Nigeria ranks among the top 20 countries globally that received United States permanent residency status visas, known as green cards.
This is contained in BusinessDay reports, according to 2022
data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The data revealed that Nigerians received 12,385 PR to
migrate into the United States in the period under review.
Comparatively, the data highlighted Mexico and India as the
leading sources of new permanent residents.
Together, these two countries accounted for a combined total
of 265,784 individuals, which constituted 26 percent of the overall total of
new permanent residents.
A further analysis of the data showed that 1,018,349
immigrants globally received their PRs, which included 82,117 green cards
issued to African nationals.
The classes of PR visas issued to Nigerians included 7,529
persons who were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, 818 through
family-sponsored preferences, 3,213 through employment-based preferences, 14
through diversity programs, 797 as refugees and asylees, and 14 through other
broad classes of admission.
Concerning asylum, Nigeria saw 259 individuals who were
granted asylum affirmatively in 2022, a significant increase from 61 in 2013.
In terms of naturalization, Nigeria had 9,545 naturalized
persons in 2013, which rose to 14,438 by 2022.
In a similar development, the US Department of State on
Thursday announced that it has issued all visas in the Employment-Based Fourth
Preference (EB-4) category for fiscal year (FY) 2024.
“The State Department, working in close collaboration with
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is pleased to announce the issuance
of all available visas in the Employment-Based Fourth Preference (EB-4)
category for fiscal year (FY) 2024,” it said.
The development comes as a desire to emigrate surge among
Nigerians especially the Youths in what is now known as ‘Japa syndrome’.
Outside the US, the population of Nigerians in the United
Kingdom, Canada, Austria and other countries has increased significantly in the
last four years, according to available data.
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