AANHPI Immigrants in the United States

Asian Americans have the largest share of immigrants (56%) compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Over 12 million Asian Americans in the United States are foreign-born. They include naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents, temporary visa holders, refugees or asylees, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, or undocumented immigrants. Among Asian ethnic groups, Bhutanese, Nepalese and Burmese have the highest proportions of immigrants, at 80%, 79% and 75% respectively.

While the majority of NHPI ethnic groups have lower proportions of foreign-born populations, Fijian Americans are the only group with majority foreign-born, at 59%.

IMMIGRANTS BY STATUS

In 2021, a total of 295,306 individuals from Asian countries and regions and approximately 794 individuals from Pacific Island countries and regions obtained legal permanent resident (LPR) status in the United States. The majority of Asian-born individuals receiving LPR status were from India, mainland China, and Philippines. Together, these three countries accounted for 69% of the Asian LPR recipients.

From 2012 to 2021, the U.S. issued a total of 4,653,110 immigrant visas, of which 1,529,830, or 33%, were granted to immigrants from Asian countries. China, Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh received the highest numbers of immigrant visas, collectively accounting for 80% of the visas issued to Asian countries.

According to data released by The Department of Homeland Security, there were nearly 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States in 2015, of whom 1.8 million were from Asia. Our estimates suggest that 30% of these Asian undocumented immigrants reside in California. The state also has the largest undocumented Asian population in the . These numbers likely do not fully account for the large number of Asian migrants who entered the United States from the Northern and Southwest land borders in recent years. According to the official year end reporting of U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and the Office of Field Operations (OFO), from Fiscal Year 2022 to 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) recorded a total of 7,487,484 encounters with individuals attempting to cross the Northern and Southwest land borders. Among these encounters, at least 287,121, or 3.8% were made with immigrants from Asian countries, such as China, India, Myanmar (Burma) and Philippines (for more details, please visit: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters).

Undocumented Asian Population by Top 10 States

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2015; U.S. Census Bureau, 2017-2021 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Table B05003