NumbersUSA Education and Research Foundation January 2007

CATEGORIES OF MIGRANTS R
/ ECOGNIZED UNDER U.S. LAW

Immigrants (Lawful Permanent Residents) Illegal Aliens Temporary Entrants (Nonimmigrants)

Visa Lottery Winners Humanitarian Immigrants Tourists & Short-Term

cap = 50,000* & Amnestied Aliens Business Visitors unlimited

Family-Based Immigrants Employment-Based Immigrants* Temporary Guest Workers Other Nonimmigrants unlimited
cap = 140,000 Refugee Adjustments
unlimited
Skilled Workers Ambassadors, Diplomats, United
Nations Officials
Immediate Relatives Asylee Adjustments
parents, spouses, minor
Priority Workers cap = 10,000
Treaty Traders, Treaty Investors And other employees of foreign govern-
cap = 40,040 authorized by international free trade agreements ments and international organizations, and
children of U.S. citizens servants and attendants of such employees
unlimited; 2005=436,231
Other Humanitarian H-1B Workers
Aliens w/ Extraordinary Ability specialty occupations and fashion models Aircraft and Vessel Crew
unlimited
cap = 85,000; exceptions to cap = unlimited
Family Preference Immigrants*
floor = 226,000 Outstanding Professors & Students at Academic
Researchers
Amnesty H-1C Nurses coming to work in designated Institutions
NACARA, health-care shortage areas
Family 1st – unmarried adult Multinational Executives & cap = 500
Managers HRIFA, IRCA Foreign Press Representatives
children of citizens unlimited
cap = 23,400 L-1 Intracompany Transferees
2nd Preference managers/specialized workers in multinat’l corps Exchange Visitors
Family 2A – cap = 40,040 Parolee unlimited
spouses, minor children of LPRs Adjustments Fiance(e)s of US Citizens
floor/cap = 87,934/114,000
Professionals w/ Adv. Degrees unlimited Unskilled Workers
Family 2B – Vocational Students
Aliens of Exceptional Ability
unmarried adult children of LPRs Cancellation of Removal H-2A Temporary Agricultural Workers
cap = 26,266 cap = 4,000 unlimited Witness/Informant in Criminal
3rd Preference Proceeding
Family 3rd – married adult cap = 40,040 H-2B Temporary or Seasonal Workers
children of citizens
Amerasians cap = 66,000 Humanitarian Entrants
cap = 23,400 unlimited
Skilled Workers
Other Workers
Professionals Refugee/asylee admissions
Family 4th – Other
adult siblings of citizens
Unskilled Workers unlimited Workers with Extraordinary Ability Humanitarian parolees
cap = 65,000 in sciences, arts, education, business, athletics
cap = 5,000*
unlimited
Victims of human trafficking
* A per-country limit applies to visas in these preference cate-gories. 4th Preference Athletes & Entertainers unlimited and domestic violence
For independent countries the limit is seven percent of the total number Special Immigrants
of preference visas available, while dependent areas are limited to two cap = 9,940
percent of total preference visas. Religious Workers unlimited Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries
* The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997
(NACARA) reallocates 5,000 visas annually from both the Visa Lottery 5th Preference Spouses & minor children of LPRs on the
and the Unskilled Worker category and makes them available to illegal Investors
aliens who qualify for amnesty under NACARA. Once NACARA cap = 9,940 Entered without Inspection Visa Overstay visa waiting list for three or more years
applications fall below a specified level, this reallocation will end. estimated at about 60 percent of total illegal pop. estimated at about 40 percent of total illegal pop.
NumbersUSA
The Average Annual Legal Immigration
Level During:

The Colonial Era (1607-1775): 3,500

The Nation Building Era (1776-1819): 6,500

The Era of Continental Expansion (1820-1879): 162,000

The Great Wave (1880-1924): 584,000

The Rise of the Middle Class (1925-1964): 178,000

The Civil Rights Era (1965-1989): 507,000

The Average Annual Legal Immigration

Level Since The Immigration Act Of 1990:

1,000,000

310 Sixth Street, SE ΠWashington, DC 20003 Π(202) 543-1341 Πwww.numbersusa.com