After being the largest non-resident immigrants to the United States for years, Indians have now been overtaken by Mexicans, the latest official report for the year 2008 has revealed.
In 2008, of the more than 3.6 million foreigners coming to the US on resident non-immigrant visas, Mexico topped the list with 440,099 followed by a close India with 425,826 admissions.
Japan has been posted as a distant second with 257,401 admissions followed South Korea (216,648), Britain (216,280) and China (163,433), the report said.
The Annual Flow Report released by the Office of Immigration Statistics is based on the information gathered from the I-94 on the number and characteristics of non-immigrant admissions to the US in 2008.
"The leading countries of citizenship for resident non-immigrant admissions to the United States in 2008 were Mexico (12 per cent), India (12 per cent), Japan (7 per cent), South Korea (5.9 per cent), and the UK (5.9 per cent).
"These five countries accounted for more than 40 per cent of resident non-immigrant admissions to the US," it said. Even though Mexico has taken the number one spot, in actual figures, there has been an increase in the number of Indians coming to the US on resident immigrant visa status.
For instance in 2006, 309,501 Indians entered the US under various categories of non-immigrant visas, while in 2007 the figured increased to 403,106.
From 2007 to 2008, notable increases in resident non-immigrant admissions occurred among citizens from China (19 per cent increase), Mexico (16 per cent increase), and India (5.6 per cent increase), the report said.
The increase in admissions from China was largely accounted for by academic students (F1) and exchange visitors (J1). The increase from Mexico was primarily attributable to seasonal agricultural workers (H2A).
The Annual Flow Report said the increased admissions from India were concentrated among academic student (F1) and intracompany transferee (L1) classes.
Among top-ten sending countries, Japan and the United Kingdom had declining resident admissions from 2007 to 2008. The decrease in admissions from the UK (4.4 per cent decrease) was concentrated among workers in specialty occupations (H1B), while the decrease from Japan (4.3 per cent decrease) was attributable to academic students (F1) and workers in specialty occupations (H1B).
Further nearly half of academic student admissions (F1) were nationals of five countries: South Korea (15 per cent), China (11 per cent), India (9.9 per cent), Japan (6.8 per cent), and Mexico (6.3 per cent).
Between 2006 and 2008, South Korea, China, and India showed consistent increases in F1 admissions, while admissions from Japan declined during the same period.
