What are the most recent totals for immigration to the US (for as long
as historical data is available) for people coming from these
countries: India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Surinam, Fiji and
Trinidad?

These should be legal immigration, and where available, illegal
immigration, especially from Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad.

---

Request for Question Clarification by ragingacademic-ga on 04 Jun 2003 00:25 PDT

Dear arumugaswami-ga 

Thanks for submitting your question to our forum.
Are you seeking the total of all people who have ever emigrated from,
say, India to the US?  Or do you need the number that had emigrated in
the most recent year available?

If the former - will the current number of foreign-born natives (from
each of the countries designated) suffice?

What detail are you seeking as it relates to illegal immigration?

thanks,
ragingacademic

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 04 Jun 2003 06:47 PDT

Long-term and detailed data on immigration to the US (both legal and
illegal) is available for India.  The other countries on your list are
generally too small, in terms of immigration flow, to be tallied
individually, and are instead lumped together into the "Other"
category.

For instance, the chart below shows the number of legal immigrants to
the U.S. from countries in Asia in the early 1990's:

Asia..................1,032,384
China...................111,324
Hong Kong................46,723
India...................116,201
Iran.....................25,830
Israel...................16,270
Japan....................25,008
Korea....................61,484
Philippines.............195,634
Turkey...................10,156
Vietnam..................77,913
Other Asia..............345,841

Similar data are available from 1900 through to 2001 (and partial data
for 2002).

Data are also available for illegal immigration.

Unfortunately, most of the countries you mentioned simply do not show
up as discrete listings, though occasionally, there is a bit of data
(for instance, there's approx. 3,000 illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka
living in the U.S.).

If you'd like to have the data for India, and the few other snippets I
can find for other countries on your list, let me know, and I will
post it as an answer to your question.

---

Request for Question Clarification by politicalguru-ga on 04 Jun 2003 07:11 PDT

Dear arumugaswami, 

As pafalafa-ga mentioned, there is no official statistics regarding
some of the countries you've mentioned. However, I have managed to
find the following information for you:

India: statistics on the Indian-American population and undocumented
Indians; No. of Indian-born US-residents all 2001/2.

Nepal: estimation on the total number, plus 2000 information on ethnic
Nepalese; estimation on undocumented immigrants.

Sri Lanka: No. of reported Sri-Lankan American in the 2000 census; No.
of foreign born residents 1990 and 1980 ;

Guyana: No. of Immigrants (latest 1996) ; US census no. of Guyense in
the US (2000). Estimation on the no. of undocumented immigrants.

Suriname: No. of residents born in Suriname 1990 and 1980; information
indicating that there is no information regarding the number of
Surinamese in the US.

Fijians: No. of residents born in the Fijis 1990 and 1980

Trinidad & Tobago: No. of immigrants (latest 1996); of residents born
in T&T and of the illegal immigrants (2001).

If this is the information you're after, I'll post it as an answer,
with further referrences.

---

Clarification of Question by arumugaswami-ga on 04 Jun 2003 08:02 PDT

Aloha from Hawaii:

As to the first question, the current number of foreign-born natives
would suffice.

With regard to illegal immigration, I am looking for an estimate for
each of the countries.

I also found the information described by pafalafa-ga.

Politicalguru-ga appears to have what I am after, please post it.

Dear arumugaswami-ga,

Thanks for your question.  First, let me request that if any of the
following is unclear or if you require any further research – please
don’t hesitate to ask me for a clarification.

You requested totals for immigration to the US (for as long as
historical data is available) for people coming from these countries:
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Guyana, Surinam, Fiji and Trinidad.

Following are statistical summaries for each of the countries
requested.

All population tallies and estimates are mid-year and are in
thousands, and are from –

http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wp98/wp98.pdf

(Pages A6 – A10)

Immigration statistics are from – 

http://www.ilw.com/lawyers/immigdaily/ins_news/2002,0308-Yearbook.pdf

(Table 2)

Table 3 also details “IMMIGRANTS ADMITTED BY REGION AND COUNTRY OF
BIRTH
FISCAL YEARS 1989-99”

And an additional source was –

http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab03.html



India
-------

India was one of the five leading countries of origin for legal
immigrants  in 1999, with 30,327 immigrants admitted.

Immigration from India – these are totals for each period presented,
in thousands:

1820:  1
1821 – 30:  8
1831 – 40:  39
1841 – 50:  36
1851 – 60:  43
1861 – 70:  69
1871 – 80:  163
1881 - 90:  269

from 1820 through 1999 – 779.704

India Population and estimates:

1950      1960     1970      1980     1990      1998      2000     
2010e
369,880   445,857  555,043   690,462 850,558    983,377   1,016,118
1,177,462

2025e 
1,408,320



Nepal
--------

Immigration from Nepal – number of Nepalese-born US citizens as of
1990 – 2,262


Nepal Population and estimates:

1950   1960   1970    1980    1990   1998    2000    2010e  2025e
8,990 10,035 11,919   15,016 19,333  23,698  24,920  31,627 42,576



Sri Lanka
-----------

Immigration from Sri Lanka – number of Sri Lankan-born US citizens as
of 1990 – 14,022

Population and estimates:

1950   1960  1970   1980    1990   1998     2000   2010e   2025e
7,533 9,879 12,532 14,900  17,193  18,934  19,355  21,482  24,088


Guyana
----------

Immigration from Guyana – number of Guyana-born US citizens as of 1990
– 120,698

Population and estimates:

1950   1960  1970   1980    1990   1998     2000   2010e   2025e
 428   571   715    759     748     708     703     718     710


Surinam (Suriname)
----------

Immigration from Suriname – number of Suriname-born US citizens as of
1990 – 2,860

Population and estimates:

1950   1960  1970   1980    1990   1998     2000   2010e   2025e
208    285    373    355    396    428      434    453      460


Fiji
-----

Immigration from Fiji – number of Fiji-born US citizens as of 1990 –
15,935

Population and estimates:

1950   1960  1970   1980    1990   1998     2000   2010e   2025e
287     393  521     635     738   803       823   933      1,085


Trinidad (and Tobago)
-----------

Immigration from Trinidad – number of Trinidad-born US citizens as of
1990 – 115,710

Population and estimates:

1950   1960  1970   1980    1990   1998     2000    2010e   2025e
632    841   955    1,091   1,198  1,117    1,087   1,032   1,083


When I began researching this, I had an excellent source on illegal
immigration by country – am trying to relocate and will provide you
with the balance of the data shortly as a clarification.  There are
additional sources below.

Please also let me know if you are in need of additional information
concerning this query.

Thanks,
ragingacademic-ga


References:

Immigrants to US by Country of Origin
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0201398.html

Immigrants in the United States – 2000
http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back101.html


Additional Links:

Comparative International Statistics – excellent source of data -
http://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/99statab/sec30.pdf

Naturalizations for Fiscal Year 2001 from the Department of
Naturalization and Immigration – great stats on illegal entries, but
only for 2001.  Similar reports available for previous years.
http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/aboutus/statistics/NATZ01yrbk/NATZ2001.pdf


Search Strategy:

"immigration to the us" india nepal "sri lanka"
census "foreign born" nepal "sri lanka" trinidad suriname Guyana
site:.gov illegal immigrants nepal "sri lanka" trinidad suriname
guyana

---

Clarification of Answer by ragingacademic-ga on 04 Jun 2003 11:49 PDT

Dear arumugaswami-ga,

First, you can extract up-to-date estimates of foreign-born immigrants
to the US by country of origin from the 2000 census data here –

http://landview.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/foreign/ppl-145.html

This is more recent than the 1990 numbers I had provided you with
previously.


Here is my follow-up regarding illegal immigration – 
----------------------------------------------------------------

The following report is issued by the Department of Immigration
annually and contains detailed information on illegal immigration by
nationality –

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF2002tables.pdf

Links to previous years are at –

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/workload.htm

The following document, cached at Google, provides summaries for the
years 1992-1996 in a variety of cross sections –

http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:flBIAplNm0gJ:www.immigration.gov/graphics/aboutus/statistics/statyrbook96/Chapter6.pdf+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Estimates of total number of illegal immigrants by nationality, but
only for “top” countries –

http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/299.htm

Trinidad actually makes the cut, with 4,000 illegal immigrants.


Please let me know if you are in need of additional information
concerning this query.

Thanks,
ragingacademic-ga


Additional Links:

New Illegal Immigration Statistics
http://www.fairus.org/html/5-4a-03.htm

"Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the
United States: 1850-1990"
http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/twps0029.html

Immigration Statistics
http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/index.htm

Summary – foreign-born population in US according to 2000 census
http://www.census.gov/prod/2000pubs/p20-534.pdf

American Immigration  - An Overview
http://www.us-english.org/foundation/amimmigr/ForewordPreface.PDF

Summary of information sources on immigration
http://www.ulib.org/webRoot/Books/National_Academy_Press_Books/immigration/00000084.htm

Illegal Immigration
http://www.us-english.org/foundation/amimmigr/Chapter3.PDF

More excellent tables cached by Google –
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:5KMLS-it528J:www.immigration.gov/graphics/aboutus/statistics/IMM99tables.pdf+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Search Strategy:

illegal "immigration statistics" us site:.gov

---

Request for Answer Clarification by arumugaswami-ga on 05 Jun 2003 09:37 PDT

I'm trying to understand the Google "expert" system. Is
ragingacademic-ga an "expert" in immigration statistics, able, for
example, to evaluate the likely accuracy of the US census data with
regard to the statistics from any one country? Or is the expert more
of a supersleuth of the internet, able to find what one asks for,
without special knowledge of that field. I ask because the evaluation
of accuracy of the illegal immigration statistics, etc., is an
important factor for me.

I'm also interested to know if there is a conversion factor from
"number of people born in Suriname" living in the US to how many
descendants they might have. I've heard something like 1.5, so that
one would be counting their children born in the USA.

---

Clarification of Answer by ragingacademic-ga on 06 Jun 2003 10:32 PDT

Dear arumugaswami-ga -

Thanks for your clarification request.
I will try to address it in what follows as best I can.
I would also like to thank journalist-ga for offering up a partial
reply to your question earlier.

You asked -

"I'm trying to understand the Google "expert" system. Is
ragingacademic-ga an "expert" in immigration statistics, able, for
example, to evaluate the likely accuracy of the US census data with
regard to the statistics from any one country? Or is the expert more
of a supersleuth of the internet, able to find what one asks for,
without special knowledge of that field. I ask because the evaluation
of accuracy of the illegal immigration statistics, etc., is an
important factor for me."

No, I am not an expert in immigration statistics, and I would venture
to guess that the Google Researcher community does not include an
expert in immigration statistics (unless, by sheer chance, one of our
500 researchers happened to spend several years working on immigration
statistics...)

We are all expert researchers, and are put through quite a few hoops
by the Google team before we are admitted to the system.  In addition,
many of us hold research-specific qualifications.  I, for example,
have a Masters in Business Research from a top five university you
would easily recognize.  I've been on the 'Net since 1989 and am
highly adept at search and database technology.

Could I evaluate the accuracy of statistical studies?  Yes, I could -
I have done phd level coursework in econometrics (too much of it,
actually...), and have had a significant amount of experience doing
just such work.  But note that the difference between a census and a
survey is that in a census the entire population is surveyed (if you
are a US citizen you would have returned a census survey at least once
in the past), and therefore unless you suspect that the system is
fraudulent (something I could not evaluate...), the numbers are quite
accurate.  I think you can rest assured that the census numbers are as
accurate as any statistics could be.  I hope that addresses the first
part of your clarification request in a satisfactory manner.
 
Then, you asked the following -

"I'm also interested to know if there is a conversion factor from
"number of people born in Suriname" living in the US to how many
descendants they might have. I've heard something like 1.5, so that
one would be counting their children born in the USA."

There is actually quite a lot of fertility-related data out there.

Try the following page -

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbprint.html

Select a variable from the first window, a country, and select "all
available years" - 008, "vital rates," returns quite a bit of data -
but try other variables as well.

Good report on fertility worldwide -

http://www.census.gov/ipc/prod/wp96/wp96071.pdf

Another good source for such statistics is - 

http://www.prb.org/

I don't know of a conversion factor, but believe that by applying a
"discounted" fertility rate multiplier you should be able to come up
with a decent proxy.

An excellent source for census numbers and analysis is EASI -

www.easidemographics.com

They provide information above and beyond what is provided by the
Bureau of the Census plus analysis of census numbers in many
cross-sections and combinations.  Not very expensive to use, I've
worked with them in the past.

I hope this addresses your requests promptly - please do let me know
if you need additional information.

thanks,
ragingacademic

Well gee golly there raging ol' buddy.  Since there seems no way to
reach you other than in public, just wondering why you went ahead and
answered this AFTER ARUMUGASWAMI-GA ALREADY ASKED POLITICALGURU TO DO
SO?

Now the editors may very well pull this little comment, I can live
with that.  GA isn't the center of my world.

But, my dear, dear friend, ragingacademic, I'm just wondering how you
justify your actions?

digs

Greetings Arumugaswami:

You stated "I'm trying to understand the Google "expert" system. Is
ragingacademic-ga an "expert" in immigration statistics, able, for
example, to evaluate the likely accuracy of the US census data with
regard to the statistics from any one country? Or is the expert more
of a supersleuth of the internet, able to find what one asks for,
without special knowledge of that field. I ask because the evaluation
of accuracy of the illegal immigration statistics, etc., is an
important factor for me."

The people who are contracted by Google Answers are referred to as
Researchers instead of experts.  It may be that certain Researchers
have knowledge in the statistical area you query or it may be that a
seasoned Researcher with no former experience or knowledge in that
area could locate the information you seek.  The latter would be a
type of "supersleuth" of the Internet - a Researcher able to find the
information but one who may not have any prior knowledge of the
subject.

When researching, we use many different areas from which to compile
information.  Sometimes a Researcher looks only on the Internet and
sometimes a question may require visits to libraries outside the
Internet (or phone calls to outside sources) to find the exact
information a customer requests.

If you are concerned about credentials of a researcher, you could form
a question and include a stipulation such as this:

"I am looking for a Researcher with prior knowledge and experience in
statistical review.  Before any Researcher answers this question,
please post your qualifications as a Clarification and I will appoint
whomever I feel is qualified to answer my question.  Thank you for
following my instrucations and waiting to answer until I have
approved."

Most Researchers adhere to a customer's request as we believe that
customers deserve honor and respect of their wishes.  I hope this
helps you to understand the system a bit better - just know that most
Researchers do respect customer requests.

Best regards,
journalist-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Tahnk you all very much for the comments. You are correct in that
Google puts forward the service as one of researchers and not
necessarily experts. I do recall at some point it was advertised as
"ask an expert" but maybe got that wrong.

In any case, I'm satisfied with what we have here and thank you all
for it.

Is there anything else I'm supposed to do?

Dear arumugaswami-ga -

Thanks for the rating!

No, there is nothing else you need to do unless you want further
clarification on any segment of your answer.

Thanks again-
ragingacademic