Foreign born
Foreign born (also non-native) is a term used to describe a person born outside of their country of residence. Foreign born are often non-citizens, but are also frequently naturalized citizens of a country.
The term foreign born encompasses both immigrants and expatriates but is not synonymous with either. Foreign born may, like immigrants, have committed to living in a country permanently or, like expatriates, live abroad for a significant period with the plan to return to their birth-country eventually.
The status of foreign born — particularly their access to citizenship — differs globally. The large groups of foreign born guest workers in the Gulf States, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In Canada and the United States, by contrast, foreign born are often citizens or in the process of becoming citizens. Certain countries have intermediary rules: in Germany and Japan it is often difficult but not impossible for the foreign born to become citizens.
Trends by country
The percentage of foreign born in a country is the product mostly of immigration rates, but is also effected by emigration rates and birth and death rates in the destination country. For example the United Kingdom and Ireland are destination countries for migrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are themselves source countries for immigration to other Anglosphere countries. The countries with the highest rates of immigration are wealthy countries with relatively open nationality or migration laws, such as Canada and Australia, as well as the Gulf States.
The largest foreign-born population in the world is in The United States of America, which was home to 33 million foreign-residents in 2002, or 11.8% of the population.[1] The highest percentage of foreign-born residents occurs in small, wealthy countries with large numbers of temporary foreign workers, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the population of each is, depending on the economy at the time, around 80%.[2] In 2010, the Migration Policy Institute reported that the largest percentages were Qatar 86.5%, UAE 70%, and 68.8%.[3]
Statistics of foreign born scientists and engineers in the United States
- 55% of Ph.D. students in engineering in the United States are foreign born (2004).[4]
- Between 1980 and 2000, the percentage of Ph.D. scientists and engineers employed in the United States who were born abroad has increased from 24% to 37%.[4]
- 45% of Ph.D. physicists working in the United States are foreign born (2004).[4]
- 80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States are foreign-born (1988).[5]
- At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90-95% of the student population since most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries. Yet, the size of the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools including foreign born engineers and scientist.[5]
- the proportion of foreign-born engineers among assistant professors younger than 35 years has increased from 10% in 1972 to 50%-55% in 1983-1985, illustrating a dramatic increase on US dependence on foreign-born students in the US college system. The increase in non-citizen assistant professors of engineering is the result of the fact that, in recent years, foreign-born engineers received close to 50 percent of newly awarded engineering doctorates (naturalized citizens accounted for about 4 percent) and, furthermore, they entered academe in disproportionately large numbers.[5]
- 33% of all U.S. Ph.D.s in science and engineering are now awarded to foreign born graduate students (2004).[4]
- In 1982, foreign-born engineers constituted about 3.6% of all engineers employed in the United States, 13.9% of which were naturalized; and foreign-born Phds in Engineering constituted 15% and 20% were naturalized.[5]
- In 1985, foreign-born Phds represented almost 33% of the engineering post-doctorate researchers in US universities. Foreign-born Phd engineers often accept postdoctoral position because other employment is unavailable until green card is obtained.[5] A system that further incentivising replacement of US-citizens in the upper echelons of academic and private sector engineering firms due to higher educational attainment relative to native-born engineer who for the most part do train beyond undergraduate level.[6]
- In recent years, The number of applicants for faculty openings at research universities have increased dramatically. Numbers of 50 to 200 applications for a single faculty opening have become typical, yet even with such high numbers of applicants have yielded a foreign-born component in excess of 50%.[5]
- An astounding 60 percent of the top science students in the United States and 65 percent of the top math students are the children of immigrants. In addition, foreign-born high school students make up 50 percent of the 2004 U.S.Math Olympiad’s top scorers, 38 percent of the U.S. Physics Team, and 25 percent of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists—the United States’ most prestigious awards for young scientists and mathematicians.[7]
- Among 1985 foreign-born engineering doctorate holders, about 40% expected to work in the United States after graduating. An additional 17 percent planned to stay on as post-doctorates, and most of these are likely to remain permanently in the United States. Those, almost 60% of foreign-born engineering doctorate holders are likely to become part of the US engineering labor force within a few years after graduating. The other approximately 40% of foreign born engineering Phds mostly likely find employment working for Multinational corporations outside of the US.[5]
- In the 2004 Intel Science Talent Search, more children (18) have parents who entered the country on H-1B (professional) visas than parents born in the United States (16). To place this finding in perspective, note that new H-1B visa holders each year represent less than 0.04 percent of the U.S. population.[7]
- Foreign born faculty now accounts for over 50% of faculty in engineering (1994).[5]
- 27 out the 87 (more than 30%) American Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology between 1901 and 2005 were born outside the US[8]
- At the undergraduate level, US-born engineering students constitute upwards of 90-95% of the student population since most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries. The size of the pool of BS engineering graduates with US citizenship is much larger than the number who apply to engineering graduate schools.[5]
- 1993 Median Salaries of U.S. Recipients of Ph.D.s in Science and Engineering: Foreign-Born vs. Native-Born:[9]
| Years Since Earning Degree |
Foreign-Born |
Native-Born |
| 1–5 years |
$44,400 |
$40,000 |
| 6–10 years |
$55,400 |
$49,200 |
| 11–15 years |
$64,000 |
$56,000 |
| 16–20 years |
$64,000 |
$56,000 |
| 21 years |
$70,200 |
$68,000 |
Cities/Regions With Largest Foreign Born Populations
| Rank[10] |
City |
Country |
Foreign-Born Pop |
| 1 |
New York |
United States |
5,117,290 |
| 2 |
Los Angeles |
United States |
4,407,353 |
| 3 |
Hong Kong |
Hong Kong |
2,549,780 |
| 4 |
Toronto |
Canada |
2,320,200[11] |
| 5 |
London |
United Kingdom |
2,288,000[12] |
| 6 |
Miami |
United States |
1,949,629 |
| 7 |
Chicago |
United States |
1,625,649 |
| 8 |
Sydney |
Australia |
1,235,908 |
| 9 |
San Francisco |
United States |
1,201,209 |
| 10 |
Moscow |
Russia |
1,128,035 |
| 11 |
Houston |
United States |
1,113,875 |
| 12 |
Paris |
France |
1,081,611 |
| 13 |
Dubai |
United Arab Emirates |
1,056,000 |
| 14 |
Riyadh |
Saudi Arabia |
1,054,000 |
| 15 |
Washington D.C. |
United States |
1,017,432 |
| 16 |
Dallas |
United States |
1,016,221 |
Cities/Regions With Highest Percentage of Foreign Born Population
See also
References
- ^ http://usgovinfo.about.com/cs/censusstatistic/a/foreignborn.htm
- ^ http://www.arabianbusiness.com/uae-flatly-rejects-citizenship-for-foreign-workers-122627.html
- ^ http://www.migrationinformation.org/DataHub/charts/6.2.shtml
- ^ a b c d William A. Wulf, President, National Academy of Engineering, Speaking before the 109th US Congress, September 15, 2005
- ^ a b c d e f g h i 'Foreign and Foreign-Born Engineers in the United States: Infusing Talent, Raising Issues', Office of Scientific and Engineering Personnel, 1988. online text
- ^ Walker, 'Incentivizing Replacement of Native Talent in the Upper Echelons of Science and Technology', Flattening the United States. 2004.
- ^ a b Anderson, 'The Multiplier Effect', International Educator. 2004.
- ^ Vilcek J. and Cronstein B.N. FASEB Journal 20:1281-1283, 2006
- ^ Unpublished National Science Foundation tabulation of the 1993 Survey of Doctoral Recipients and the 1993 National Survey of College Graduates. Foreign-Born includes naturalized U.S. citizens, permanent residents and workers on temporary visas (including H-1B visas).
- ^ Global City Migration Map
- ^ a b [http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2006/as-sa/97-557/p24-eng.cfm Immigration in Canada: A Portrait of the Foreign-born Population, 2006 Census: Portraits of major metropolitan centres]
- ^ The world city: one in three Londoners was born overseas
- ^ (Web Archive) Global Perspective on the Connections between Immigrants and World Cities. Page 9
- ^ Key figures Amsterdam 2005, p. 1
- ^ Mémento statistique du canton de Genève 2010, p. 1
External links