According to official government statistics from the Department of Homeland Security, 2013 Yearbook (the latest available), for the decade from 2004 to 2013, the number granted legal permanent residence was 10,763,477 and the number that became naturalized citizens was 7,146,220.
The largest countries of origin, i.e., where these people came from, were Mexico and 5 Asian countries, namely China, India, Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea. Here is where it gets interesting as shown by the table below.
The largest countries of origin, i.e., where these people came from, were Mexico and 5 Asian countries, namely China, India, Philippines, Vietnam and South Korea. Here is where it gets interesting as shown by the table below.
| Permanent Residents and Naturalized Citizens in the U.S. from 2004 to 2013 | ||
| Country of origin | % of total permanent residents | % of total naturalized citizens |
| Mexico | 14.66 | 14.75 |
| China, PR | 6.92 | 4.74 |
| India | 6.27 | 6.82 |
| Philippines | 5.63 | 5.76 |
| Vietnam | 2.83 | 3.88 |
| S. Korea | 2.18 | 2.32 |
| Source: 2013 Yearbook, DHS | ||
Four of the six major sources of immigrants maintain more or less the same ratio between permanent residents and those that went on to become naturalized citizens except Vietnam and China. Around 70% go on to become naturalized citizens but over 90% for Vietnamese and around 45% for Chinese.
In the case of Vietnam, more relatively speaking became naturalized citizens than one would predict from pro rata of number of permanent residents. Since most of the Vietnamese came to the U.S. as refugees after the end of the Vietnam war and return to their homeland is not a viable option, this is understandable.
What's notable is the significantly lower number of Chinese that elected to proceed and become American citizens. There are two non-mutually exclusive explanations that could account for the apparent lack of interest in becoming citizens.
Because of China's rapid economic development, certain portion find opportunities in their country of origin and may find keeping a green card convenient but not necessary to convert to American citizenship.
The other reason is that they feel like perpetual foreigners when they are in the U.S. and they face the threat of being racially profiled by the FBI and become another hapless victim of government harassment a la Wen Ho Lee.
The other note of interest is that judging by the relatively higher number of Indians that opt to become naturalized citizens, one may conclude the anticipated rise of India is not yet appealing enough to convince Indian nationals to go back.
