“Immigrant Pathways to Legal Permanent Residence”, by the Public Policy Institute of California is our site of the day

The Public Policy Institute of California released a 28 page study last week, “Immigrant Pathways to Legal Permanent Residence,” on a topic very important to our state.

This study found that many immigrants who recently became legal permanent residents first lived in the United States illegally and that this is particularly true in California, where more than half lived in the state illegally before getting green cards.

The report is based on a representative survey of immigrants who became legal permanent residents in the United States in 2003. This information is more detailed and rich than typical federal data on the foreign-born. Among its findings:

• Fewer than four in 10 (38%) legal permanent residents (LPR’s) were new to the United States when they got their green cards and many had lived here illegally for at least some time.

• In California, more than half (52%) had lived in the country illegally. They either crossed the border illegally (35%) or violated the terms of their visas by overstaying a tourist visa or by working when they were not authorized (18%).

• In the United States, about four in 10 (42%) first lived in the country illegally. This group was more evenly divided between those who crossed the border illegally (20%) or violated their visa terms (22%).

• In the nation as a whole, the pathways that immigrants – whether legal or illegal – took to legal residency differed significantly according to their home countries. Those who came from Asia and the Pacific were more likely to be new arrivals to the U.S. (53%). Those who came from Latin America and the Caribbean were more likely to have crossed the border illegally (41%) than immigrants from other regions. Those who violated their visa terms at some point before getting green cards were more likely to have come from the Mideast/North Africa (31%) or Europe/Central Asia (27%).

• In California, 53% of LPR’s are from Latin America and the Caribbean, most of them from Mexico (30%). East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific accounts for the second largest region (32.6%).

• In the U.S. overall, immigrants who crossed the border illegally before becoming legal permanent residents were likely to be less educated and less proficient in English than recent permanent residents overall, but they were much more likely to be currently employed (72% vs. 56%). Immigrants who had violated the terms of their visas before becoming legal permanent residents were more educated, more likely to speak English well or very well, and also more likely to be currently employed than recent legal permanent residents overall (66% vs. 56%).

The report analyzes how changes to federal immigration policy proposed in 2007 might alter the composition of legal immigrants in the United States and in California.