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 Priority Workers Treaty Traders, Treaty Investors And other employees of foreign govern- parents, spouses, minor cap = 10,000 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 unlimited specialty occupations and fashion models Aircraft and Vessel Crew Family Preference Immigrants* cap = 85,000; exceptions to cap = unlimited 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 Unskilled Workers Professionals w/ Adv. Degrees unlimited Vocational Students Family 2B – 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 cap = 40,040 Family 3rd – married adult H-2B Temporary or Seasonal Workers children of citizens Amerasians cap = 66,000 Humanitarian Entrants unlimited cap = 23,400 Skilled Workers Other Workers th Professionals Refugee/asylee admissions Family 4 – 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 and domestic violence Athletes & Entertainers unlimited 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 visa waiting list for three or more years aliens who qualify for amnesty under NACARA. Once NACARA cap = 9,940 Entered without Inspection Visa Overstay 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. NNNuuummmbbbeeerrrsssUUUSSSAAA

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

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