Resident Nonimmigrant Population Report Provides Interesting Data

The Department of Homeland Security recently released a report on the size and characteristics of the resident nonimmigrant population in the United States on Jan. 1, 2012. Resident nonimmigrant refers to foreign nationals who are legally admitted into the U.S. for specific, temporary services and with a residency class of admission. The characteristics analyzed include category of admission, country of citizenship, destination state, age and gender.
Resident Nonimmigrant Categories
The time period used for this data was July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012. During that time, the resident nonimmigrant population averaged 1.9 million. Of this, temporary workers and their families accounted for 45 percent of the population, while students and their families accounted for another 38 percent. Exchange visitors made up 12 percent of this population and the remaining 4 percent were diplomats and other representatives.
Region and Country of Citizenship 
About half of the resident nonimmigrants were citizens of Asian countries, including India (23 percent), China (11 percent), South Korea (8 percent) and Japan (5 percent). Europe and North America accounted for another 26 percent, led by Canada with 6 percent and Mexico with 5 percent. Among temporary workers, the largest percent is made up of citizens of India at 38 percent. The largest student populations were citizens of China (22 percent), India (14 percent) and South Korea (13 percent).
Destination States
California was the leading destination state with 15 percent (270,000) of the nonimmigrant population choosing to reside there. The next leading destination states were New York with 210,000, Texas with 140,000 and Florida with 100,000. Compared to the nation as a whole, large percentages of temporary workers reside in Texas, New Jersey and Washington, while larger than average of the student population resides in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Age 
About 38 percent (720,000) of the population is under the age of 25, another 38 percent (710,000) were ages 25 to 34, while 23 percent (440,000) were 35 or older. Temporary workers tended to be between the ages of 25 and 44 (70 percent), while students and exchange visitors tended to be between 18 and 34 (85 percent).
Gender 
Slightly more than half of the resident nonimmigrant population was male (55 percent). Temporary workers and diplomats were more likely to be male (59 and 60 percent), 53 percent of students were male, and less than half of exchange visitors were male (46 percent).
For a copy of the full report, please visit https://Users/davidlewis/Sites/berardi/app/public.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/ois_ni_pe_2011.pdf.
If you have questions regarding resident nonimmigrant categories or other immigration matters, please contact one of our attorneys today!