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The Indian Diaspora in the United States

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The Indian Diaspora in the United States RAD Diaspora Profile Prepared for the Rockefeller Foundation-Aspen Institute Diaspora Program (RAD) The Indian Diaspora in the United States July 2014 Summary1 Approximately 2.6 million Indian immigrants and their children (the first and second gen- erations) live in the United States. The India-born population is the third-largest immigrant population in the United States, but historically it was not a significant country of settlement for Indian emigrants, and India was not a major source of immigrants for the United States. The Indian diaspora is a comparatively young population, and high levels of academic achievement and economic patterns set them far above U.S. national averages and most other groups in the Rockefeller Foundation-Aspen Institute Diaspora Program (RAD) analysis.2 Recent Indian immigration flows to the United States have largely been channeled through foreign temporary worker, family-based preference, and student admission programs. Im- migrants from India represent the majority of beneficiaries of the H-1B program, the United States’ largest temporary worker visa category, and make up the second-largest group of international students at U.S. colleges and universities. ASPORA I Indian immigrants are widely dispersed across the country, but the largest numbers are in California, New Jersey, and Texas. By metropolitan area, the New York City area has the larg- est Indian immigrant population, followed by Chicago and San Jose, CA. D The Indian diaspora in the United States is highly organized, and is represented by a count- less number of well-funded and professionally managed groups. Many members of the Indian diaspora have deep, positive, and multifaceted forms of engagement with India. The govern- ment of India has created many programs and initiatives that aim to encourage and amplify AN the diaspora’s contributions and has established a ministry specifically for Indians abroad: I the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Migrant remittances make up a relatively low share of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) (3.7 percent) but constitute the world’s largest inflow in absolute terms, with remittances estimated at $67 billion in 2013. The Indian diaspora has both the ability and the tools to ND contribute to the country’s development, growth, and prosperity. I 1 All Rights Reserved. © 2014 Migration Policy Institute. Information for reproducing excerpts from this report can be found at www.migrationpolicy.org/about/copyright-policy. Haitian, Indian, Kenyan, Mexican, Moroccan, Nigerian, Pakistani, Salvadoran, and Vietnamese diaspora populations. 2 The RAD Diaspora Profile series covers U.S.-based Bangladeshi, Colombian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Filipino, Ghanaian, I. Introduction The India diaspora in the United States is a highly educated and economically successful popula- tion that has integrated well in the United States while maintaining strong ties with its home- land. Among their many accomplishments, immigrants from India and their children have been instrumental in the development of the United States’ information technology (IT) industry, and through skills transfers, circular migration habits, and transnational investments, they have also played a major role in building up India’s IT industry. The majority of diaspora organizations are culturally based groups and within-group marriage rates are high, suggesting that preserving Indian identity and traditions are highly valued by members of this community. II. Population Profile of the Indian Diaspora3 Analysis of data from 2009-13 show an Indian diaspora in the United States of 2.6 million indi- viduals. Sixty-nine percent of the members of this population were foreign born, representing about 4.8 percent of the U.S. immigrant population; 31 percent of the diaspora had at least one India-born parent. The India-born population in the United States has grown rapidly since 1980, when approximately 210,000 Indian immigrants lived in the country and made up 1.5 percent of its foreign-born population.4 The India-born population is recently arrived to the United States: 51 percent of immigrants from India settled in the country during or after 2000, compared to 36 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population. First Generation (Indian immigrants in the United States) More than 1.8 million immigrants from India resided in the United States, representing the United States’ third-largest immigrant group, after Mexican- and Chinese-born immigrants. It is a comparatively young population; first-generation Indian immigrants had a median age of 37, the second lowest among the 15-group RAD analysis (after Kenya and tied with The majority (84 percent) of Indian immigrants were working age (18 to 64), a far higher proportionEthiopia), although than for oneither par thewith U.S. the national U.S. national population median. (63 percent) or any of the other first-generation populations in the RAD series. Nine percent of immigrants from India in the United States were 65 years and older, and 7 percent were younger than 18. Second Generation (U.S. born with at least one India-born parent) Almost 800,000 U.S.-born individuals had at least one India-born parent. 3 Unless otherwise noted, estimates for the diaspora population and its characteristics are based on Migration Policy Insti- collected in March of each year. All Census Bureau data were accessed from Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS); Steventute (MPI) Ruggles, analysis J. Trent of the Alexander, U.S. Census Katie Bureau’s Genadek, Current Ronald Population Goeken, MatthewSurveys (CPS), B. Schroeder, using five and years Matthew of pooled Sobek, data Integrated (2009-13) Public Use Microdata Series: Version 5.0 [Machine-readable database] (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2010), http:// usa.ipums.org/usa/. 1990, and 2000 Censuses. The immigrant population also grew as a share of the total U.S. population, rising from 8 percent 4 to Estimates 13 percent are basedbetween on 1990MPI analysis and 2012. of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2010-12 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 1980, 2 RAD Diaspora Profile: The Indian Diaspora in the United States RAD Diaspora Profile Sixty-nine percent of second-generation individuals were under 18 years old, and the population’s median age was 11. father—the highest proportion to have both parents born in the country of origin in the Eighty-four15-series. Members percent of thosethe Indian in the diaspora second generationhad a demonstrated had both anpreference India-born for mother marrying and within the diaspora: only 14 percent of newlywed people of Indian ancestry in the United States had married someone outside of their ethnic group.5 III. Immigration Pathways and Trends6 Until the 1970s, the United States was not a major country of destination for Indian emigrants, and Indians made up an insubstantial share of the United States’ total immigrant population.7 Restrictive immigration laws passed by the U.S. Congress during World War I and in the years im- population inflows through the mid-1960s.8 The result of these nationally biased immigration mediatelypolicies for following the India effectively born was thatcut off from Indian 1920 and through other 1959,non-Northern only 6,250 and of non-Western them gained Europeanlawful permanent resident (LPR) status in the United States. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 repealed the country’s national-origin quota system and had a visible and immediate im- pact on the scale of Indian emigration to the United States. Temporary Employment and Student Visa Programs Contemporary Indian immigration flows to the United States have been shaped by temporary admissions for skilled workers and students, and as a consequence high-skilled individuals are overrepresented among the India-born population in the United States relative to India’s national population, the U.S. foreign-born population, and the U.S. general public. Indians entered the United States 1.8 million times as temporary workers and 819,000 times on student visas during the decade from fiscal year (FY) 2002-12. A person who holds one of these visas may use it to enter than once, so these numbers represent entries, not individuals. Among the United States’ temporary worker visa programs, the H-1B program has been an especially important pathway for India-born immigrants. Nationals of no other country have so completely dominated the H-1B program: of the 270,000 H-1B petitions approved during the FY 2012, 64 percent were granted to India-born people.9 H-1B visas allow U.S. firms to hire foreign workers with at least a bachelor’s degree for specialty occupations that require technical or theo- retical expertise (e.g. scientists, engineers, and IT workers), and a limited number are issued each 5 Pew Research Center, The Rise of Asian Americans (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2013), 13, www.pewsocialtrends. 6 Admissions, lawful permanent resident, and citizenship data are taken from MPI analysis of U.S. Department of Homeland Se- org/files/2013/04/Asian-Americans-new-full-report-04-2013.pdf Yearbook of Immigration Statistics www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics. curity data for fiscal years (FY) 2002 through 2012. U.S. Department of HomelandMigration Security, Information Source, October 2009, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emigration-immigration-and-diaspora-relations-india(Washington, DC: Office of Immigration Statistics, 2002-13), . 87 Daniel Naujoks, Migration,“Emigration, Citizenship Immigration, and Development:and Diaspora DiasporicRelations
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