As Global Workers focuses on low-wage workers, our primary focus is on the H2 program, or Guestworker program, which is characterized as unskilled labor program and has a maximum duration of one year.
H-2A visas are issued for seasonal agricultural workers.
H-2B visas are issued for temporary non-agricultural workers. Industries that often use H-2B workers are forestry, construction, and landscaping.
H-2R visas only existed for part of fiscal years 2005, 2006 and 20071. The visas were issued to persons who had been issued an H-2B visa within any of the previous three fiscal years. The H-2B and H-2R issuance totals for each nationality when added together produce the totals of H-2B temporary worker visas issued.
Migration statistics for guestworker visas are collected by three separate departments of the United States government. Due to these three steps of the process, each agency maintains different numbers for H-2 workers.
*All departments report figures in fiscal years of October 1 - September 30.
Click here for summary data for all departments for the years 2006 - 2009
For more detailed statistics and information on the data the three departments track, see our sections on the Department of Labor, Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security.
Find out more about the Process of obtaining H2 Workers.
Find out more about the Rights of H2 Workers.
Unauthorized residents are foreign-born non-citizens who do not reside legally in the United States. These are defined as residents who entered legally on visas and have overstayed the required date of departure, migrants who entered through unauthorized means, and migrants who have applied for asylum or Temporary Protected Status.6
|
Total Unauthorized Residents | 10,750,000 |
|---|---|
| 1. Mexico | 6,650,000 |
| 2. El Salvador | 530,000 |
| 3. Guatemala | 480,000 |
| 4. Honduras | 320,000 |
| 5. Philippines | 270,000 |
| 6. India | 200,000 |
| 7. Korea | 200,000 |
| 8. Ecuador | 170,000 |
| 9. Brazil | 150,000 |
| 10. China | 120,000 |
Source: Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics
The large majority of unauthorized immigrants in 2009, 61 percent, were between the ages 25 and 44 years. 58 percent of the population between the ages of 18 and 34 were male, while females accounted for 52 percent of the 45 and older age groups.
California remained the leading state of residence for unauthorized immigrants, with 2.6 million, followed by Texas, 1.7 million, and Florida with 720,0008
The United States admits temporary foreign guestworkers through several visa programs, each with its own set of criteria and encompassing multiple professions (P-2 visas for artists or entertainers, H1-C applies to foreign nurses), countries of origin (H1B1 visas are for residents of Chile and Singapore), and place of employment (L visas are for foreign employees looking to transfer within the company). To find a list of the most popular work visas, click here.
The most common visa for foreign workers is the H1B visa program, which approved over 129,000 new visas for 2008, though the duration of an H1B visa is up to three years. To qualify for this visa, the applicant needs to have "Specialty qualifications", or be considered skilled labor. This received increased attention during the dot-com bubble, where caps on visas were lifted to accommodate the increased need. Even years later, all of the top ten countries receiving H1B workers were in information technology.9
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