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Fact check/Is Bob Gray right about immigrant skill levels?
Fact check: Is Bob Gray right about immigrant skill levels?
Bob Gray
April 14, 2017
By Sara Reynolds
Bob Gray is running as a Republican in the primary election to represent Georgia's 6th Congressional District. In a recent op-ed on immigration, Gray wrote: "For decades, the United States has accepted an average of 1 million legal immigrants annually. That’s the equivalent of adding the entire state of Montana to the United States every year, and it doesn’t include the illegal border crossers or visa overstays. Unfortunately, only 1 in every 15 legal immigrants arrives in the United States with a skills-based visa. The majority of the remaining immigrants are either low-skilled or unskilled."[1]
Is Gray correct?
One in 15 individuals obtained employment-based lawful permanent resident status in fiscal year 2015. (That included new arrivals as well as status adjustments for individuals already in the U.S.) However, the government does not track the skill level of immigrants who obtain lawful permanent resident status on non-employment-based visas. The majority of remaining lawful permanent residents cannot be assumed to have been low-skilled or unskilled just because their immigration was authorized under a non-employment category such as immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, refugees, or asylees.[2]
Background
The 6th District seat became vacant when Tom Price was appointed as U.S. secretary of health and human services. Price was first elected to the House in 2004. Eleven Republicans, five Democrats, and two independents are competing for the seat, which represents the northern suburbs of Atlanta.[3]
The special election is slated for April 18, 2017. If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff election on June 20.[3]
Bob Gray has been a technology industry executive for three decades.[4] He has received the endorsement of the Club for Growth PAC, a 501(c)(4) organization that endorses candidates "who stay true to the fundamental principles of limited government and economic freedom."[5][6]
Terminology
A campaign spokesman told Ballotpedia that Gray, in his claim, was referring to lawful permanent residents and workers on temporary visas.[7][8][9][10][11]
Immigrants and nonimmigrants accepted annually
Gray claimed, "For decades, the United States has accepted an average of 1 million legal immigrants annually."[1]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) 2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics reports that an annual average of slightly more than one million people obtained lawful permanent resident status between FY 1986 and 2015 (the latest year available). The numbers ranged from a low of 599,889 in 1987 to a high of 1,826,595 in 1991.[12] The Bureau of Consular Affairs places limits on the number of lawful permanent resident visas issued annually, with the exception of immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.[13] The data includes individuals entering the U.S. for the first time, as well as individuals who resided in the U.S. but whose immigration status changed.[10]
The table below presents the number of lawful permanent residents by visa type.
| Lawful permanent resident status by type, FY 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Admission type | Number of individuals | Percent of total |
| Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens | 465,068 | 44.2% |
| Family-sponsored preferences[14] | 213,910 | 20.4% |
| Refugees and asylees | 151,995 | 14.5% |
| Employment-based preferences | 144,047 | 13.7% |
| Diversity | 47,934 | 4.6% |
| Other | 28,077 | 2.7% |
| Total lawful permanent residents | 1,051,031 | 100% |
|
Note: Numbers may not add due to rounding. | ||
Between FY 1989 and FY 2015, the U.S. recorded an annual average of 1.4 million temporary worker admissions (not including spouses and children), ranging from a low of 270,109 in 1990 to a high of 3.1 million in 2015.[15][16][17][18][19]
Employment-based visas
Gray claimed: "Unfortunately, only 1 in every 15 legal immigrants arrives in the United States with a skills-based visa. The majority of the remaining immigrants are either low-skilled or unskilled."[1]
Based on data from the DHS, slightly more than one million individuals obtained lawful permanent resident status in FY 2015, the latest year available. Fourteen percent of them (144,047) were admitted on an employment-based visa, which may be awarded to both workers and members of workers’ families. Forty-eight percent (68,423) of the 144,047 who were awarded an employment-based admission were workers, which constituted about 6.5 percent (or one in 15) of all individuals granted lawful permanent resident status that year. The remaining 52 percent (75,624) of employment-based visas were for workers' spouses and/or children.[2][20]
The majority of remaining immigrants are not “either low-skilled or unskilled.” The government does not track the skill level of immigrants who obtain lawful permanent resident status on non-employment-based visas. As noted above, the majority of those individuals are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or individuals obtaining lawful permanent resident status on a family-based preference.[21][22][2]
The DHS also reported 3.1 million temporary worker visa admissions in FY 2015 (not including spouses and children). Of these, at least 86.9 percent (2.7 million) were issued to skill-based workers.[23][24][17]
Conclusion
A special election for Georgia's 6th Congressional District is slated for April 18.[3] In a recent op-ed on immigration, Republican candidate Bob Gray claimed: "For decades, the United States has accepted an average of 1 million legal immigrants annually. … Unfortunately, only 1 in every 15 legal immigrants arrives in the United States with a skills-based visa. The majority of the remaining immigrants are either low-skilled or unskilled."[1]
Of the one million or so immigrants granted lawful permanent resident status annually, one in 15 individuals received employment-based visas. The majority of remaining lawful permanent residents were not necessarily low-skilled or unskilled. Rather, they were authorized to enter the U.S. under a non-employment related preference category.[2] Additionally, skill-based nonimmigrant admissions made up the majority of admissions for temporary workers.[17]
See also
- Fact check: Did President Trump's executive order include "a clause making it a crime to help an undocumented immigrant"?
- Federal policy on immigration, 2017-2020
- Permanent resident
- Guest worker
Sources and Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bob Gray for Congress, "Opinion Editorial: It’s Time For Serious Immigration Reform," March 24, 2017
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 United States Department of Homeland Security, 2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics,"Table 7: Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status by Type and Detailed Class of Admission: Fiscal Year 2015," accessed April 3, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ballotpedia, "Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election, 2017," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ Bob Gray for Congress, "Meet Bob," March 30, 2017
- ↑ The Club for Growth, "Club for Growth PAC," accessed March 30, 2017
- ↑ The Club for Growth, "Club for Growth PAC Endorses Businessman Bob Gray for Georgia's Sixth Congressional District," March 14, 2017
- ↑ Sara Reynolds, "Email communication with Brendan Foy, spokesman for the Bob Gray campaign," April 11, 2017
- ↑ According to the Department of State, "Generally, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States must first obtain a visa, either a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence." The Department of Homeland Security definitions page links the term immigrant to the term permanent resident alien—also sometimes described as a lawful permanent resident or a green card holder. Someone entering the U.S. for a temporary amount of time is considered a nonimmigrant. For more details, see footnotes 9 and 10.
- ↑ United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, "Temporary Worker Visas," accessed April 10, 2017
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 United States Department of Homeland Security, "Definition of Terms," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ United States Department of Homeland Security, "Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR)," accessed April 3, 2017
- ↑ United States Department of Homeland Security, 2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, "Table 1: Persons Obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident Status: Fiscal Years 1820 to 2015," accessed March 29, 2017
- ↑ United States Department of Homeland Security, "U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents: 2015," March 2017
- ↑ Immediate relatives are close family members of U.S. citizens, such as spouses, children, or parents. Family-based preferences "are for specific, more distant, family relationships" with U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, "Family-Based Immigrant Visas," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ United States Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 1996 to 1999, "Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 1997 (PDF and Tables): Table 39," accessed April 12, 2017
- ↑ United States Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2006, "Nonimmigrant Admissions 2006 (Tables 25-32): Table 26," accessed April 12, 2017
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 United States Department of Homeland Security, Yearbook of Immigration Statistics 2015, "Nonimmigrant Admissions 2015 (Tables 25-32): Table 25," accessed April 12, 2017
- ↑ This number refers to nonimmigrant admissions issued an Arrival-Departure I-94 form upon entry. It excludes the majority of short-term admissions from Canada and Mexico. According to the DHS, "Admissions represent counts of events, i.e., arrivals, not unique individuals; multiple entries of an individual on the same day are counted as one admission."
- ↑ The average calculation does not include admissions for spouses and children with the exception of E1, E2, E2C, and E3 admissions, which account for treaty traders and investors and their spouses and children, and I1 admissions for foreign media representatives and their spouses and children.
- ↑ The United States issues lawful permanent resident status according to different family- and employment-based priority admission categories, as well as some other categories including but not limited to those for refugees or asylum-seekers.
- ↑ Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are spouses, unmarried children, parents, of a U.S. citizens or orphans adopted by a U.S. citizen. Individuals obtaining lawful permanent resident status on a family-based preference include spouses, children, or siblings of U.S. citizens or current lawful permanent residents.
- ↑ United States Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, "Family-Based Immigrant Visas," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ The calculation for total guest worker admissions (3,145,859) does not include admissions for spouses and children with the exception of E1, E2, E2C, and E3 admissions, which account for treaty traders and investors and their spouses and children, and I1 admissions for foreign media representatives and their spouses and children.
- ↑ To calculate skill-based workers, Ballotpedia included: H1B, H1B1, O1, O2, P1, P2, P3, Q1, R1, TN, L1, E1, E2, E2C, E3 and I1 admissions. The DHS automatically includes spouses and children in the reported admissions for E1, E2, E2C, E3 and I1.
Launched in October 2015 and active through October 2018, Fact Check by Ballotpedia examined claims made by elected officials, political appointees, and political candidates at the federal, state, and local levels. We evaluated claims made by politicians of all backgrounds and affiliations, subjecting them to the same objective and neutral examination process. As of 2025, Ballotpedia staff periodically review these articles to revaluate and reaffirm our conclusions. Please email us with questions, comments, or concerns about these articles. To learn more about fact-checking, click here.
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