E-Paper
Indians' presence on the rise in US
The US Census Bureau puts Indians as the second biggest foreign community in the US, writes Deshbandhu Singh.
Indians are the fastest growing Asian community in the United States. The US Census Bureau puts Indians as the second biggest foreign community in the US, after Mexicans, to gain citizenship by way of long years of their legal residence.
In the fiscal year 2003, a total of 29,790 Indians registered their names as new citizen of US as against 56,093 by the Mexicans. In the previous years, the majority (54 per cent of all) of persons naturalising were female.
With this Indians have overtaken Philippines (29,081) by a marginal number.
This indicates an encouraging trend as Indian-American in US now have a stronger political influence by way of their civic rights, unlike in the past.
According to another report, Indian-Americans, though wealthy and educated, have a poor record of political participation due to absence of citizenship right. While many are eligible, living in the US for many years, few bother to get the citizenship status.
It is estimated that half of the Indians in the United States are eligible for citizenship, but only one-third of them have acquired this right. It is difficult to imagine the community becoming an influential force in American politics if a majority of the community cannot fulfil the most basic of civic responsibilities.
While Indian-Americans are already leaving their mark as the "model minority" with the highest levels of education and high-income levels, their increasing presence in the US as citizens can also become an influential force in American politics.
Other countries which have gained citizenship by way of living there for a long times are Vietnam (25,995), China (24,014), Korea (15,968), the Dominican Republic (12,627), Jamaica (11,232), Iran (10,807), and Poland (9,140).
These ten sending countries (including Mexico) represented 49 per cent of new naturalised citizens in 2003.
However, the report says, number of persons naturalising each year during the 2001-03 period was lower than the annual average level reached during the late 1990s but well above the level existing prior to 1994. USCIS naturalized 463,204 persons in fiscal year 2003. This figure was 19 per cent less than the number of naturalizations in 2002 (573,708).
Changing trend of Naturalisation
Until the 1970s, the majority of persons naturalising were born in Europe because the country quotas in immigration law favoured those countries. Once the quotas ended with the INA amendments in 1965, the regional origin of persons immigrating and naturalising shifted from European to Asian countries.
Asian immigrants also had historically higher naturalisation rates than other immigrants. Between 1976 and 1995, Asia was the leading region of birth among persons naturalising.
With increased legal immigration from North American countries (including Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America) beginning in the mid 1980s, the share of naturalisations from that region increased, peaking at 49 per cent in 1996.
Since 2001, Asia has been the leading region of naturalisations. In 2003, 42 per cent of persons naturalising were born in Asian countries compared to 28 per cent for North American countries.
State and cities of residence
The census report suggests California was the residence of 135,815, or 29 per cent, of persons naturalising in 2003, followed by New York with 63,945, or 14 per cent.
Other top states of residence included Florida, Texas, Illinois, and New Jersey. These six states were home to 67 per cent of new citizens in 2003.
They were the same top destination states for persons naturalising in 2002.
Ten metropolitan areas accounted for the residence of 46 per cent of persons naturalising in 2003. These areas included: New York, NY (53,797); Los Angeles, CA (47,087); Chicago, IL (22,366); Washington, DC-MD-VAWV (17,037); Orange County, CA (15,585); Miami, FL (14,375); Oakland, CA (13,727); San Francisco, CA (10,234); San Jose, CA (9,930); and Houston, TX (9,843).
