Over a million new US green card holders in 2010

WASHINGTON: Over a million foreigners were granted legal permanent residency in the United States in fiscal year 2010 that ended in September, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.

Most of the 1,042,625 new legal permanent residents (54 percent) already lived in the United States when they were granted their green cards, the documents attesting to legal residence, according to DHS data.

Nearly two-thirds of the new recipients obtained the legal residency status based on family ties to a US citizen or legal US permanent resident. Their top countries of birth were Mexico (13 percent), China (seven percent) and India (seven percent).

Under the Immigration Act of 1990, the Department places an annual limit on the number of new applicants of between 416,000 and 675,000 for family-sponsored preference, employment-based preference and diversity immigrants.

The number of family-sponsored applicants are limited to 226,000 to 480,000 per year.

Despite the number of green cards issued each year, some 10.8 million undocumented aliens still live in the United States, according to DHS figures. (AFP)