A record number of 84,681 Indians got green cards in 2005 which entitled them to become permanent residents in the United States.
WASHINGTON: A record number of 84,681 Indians got green cards in 2005 which entitled them to become permanent residents in the United States.
According to a data released by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CSIS), of the total number of 1,22,373 green cards issued last year, the maximum 1,61,445 went to the natives of Mexico. India secured second position with 84,681 followed by China with 69,967.
The number of Indian immigrants in 2003 was 50,228 which increased to 70,151 in the following year. In 2005, 84,681 people got green cards showing a consistent increase in the number of Indian nationals willing to settle down in the United States. Most of them could opt for becoming US citizens after the required five years of permanent residency.
According to CSIS sources, the largest number of green card applications pending clearance are in India, “most of whom have been sponsored under the family relationship category’’. The drastic increase in Indians gaining permanent residency in the US in the past two years is due to migration through employment.
Most of them are software professionals who came on a worker visa like H1-B and then went through the skilled category of employees to get green cards. The US issues green cards based on family relationship, employment preferences and asylum seekers.
Under the employment category India again claimed the largest number of green cards last year due to the large number of software professionals who had migrated to the United States in search of jobs in the 90s.
Under the employment category, India claimed the largest 43,211 followed by Phillippines with 16,737, Mexico 15,597, Korea 15,130 and the United Kingdom 11,950.
Their presence of Indians sparked a boom in other businesses. Indian restaurants, Indian grocery stores and other speciality stores that sell herbal and Ayurvedic products as well as all kinds of oils for massage multiplied bringing in a new set of Indian nationals, who too applied for a green card and stayed on as permanent residents.
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