For fiscal year 2009 there were 468,770 immigration visas issued. (There were some ~750,000 temporary visas issued.)
The breakdown by country starts with:
Mexico................74,769...15.95%
Dominican Rep...40,824.....8.71%
Philippines..........36,048.....7.69%
The category breakdown is:
Immediate Relative........227,517
Family Preference..........176,273
Diversity.........................46,761
Employment Preference...13,846
Special..............................4,325
I guess the first thing to note is that this means that for every 700 residents of this country, 1 legal immigrant was admitted. To me, this is additional proof that our legal quotas are too low.
Next, I note that 86% of immigrant visas were based on family relationships. I'd gotten the impression that our legal immigration was heavily skewed towards family unification and that's clearly true. Even before I knew the figures, I had some doubts about the wisdom of this approach; so you get your foot in the door and every scummy relative you have gets to jump to the front of the line? I do understand that potential immigrants have to be sponsored and (I believe) that approval depends on the ability of the sponsor to financially support the immigrant. But isn't that wrong? Shouldn't it be about the potential immigrant's own abilities?
So I am more convinced than ever that our legal immigration level is too low. And I continue to doubt the wisdom of the primacy of family unification.
