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Legal Immigration and Adjustment of Status Report Fiscal Year 2023, Quarter 2

Body

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues this quarterly report describing legal immigration and detailing the number of adjustments of immigration status.  The Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) developed this report by disaggregating data from the reporting period by type of adjustment, type and detailed class of admission, and country of nationality.  

Supporting data tables (at bottom of this webpage) are additionally provided for these four categories:

  • Lawful Permanent Residents
  • Refugee Admissions
  • Naturalizations
  • Nonimmigrant (I-94) Admissions

Information about legal migration flows and adjustments of status provided in this quarterly report is preliminary and based on data available one month after the reporting period.1 OHSS updates data for previous quarters in subsequent reports as additional data become available and publishes final annual data in the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. The numbers in this report reflect revisions to previous editions of this report.

View previous year-end report data.

Return to main LPR page for more resources.

Return to main refugees and asylees page for more resources.

Return to main naturalizations page for more resources.

Return to main nonimmigrants page for more resources.

Return to immigration topic page.

Recent Trends

Approximately2 285,000 noncitizens obtained lawful permanent resident (LPR) status in the second quarter (Q2) of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 (Table 1A). Nearly 123,000 noncitizens issued immigrant visas by Department of State entered the United States as new arrivals, a nearly 25 percent increase from FY 2022 Q2. Over 162,000 noncitizens adjusted status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from within the United States, about 31 percent increase from FY 2022 Q2. The increase in new arrivals demonstrates a continued return to more typical levels after COVID-19-related public health challenges in 2021 resulted in travel restrictions and closures in the United States and worldwide.

Countries of Nationality

In FY 2023 Q2, 40 percent of new LPRs were from the top five countries of nationality: Mexico, India, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the People’s Republic of China (China) (see Table 1A). In FY 2022 Q2, the top five countries of nationality (Mexico, India, China, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic) represented 39 percent of new LPRs.

Classes and Modes of Admission

The largest LPR class of admission (51 percent) in FY 2023 Q2 was comprised of LPRs who obtained status as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, followed by 17 percent who obtained status as family-sponsored preferences, and 16 percent of LPRs who obtained status employment-based preferences. Refugee admissions, the next largest class of admission, accounted for four percent of LPRs (Table 1B). In FY 2022 Q2, the majority of new LPRs were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (51 percent), followed by employment-based preferences (21 percent), family-sponsored preferences (17 percent), and asylees admissions (4 percent).

Data Sources

USCIS provided LPR data from its Computer Linked Application Information Management System (CLAIMS) and its Electronic Immigration System (ELIS).3 CLAIMS includes information from DHS Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, which is used by applicants living in the United States. ELIS includes information from certain Form I-485 records, as well as applications for LPR status submitted by applicants living abroad. ELIS automatically confirms the applicant’s status based on one of two Department of State forms:  either Form DS-230, Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration, or Form DS-260, Electronic Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration.

Recent Trends

About 11,700 refugees were admitted to the United States in FY 2023 Q2 (Table 2), a 113 percent increase from FY 2022 Q2, when only about 5,500 refugees were admitted. These significant increases show a recovery from COVID-19-related public health challenges, though admissions numbers have not yet resumed pre-COVID-19 levels in proportion to the refugee ceiling.

Countries of Nationality

In FY 2023 Q2, 76 percent of refugees arrived from the top five countries of nationality: Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, Syria, Afghanistan, and Colombia (Table 2). In FY 2022 Q2, the top five countries of nationality (the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, Burma, Ukraine, and Sudan) accounted for 75 percent of refugee arrivals.

Data Sources

Refugee data presented in Table 2 are from the DOS Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) refugee case management system.

Recent Trends

About 217,000 persons naturalized in FY 2023 Q2 (Table 3), a 3 percent decrease from FY 2022 Q2, when approximately 224,000 persons naturalized. These FY 2023 Q2 data for Q2 maintain pre-COVID levels.

Countries of Nationality

Thirty-one percent of naturalizations in FY 2023 Q2 consisted of persons from the top five countries of nationality:  Mexico, India, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba (Table 3). In FY 2022 Q2, the top five countries of nationality (Mexico, India, Cuba, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic) accounted for nearly 34 percent of naturalizations.

Data Sources

Naturalization data presented in Table 3 come from administrative records of DHS Form N-400 applications recorded in the USCIS ELIS data system.

Detailed data on nonimmigrants in this report are based on I-94/I-94W information, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses to record certain nonimmigrant admissions (collectively referred to as I-94 nonimmigrant admissions).4 Prior to FY 2022 Q2, data on nonimmigrant admissions lagged a quarter due to CBP’s data reporting close-out process. Nonimmigrant admissions data are now on the same schedule as other data sources in this report.

Recent Trends

In FY 2023 Q2, DHS recorded a total (i.e., including both I-94 and estimated non-I-94 admissions) of nearly 61 million nonimmigrant admissions to the United States. Specifically, this included approximately 15.1 million I-94 nonimmigrant admissions (Table 4B), a 72 percent increase from FY 2022 Q2. This increase aligns with ongoing immigration system recovery from COVID-19-related public health challenges.

Countries of Nationality

The top five countries of nationality – Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom, India, and South Korea – accounted for 65 percent of I-94 nonimmigrant admissions in FY 2023 Q2 (Table 4A). In FY 2022 Q2, the top five countries of nationality (Mexico, Canada, United Kingdom, India, and France) accounted for 64 percent of I-94 nonimmigrant admissions.

Classes of Admission

About 74 percent of I-94 nonimmigrants admitted in FY 2023 Q2 were temporary visitors entering for pleasure, followed by temporary visitors for business (12 percent), and temporary workers and families (9 percent; Table 4B). In FY 2022 Q2, these classes of admissions represented 73 percent, 10 percent, and 10 percent of I-94 nonimmigrant admissions, respectively.

Data Sources

Data on total nonimmigrant admissions come from DHS workload estimates. Detailed data on I-94 nonimmigrant admissions are based on DHS Form I-94/I-94W arrival records in the CBP TECS database.

  1. This report does not reflect how many visas were used in FY 2023 because it counts admissions at a POE instead of DOS visa issuance.

  2. Numbers in this report are rounded. For precise numbers, please refer to the data tables.

  3. USCIS built the ELIS case management system as a part of its Transformation Program–an agency-wide modernization initiative to enable end-to-end electronic benefit case processing. Currently, ELIS receives and processes a variety of USCIS form types; the data for this report are obtained from USCIS records and associated data for the immigrant visa packets (upon arrival in the United States), Form N-400, Application for Naturalization, and certain records from Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

  4. Information collected from these I-94 records includes arrival dates, port of entry, class of admission, country of nationality, state of destination, age, gender, and, in some instances, departure dates. I-94 data do not describe all nonimmigrant admissions because certain visitors (e.g., most short-term visitors from Mexico and Canada) are not required to fill out the I-94 form. Admissions represent counts of events, i.e., arrivals, not unique individuals; an individual can have multiple entries during a given period of time. Previous quarterly data for this report are available on the Legal Immigration and Status Report Quarterly Data page.

Attachment Ext. Size Date
Legal Immigration and Adjustment of Status Report Tables FY 2023 Q2 XLSX 63.98 KB 01/02/2024
Last Updated: 01/02/2024
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