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Fact Sheets
October 2004

Legal Immigration to U.S. Still Declining

By  Deborah W. Meyers
Immigrant Profiles & Demographics
U.S. Data
Immigration Policy & Law
Legalization/Regularization
Visa Policy
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The number of people granted legal permanent residence in the United States in FY 2003 dropped 34 percent to just under 706,000. This included 358,000 new arrivals and 347,000 persons who adjusted their status. These figures are down significantly from the 1.06 million who became new legal permanent residents in FY 2002. The decline reflects that only half as many persons who were present in the United States adjusted their status as had done so the year before (347,000 in FY 2003 compared to 680,000 in FY 2002). DHS officials attribute the processing slowdown to new requirements for additional background checks on applicants, as well as the shifting of adjudications staff to the Special Registration program, leaving fewer officials available to process green cards.

This fact sheet is an overview of U.S. immigration based on Fiscal Year 2003 data from the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, which was released in mid-September 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics.

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Michelle Mittelstadt
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Experts 
Photo of Doris Meissner

Doris Meissner, former Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, directs MPI's U.S. immigration policy work. Full Bio >

Photo of Muzaffar Chishti

Muzaffar Chishti is an MPI Senior Fellow and Director of the MPI office at New York University School of Law. Full Bio >


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