2018 Lawful Permanent Residents : who came to the United States ?

Legal permanent residents (LPRs) are non-citizens who are lawfully authorized to live permanently within the United States, also known as green card recipients. Across the world, more than one million people obtain this status each year.

We were interested in the data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in order to highlight the regions and countries of origin of these people who received a green card in 2018.

Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Region and Country of Birth in 2018

In 2018, 1,096,611 persons were granted refugee Lawful Permanent Resident status in the United States. North America and Asia are leading regions of birth of these green card recipients, respectively 38% and 36% in 2018, and have accounted for at least 70 percent of new LPRs each year over the last decade.

Region	Green Card recipients	Percentage
North America	418,980	38.28%
Asia	397,180	36.29%
Africa	115,735	10.57%
Europe	79,126	7.23%
South America	78,876	7.21%
Oceania	4,638	0.42%

If we look more closely at the countries of origin of these lawful migrants, Mexico comes by far first with nearly 14.8% of green cards granted. The top seven countries in this 2018 ranking were also the top countries of birth of new LPRs over the past 10 years, together accounting for 45% of new LPRs during this period.

Rank	Country	Green Card recipients	Region Name	Percentage
1	Mexico	161,858	North America	14.79%
2	Cuba	76,486	North America	6.99%
3	China, People’s Republic	65,214	Asia	5.96%
4	India	59,821	Asia	5.47%
5	Dominican Republic	57,413	North America	5.25%
6	Philippines	47,258	Asia	4.32%
7	Vietnam	33,834	Asia	3.09%
8	El Salvador	28,326	North America	2.59%
9	Haiti	21,360	North America	1.95%
10	Jamaica	20,347	North America	1.86%

Green card recipients figures region by region

North America

The leading region of birth of new Green Card recipients (38.3%) in 2018 was North America, including the Caribbean and Central America. In 2018, 14.8% of all persons granted Legal Permanent Resident were born in Mexico, which has been the leading source of new LPRs each year since 1978. In this ranking, Cuba follows Mexico with 7% of new LPRs in 2018.

Asia

Asia was the second region of birth of new LPRs in 2018 with 36.2% of green card beneficiaries. The 3rd and 4th in the ranking of countries of birth of new LPRs in 2018 were China (5.9%) and India (5.5%).

Africa

Africa represented 10.6% of Green Card recipients in 2018. Nigeria, ranked 19th, was the first African country in the ranking with 1.3% of new LPRs, and Ethiopia, ranked 22nd was granted 1.1% of the Green Cards.

Europe

In 2018, Europe accounted for 7.2% of Green Card recipients. Ukraine, first European country in the ranking, came 24th with 1.1% of Green Card recipients, and the United Kingdom, ranked 29th represented 0.9% of new LPRs.

South America

South Amercia represented 7.2% of Green Card recipients in 2018. Colombia, ranked 12th, was the first South Amercian country in the ranking with 1.6% of new LPRs 19th, and Brazil, ranked 16th was granted 1.6% of the Green Cards.