by Mitra Shavarini
The history of Asian Americans who arrived in the U.S. stretches as far back as the 1850s, though there had been earlier migrations to Hawaii in the 1830s. It was this mid-nineteenth century wave, due to the California’s Gold Rush, that constitutes the earliest significant arrival of Asian Americans to this country. Today, there are more than 18.64 million Asians Americans living in the country, originating from diverse religious, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds, each with distinct immigration patterns and sociodemographic characteristics. Approximately 22% are from China; followed by 19% Filipinos; 17% are Asian Indians; 10% are Vietnamese; 9.5% are Korean and 7.1% are Japanese.
On average, most Asian immigrants who come to this country obtain lawful permanent residence (a.k.a. “Green Card” holders) through family ties or employment. Compared to other foreign- and native-born populations, Asian immigrants are generally more successful. They are more educated, more likely to be employed in management occupations, and have higher household incomes.
Asian immigrants are more likely than the overall foreign-born population to be naturalized citizens. Roughly 59 percent of Asian immigrants in the US have received their U.S. citizenship, as compared to 47% of all immigrants. Even though Asian Americans are typically more likely to seek their citizenship, it’s worthy to recognize that there are still millions who qualify for their American Citizenship but choose not to apply.
There are many barriers that keep immigrants from applying to gain their citizenship. For some, there are language barriers, for others it’s the cost of the application. Even the daunting task of the application itself keeps many legal residents from pursuing their American citizenship despite the fact that there are valuable reasons to attain their naturalization.
Benefits of U.S. citizenship include being able to vote in most elections, travel with a U.S. passport, apply for some federal government jobs, receive protection from deportation and participate in a jury, and you can bring family living abroad to live in the United States more quickly. In addition, there is ample research that reveals immigrants who become U.S. citizens have higher incomes than those who do not.
There are several organizations that can help legal residents obtain their citizenship. Project Citizenship is one of those organizations that seeks to increase the naturalization rate in Massachusetts and beyond. They are a nonprofit agency that provides free, high quality legal services to permanent residents to help them become U.S citizens. They also offer free workshops, eligibility screening, application assistance, legal referrals and all materials needed to apply for U.S. citizenship. In addition, Project Citizenship works collaboratively with community-based partners in Massachusetts to provide a range of support services, civics instruction, application assistance, and ESOL classes.
If you are a legal resident and would like to learn more about how to obtain your citizenship, you can call Project Citizenship at 617-694-5949 or email them at info@projectcitizenship.org
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To read this article in Chinese (Traditional), please click here.
