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US Green Card Issuance 2013-2022

Getting a green card is a long (and sometimes painful) process for US immigrants. Curious how many green cards do US issue every year on each category, I looked up the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2022 by the Department of Homeland Security this week. It includes the breakdown of persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status between 2013 and 2022.

My Visualization

This visualization puts class of admissions side by side to show the yearly trend with easy comparison. You can also click on ‘Switch to xx’ at the lower right corner to switch between # or %.

Please notice that all the visualizations are designed for desktop view, so it is recommended to view them on a desktop device.

Dashboard link

Insights

  • The category ‘Immediate Relative of US Citizen’ has always been the highest category (40%-50%), followed by family-sponsored preferences;
  • However, the green card issuances amount of both categories were significantly lower in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic (many applicants of these categories are not in the US, but cannot travel due to various travel ban);
  • Meanwhile, employment-based (EB) preferences category benefited the most and grew a lot in the past three years, as most EB applicants were already working in the US.

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