Individuals seeking U.S. green cards vary greatly in their circumstances. There are a wide range of different reasons why a person may desire to be a permanent resident of America. Individuals can also differ in what processes are available to them to seek out a green card. Additionally, green card seekers vary in what countries they are from.
U.S. green card holders come from all over the world. However, there are certain countries that are more common countries of origin for U.S. green card holders than others. Green card holders from the top ten countries of birth, as of January 1, 2013, the date of the most recently released statistics, made up over half of the total green-card-holding population in the U.S.
The most common birth country for U.S. green card holders in January 2013 was Mexico. At that time, a quarter of all U.S. green card holders were originally from Mexico.
The rest of the top ten green-card-holder birth countries as of January 2013, in order, were: China, the Philippines, India, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Vietnam, El Salvador, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Whatever country a person is from, when they are seeking out a U.S. green card or dealing with an immigration issue related to U.S. permanent residency, they should consider going to an immigration attorney for advice. Trying to navigate complex green card and permanent residency issues without proper legal guidance can be difficult and risky.
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Estimates of the Lawful Permanent Resident Population in the United States: January 2013,” Bryan Baker and Nancy Rytina, Sept. 2014