Because Congress has capped the number of employment-sponsored green cards at 140,000 per year (about 13% of the total), the majority of immigrants in the United States obtain their green cards based on a family relationship.
This is even true for immigrants from China and India, in part because of country-specific caps that further constrain employment-based immigration from large nations. As of now, many more Chinese and Indian nationals obtain green cards through family sponsors, compared with employer sponsors.
In fact, South Korea is the only major country whose employer-sponsored immigrants to the United States outnumber family-sponsored immigrants. Even then, it’s worth noting that roughly half of the employer-sponsored immigrants are actually spouses and children of the primary worker.
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Learn more in our 2019 family-based immigration report.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FAMILY-BASED IMMIGRATION:
Trump Administration’s Plan Would Drastically Reduce Family-Sponsored Immigration
Wait Time for Some Green Card Categories Could Be 100 years Plus
Family-Sponsored Immigrants Better Educated Than Native-Born U.S. Citizens
Map of Family-Sponsored Immigrants In the United States
Nearly 4 Million People Waiting For Family-Sponsored Green Card
Spouses and Children of Green Card Holders Sometimes Wait Years to Live Together In U.S.
Canada and Australia Issue Twice the Number of Permanent Resident Visas Compared to U.S.
Wait Times for Family-Sponsored Green Cards Have Nearly Doubled