August 22, 2006
In 2005, 83,000 Chinese were granted resident status, otherwise known as a Green Card, from the US government. According to statistics released by the Federal Government of the United States, a further 44,000 became US citizens.
Statistics recently released by the Home Security Committee show that 1,122,000 foreigners were given Green Cards, 70,000 of which came from the mainland of China, the third largest contributing nation behind Mexico and India. There were a further 9,100 people from China's Taiwan province and 3,700 from Hong Kong Special Administration Region.
In 2005, 604,000 Green Card holders became US citizens and 32,000 of those came from the mainland of China, the fifth largest group of foreigners. Most Asians wait for eight years from the time they get a Green Card to become US citizens.
The cities with the largest numbers of Chinese-Americans are Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
