Indeed,

It is estimated that up to five million people living in the United States illegally could benefit from this first memorandum out of a total of nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants, more than half of whom are Mexican.

A February 2015 court order halted the expansion of DACA and the enforcement of DAPA. In May 2015, the appellate court ruled against the US Department of Justice, which had appealed the earlier decision. For now, the sentence is valid, unless it is appealed again to the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of the United States.

Another important memorandum issued the same day introduces policies that support businesses and highly-skilled workers. The first provision is to support employers in attracting and retaining highly-skilled workers by ensuring that all immigrant visas authorized by Congress are issued. . The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is instructed to offer better guidance on the possibilities that an immigrant worker has to change jobs without jeopardizing the possibility of obtaining lawful permanent residence. The second establishes that the optional practical training (“Optional Practical Training”) that allows students to extend their stay in the United States to obtain temporary employment in a relevant field of study, expands to other study programs and the period of time offered to students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is expanded. Third, the national interest exemption that allows highly-skilled foreigners to get green cards without employer sponsorship should be promoted, as it is currently underutilized. Likewise, there are provisions to grant “parole” to inventors, researchers and founders of start-up companies that offer a “significant public benefit” to be determined on an individual basis. This temporary status would be granted to project owners with good prospects, in situations where the people involved do not qualify for a national interest exemption. Fourth, the L-1B visa program for intracompany transferees will become more consistent with better guidance on what the “specialized knowledge” requirement means for the adjudication of visa petitions. Finally, an immigrant who wishes to adjust her status will be allowed to change jobs or employers while her visa application is being reviewed. The L-1B visa program for intracompany transferees will become more consistent with better guidance on the meaning of the “specialized knowledge” requirement for the adjudication of visa petitions. Finally, an immigrant who wishes to adjust her status will be allowed to change jobs or employers while her visa application is being reviewed. The L-1B visa program for intracompany transferees will become more consistent with better guidance on the meaning of the “specialized knowledge” requirement for the adjudication of visa petitions. Finally, an immigrant who wishes to adjust her status will be allowed to change jobs or employers while her visa application is being reviewed.

To secure the southern border, three joint working groups will be created: one responsible for the southern maritime border, one focused on the southern land border and the west coast, and one focused on research. These groups aim to enforce immigration laws, fight transnational criminal organizations, and minimize the risk of terrorism.

The deportation procedures were specified under two memorandums. The first describes the characteristics of migrants whose deportation is a priority. The second announces the end of the “Secure Communities” program, which was in charge of identifying and facilitating the deportation of criminal aliens, and its replacement by the priority action program (“Priority Enforcement Program”, or PEP), which redirects deportation efforts toward those who pose a demonstrable risk to national security.

Immigration and customs officers’ jobs will be reclassified and their pay system will be improved to better compensate them for their critical mission of deporting criminals.

The current provisional waiver program offers undocumented aliens a certain level of security to return to the United States after successfully interviewing at the US consulate in their country of citizenship. They will no longer be barred from returning for three or ten years if they can prove that the bar imposes “extreme hardship” on a citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. This program will be extended to all family members for whom an immigrant visa is immediately available. To expand the use of this program, USCIS will specify the meaning of “extreme hardship.”

To support the military in their recruitment efforts, the Department of Homeland Security will expand the scope of its November 2013 memorandum to include family members of citizens and lawful permanent residents who wish to enter the United States Armed Forces. The current program applies only to family members of those who are already part of the military or veterans. The temporary status granted also applies to persons in the United States who have entered without inspection.

USCIS regularly grants foreign travel authorizations, called “advance parole,” to temporary migrants or immigrants with pending immigration applications. A call is made in a memorandum for the need for a guideline that offers consistency with respect to “advance parole”, so that the trip in this condition is not considered an “exit” and does not trigger the grounds of inadmissibility that prohibit the admission after accumulating an unlawful presence. This would offer greater certainty about the consequences of their trips to individuals with “advance parole”.

Access to naturalization will be facilitated with the implementation of credit card payment services and partial fee exemptions, as well as public information campaigns.

Main indicators of migratory movements, the migrant population and the employment of emigrants