North America

Canada

Mexico

North America is a dynamic migration region, with the United States home to more immigrants than any other country in the world, the Mexico-U.S. corridor the globe's top migration corridor, and Canada a leading destination for migrants. Research collected here focuses on everything from visa policy and border management to immigrant integration, national identity, the demographics of immigrants in the region and their educational and workforce outcomes, and ways to more effectively use migration policy as a lever for national and regional competitiveness.

Graphic image of man's hand touching screen with word skills

Commentaries

Canada's New Tech Talent Strategy Takes Aim at High-Skilled Immigrants in the United States

Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy is highly unusual for its explicit targeting of visa holders in another country. Opening a dedicated stream specifically for high-skilled immigrants in the United States who hold an H-1B visa is the latest salvo in a growing global competition for talent—one in which some countries are racing ahead of the United States in terms of policy dynamism, as this commentary explores.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other leaders at the 2022 Summit of the Americas

Commentaries

The Los Angeles Declaration Could Represent a Big Step for Real Migration Cooperation across the Americas

The Los Angeles Agreement on Migration and Protection signed by leaders from 20 countries across the Western Hemisphere at the 2022 Summit of the Americas marks a significant step forward in creating a common language and a coherent set of ideas for more cooperatively managing migration movements across a region that has seen very significant mobility in recent years, as this commentary explains.

Recent Activity

Multimedia April 10, 2018 Family Immigration Policy and Trends: How the United States Compares to Other Countries	Reports April 2018 Responding to the ECEC Needs of Children of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Europe and North America By Maki Park, Caitlin Katsiaficas and Margie McHugh
Articles April 11, 2018 Dominican Immigrants in the United States By Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova	Policy Briefs April 2018 It’s Relative: A Crosscountry Comparison of Family-Migration Policies and Flows By Kate Hooper and Brian Salant
Articles April 4, 2018 A Two-Way Street: How Immigration Shapes Everyday Life in Silicon Valley By Tomás R. Jiménez	Policy Briefs March 2018 Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform By Sarah Pierce and Julia Gelatt
Multimedia March 21, 2018 Supporting DLLs in Superdiverse PreK-3 Programs: Findings from Two Studies	Articles March 22, 2018 Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter

Pages

Policy Briefs June 2005 Twilight Statuses: A Closer Examination of the Unauthorized Population By David A. Martin	Fact Sheets June 2005 Backlogs in Immigration Processing Persist By Doris Meissner, Elizabeth Grieco, Kevin Jernegan and Colleen Coffey
Reports June 2005 Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics By Jeffrey S. Passel	Books May 2005 The United States Refugee Admissions Program: Reforms for a New Era of Refugee Resettlement By David A. Martin
Policy Briefs April 2005 Revisiting the Need for Appointed Counsel By Donald M. Kerwin	Reports November 2004 Putting Data to Work For Immigrants and Communities: Tools for the Washington, DC Metro Area and Beyond By Suzette Brooks Masters, Kimberly A. Hamilton and Jill H. Wilson
Fact Sheets October 2004 Legal Immigration to U.S. Still Declining By Deborah W. Meyers	Reports October 2004 Building the New American Community: Newcomer Integration and Inclusion Experiences in Non-Traditional Gateway Cities By Brian Ray and Ann Morse

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Feature

June 28, 2013

Diasporas and Development in Post-Communist Eurasia

The region encompassing Central and Eastern Europe as well as the former Soviet Union is the source of a sizeable share of international migrants today, yet many of these countries' development efforts do not benefit from strong diaspora ties.

Policy Beat

June 19, 2013

As Senate Debates Immigration Reform, CBO and New Studies Examine Effects of Immigration on Nation's Fiscal Health

As the U.S. Senate continues its debate over a bill to overhaul the nation's immigration system, the fiscal impacts associated with enactment of such legislation have emerged as a divisive issue. Following the release of an official congressional cost estimate on Tuesday, this article examines the crucial question of how immigrants' contributions to the tax base compare to the public benefits they would receive under S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.

Spotlight

June 5, 2013

Filipino Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants from the Philippines made up 4.5 percent of the 40.4 million immigrants in the United States in 2011. Although this population—1.8 million strong in 2011—has grown 17 times its size since 1960, its share among Asian immigrants overall has decreased since that year. This article examines the latest data on Filipino immigrants in the United States, including population size, geographic distribution, admission categories, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Policy Beat

May 23, 2013

As Congress Tackles Immigration Legislation, State Lawmakers Retreat from Strict Measures

State-level immigration laws have gradually softened in tone since the Supreme Court in 2012 affirmed federal primacy in immigration enforcement in a landmark Arizona case — a trend further solidified by a changed post-election political calculus on immigration reform. This article examines this unanticipated shift away from restrictive state immigration actions as well as the recent new trend in the passage of immigrant-friendly laws regarding in-state tuition and the granting of driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants.

Feature

May 17, 2013

Counting the Uncountable: Overseas Americans

The immigration debate in the United States often focuses on how many foreign born enter and reside in the country. Much less attention is paid to Americans who live abroad—a population estimated at anywhere from 2 million to 7 million. This article examines the challenges of enumerating this population and also explores top destinations for American expats, their livelihoods, and motivations for leaving the United States.

Recent Activity

Video, Audio, Webinars

April 10, 2018

Family Immigration Policy and Trends: How the United States Compares to Other Countries

How does U.S. policy on family migration compare to that of other significant immigrant-receiving countries? MPI experts discuss the trends and policies for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The webinar marks the release of an issue brief that finds family ties predominate even in countries such as Canada that place more emphasis on economic migration.

Reports

April 2018

Responding to the ECEC Needs of Children of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Europe and North America

With many young children among the refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Europe and North America in recent years, policymakers and service providers are grappling with the task of designing and scaling up critical early childhood services. This report examines the approaches taken in nine key host countries, highlighting common challenges and promising practices.

Articles

April 11, 2018

Dominican Immigrants in the United States

In 2016, some 1.1 million Dominican immigrants lived in the United States, up from just 12,000 in 1960. Dominicans are highly concentrated in the New York metro area, and they and their descendants comprise the fifth-largest U.S. Hispanic group. This article profiles Dominican immigrants in the United States, finding them more likely to come via family ties and have lower incomes and less education than immigrants overall.

Policy Briefs

April 2018

It’s Relative: A Crosscountry Comparison of Family-Migration Policies and Flows

As policymakers in a number of countries, the United States among them, debate limiting family-based immigration, this issue brief explores family-migration trends and policies in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several other European countries. Family admissions play a key role, even in countries that prioritize economic or other immigration streams.

Articles

April 4, 2018

A Two-Way Street: How Immigration Shapes Everyday Life in Silicon Valley

While research shows immigrants in the United States become integrated over time, this is only a partial account of the changes that immigration brings. As newcomers reshape their communities, longtime residents themselves adjust to shifting social, economic, and political contexts—sometimes re-engaging with their own ethnic or cultural identities. This article explores this process of relational assimilation in Silicon Valley.

Policy Briefs

March 2018

Evolution of the H-1B: Latest Trends in a Program on the Brink of Reform

Though much attention focuses on the 85,000 temporary high-skilled visas issued each April through a computer-generated lottery, in reality far more H-1B visas are awarded outside the cap. This brief takes stock of changing trends in the program, finding that the largest H-1B dependent employers pay less and hire fewer foreign workers with advanced degrees than other top users that rely less on the temporary visa.

Video, Audio, Webinars

March 21, 2018

Supporting DLLs in Superdiverse PreK-3 Programs: Findings from Two Studies

This webinar focuses on patterns of home language use across different early childhood education and care (ECEC) program types, and the potential of the Sobrato Early Academic Language model to improve instruction and outcomes for DLLs in superdiverse settings.

Articles

March 22, 2018

Even as Congress Remains on Sidelines, the Trump Administration Slows Legal Immigration

While much attention has focused on President Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, the administration has moved, via a much wider scope of actions, to reduce legal immigration to the United States. This article explores changes including slowed processing of family- and employment-based visas, dramatic cuts in refugee admissions, and heightened vetting and evidence requirements for would-be immigrants.

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