Indians in the USA
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Economic status
The Times of India, Nov 10 2015
Chidanand Rajghatta
In 9 US states, Indians biggest immigrant bloc
For the longest time, Red states and Blue states in America have typically referred to Republican and Democratic leaning states in political and electoral terms. But in the world of immigration and demographics, it turns out they illustrate dominant Hispanic (mostly Mexican) and Asian (mostly Indian) populations. Amid reports that indicate India and China are now starting to send more legal immigrants to the United States than Mexico, new data from the US department of homeland security shows that Asian Indians form the biggest group of naturalized Americans in nine states, mostly in eastern US.
Mexican-Americans still dominate the central and western half of the US, but the fact Indians have such a high concentration in so many states comes as much as a surprise as Chinese not being the top immigrant population even in a single state.
Overall, Mexicans remain the single largest group of foreigners who were naturalized as citizens between 2003 and 2013, the decade for which DHS has released annualized data. But by state, Mexicans are the biggest group in only 24. Among the remaining 26 states plus the District of Columbia, 10 other nationalities claim the top spot, as this map shows.
In nine states, Indians make up the biggest group of naturalized citizens. Those from the Dominican Republic, who nationwide topped those from China for the first time in at least a decade, are the biggest group in five states, the DHS data shows.
Each year, roughly betwe en 800,000 to a million immigrants become naturalized US citizens. By country , the biggest groups after Mexico are India, Philippines, Dominican Republic and China. In recent years, more and more Indians are taking up US citizenship. DHS data from 20032013 shows Indians taking up US citizenship growing from about 30,000 annually to more than 60,000 annually towards the end of the decade, accounting for some 500,000 Indians who became American citizens in those 10 years.
Although they are outnumbered in California by Mexicans taking up US citizenship, the Golden State still remains their #1 destination.But in nine other states, including New Jersey , New York, Ohio, and Maryland, Indian-Americans top Mexicans-Americans numerically in terms of taking up citizenship.
The DHS data also shows that more than 50% of the emigrating Indians are in prime earning age of 25-44, suggesting that the US is benefiting from giving citizenship to productive immigrants. Retirees and homemakers formed less than 10% of Indians who got citizenship in 2013. Some 35% of Indian immigrants who took US citizenship worked in management, professional, service, production and sales occupations.
A community of professionals
Indians in US vital for transformation: Nancy Powell
TNN Aug 9, 2013
CHENNAI: Despite constituting less than 1% of the US population, Indian-Americans form 3% of the country's engineers, 7% of IT workers and 8% of physicians and surgeons, US ambassador Nancy J Powell said on Thursday while describing the community as "critical in shaping bilateral ties".
She recalled the visit of Martin Luther King Junior to the Presidency College (Madras) where he addressed a public gathering in 1959. "Both Vivekananda and King awakened the national consciousness of the United States against discrimination on the basis of colour, race, ethnicity and gender," she said.
Median household income for Indian-Americans: highest for any ethnic groups
The Times of India, May 02 2015
Chidanand Rajghatta
PIOs in US race past $100k mark
Indian-Americans have long been recognized by US agencies and socio-political cognoscenti as America's best-educated and wealthiest ethnic group. But a snapshot released by the US Census Bureau this week reveals that the median household income for Indian-Americans has crossed the $100,000 per annum milestone, the highest for any ethnic group, including white, native-born Americans.
In fact, the groundbreaking figure was crossed almost two years ago in 2013 but came to light when the US Census Bureau put it out as part of the AsianPacific American Heritage month which is celebrated in May.
According to the Bureau, the median income of households headed by the Asian population in 2013 was $72,472, much higher than the national median income of around $51,000. But even among Asian Americans, Indian Americans racked it up at $100,547, almost double the national median income, and significantly more than even white, non-Hispanic Americans whose median income is approximately $57,000. Indian-Americans also outearned other South Asian groups such as PakistaniAmericans ($63,000) and Ban gladeshi-Americans ($51,000).Previously, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2010 had put the Indian-American median family income at $86,135.
In contrast to the highearning groups, the median income of Black-American households was $33,321 and that of Hispanic households was $39,005.
Though the census report did not address the religious angle, other surveys have long indicated that Jewish-Americans come closest to IndianAmericans in terms of income and education. According to a US Religious Landscape Study by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2008, 46% of Jews reported family incomes of over $100,000 compared to 19% of all Americans, with the next highest group being Hindus at 43%. And while 27% of Americans have had college or postgraduate education, 59% of American Jews have it, the second highest of any religious group after American Hindus.
Indian women earn more than white men, less than Asian men
The Times of India Jan 08 2016
Washington
Indian-American women earn more on average when compared to nonHispanic white men in the US, according to a new report.
However, compared to Asian-American men, AsianAmerican women only make 78 cents on the dollar, which is the largest gender gap among the racial and ethnic categories studied, the report by US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) said. The smallest gender gap was among AfricanAmericans -black women earn nearly 90 cents on the dollar compared to black men.
Education has a lot to do with the Asian-woman advantage. More than half of AsianAmericans over 25 have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to only 33% of non-Hispanic whites.
About 72% of Indian-Americans have four-year college degrees, and a 40% have some professional or graduate degree. This means that IndianAmericans are more likely to have advanced degrees than white Americans are likely to have finished college, the `Washington Post' reported.
About 21.8% of Asian-Americans also have graduate or professional degrees, compared to 12.8% of non-Hispanic whites. This could explain the advantage that Asian-women have over men, the report said.
Economist Mark Perry wrote in his blog that Asian women working full-time earned only about 3% less per week ($841) than the average full-time male worker ($871) in 2014, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Asian women working full-time in 2014 earned more per week on average than black ($680) and Hispanic men ($616).
Doctors of Indian (and Pakistani) origin
The Times of India Jan 09 2016
A majority of foreign doctors licensed to practise in the US are Indians who graduated from Indian medical schools. They constitute 23% of active foreign-educated physicians stthere.
lle of Notably, Osmania Medical College Hyderabad, with 2,118 doctors, ranranks 9th among the top 10 foreign medical cal schools whose graduates have active licences in the US
Illegal immigrants from India to the USA
See graphic
The Times of India
Sikhs
Sikh family in US gets death threat
[ From the archives of the Times of India] circa 2008
A Sikh family in America received an anonymous letter that threatens to kill its members for being “associates of the Taliban”, prompting authorities to launch a probe into it.
The letter, addressed to the ‘Turban Family’, said the family is being closely watched and it should leave the US immediately. “Our people in the neighborhood have been closely watching your activities and figured out you are a close associate of a secret Taliban movement on the US Soil. We ask you to leave the country as soon as possible otherwise one of our people is going to shoot you dead. Don’t attempt to relocate elsewhere in America as people are closely monitoring your day to day activities,” the letter said. The identity of the family, which lives near Virginia, has not been released. Local authorities are working with the FBI to investigate the threats in the letter sent to the family last week.
The Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund said the family had previously been the target of similar hate crimes. PTI
Students (from India) in the USA
Contribution to the economy in 2015
Sources:
1. Oneindia, Oneindia | 16th Nov, 2015
2. The Times of India, November 17, 2015
133,000 Indian students contribute $3.6 bn to US economy
Washington, Nov 16: With a whopping 29.4 percent increase, a record high of 132,888 Indian students studying in the US in 2014/15 academic year contributed $3.6 billion to the US economy, according to a new report.
India was the second leading place of origin for students coming to the US, making up 13.6 percent of the total international students in the country, according to the 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, released Monday.
The report is published annually by the Institute of International Education in partnership with the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
While Open Doors does not compile region-wise data for their international students, Michael Evans, consular section chief, mentioned that Gujarat and Mah arashtra make up the biggest students' pool from the western region. “We have had the highest number of visa applications, including students' visas, from these two states in the western region,“ he said. The region also includes Chhattisgarh, Goa and MP.In the last one year, there has been a 56% rise in the students' visas issued in the country , when the western region saw a jump of 89%.
Science, technology , engineering, math (STEM) remained the most popular choice of study among Indian students. Of these, engineering was the top choice, with 37.5% students pursuing it, followed by mathcomputer with 31.4% students. International students' spending in all 50 states contributed more than $30 billion to the US economy in 2014 with students from India contributing $3.6 billion, the report said citing the US Department of Commerce.
China remains the top sending country, with almost twice the number of students in the US as India, but India's rate of growth and absolute increases outpaced China's 11 percent.
It was also the second year of rising numbers for India, following three years of declines.
India's 29.4 percent growth is the highest rate of growth for Indian students in the history of the Open Doors project, which spans back to 1954/55.
The last time India grew at a comparable rate (29.1) was in 2000/01 when the number of students from India exceeded 50,000 for the first time.
India, China and Brazil accounted for most of the growth in international students on US campuses as their numbers grew at the highest rate in 35 years, increasing by ten percent to a record high of 974,926 students in the 2014/15 academic year.
The number of Indian students in the US is more than double what it was 15 years ago in 1999/2000.
The majority of Indian students in the US study at the graduate level, according to the report. In 2014/15, their breakdown was: 12.4 percent undergraduate; 64 percent graduate students; 1.4 percent other; 22.1 percent OPT (Optional Practical Training).
In 2001/02, India became the top sender of students to the US and retained that position for eight years, through 2008/09.
In 2009/10, the rate of growth from India levelled off, and China overtook India as the top sender and retains that place for the sixth year in a row now, after eight years of double-digit increases.
In 2014/15, China and India together accounted for 67 percent of the increase in international students, and they now constitute nearly 45 percent of the total number of international students in US higher education.
Students from the top three countries of origin - China, India, and South Korea - now represent approximately 51 percent of the total enrolment of international students in the US, with the number from China and India increasing, and the numbers from South Korea declining by six percent.
In the 2013/14 academic year, 304,467 American students studied abroad for academic credit, an increase of five percent, the highest rate of growth since the 2007/08 academic year. India saw a five percent increase in students from the US.
-IANS
Source: www.oneindia.com
Top Indian-Americans
See graphic
Visa issues
’Overstayal’ by Indians
2014: 14,000 Indians overstay
The Times of India, Jan 22 2016
Over 14,000 of the 8.8 lakh Indians on business or tourism visas overstayed in the US last year, according to official figures.
And in 2014, of the 7.6 lakh Indians who were supposed to leave the country before the expiry of their B1B2 visas, 11,653 of them overstayed in the Unites States, the department of homeland security (DHS) said. Overstaying means a non-immigrant who was lawfully admitted to the US for an authorised period but stayed or remains in the country beyond his or her lawful admission period.
According to the `Entry Exit Overstay Report' released by the DHS, in fiscal 2015, of the nearly 45 million nonimmigrant visitor admissions through air or sea ports of entry that were expected to de part in FY 2015, 527,127 individuals overstayed their admission, for a total overstay rate of 1.17%. In other words, 98.83% had left the US on time and abided by the terms of their admission, the report said.
The report does not include students on F-1 visa or those who arrived on work visas like H1B. In FY 2015, of the nearly 45 million nonimmigrant visitor admissions that were expected to depart, DHS determined that 527,127 individuals overstayed their admission, for a total overstay rate of 1.17%. In other words, 98.83% had left the US on time and abided by the terms of their admission. In its report, DHS said several countries with ties to terrorism had significant numbers of nationals still in the US accounted for by the federal government.
National Geographic Bee
PIOs dominate, 2010, 2012-16
The Times of India, May 27 2016
PIOs sweep National Geographic Bee contest
Rishi Nair, 12year-old Indian-American student, has won the $50,000 National Geographic Bee competition in which Indianorigin contestants maintained their dominance by sweeping all the top three slots. Seven of the 10 finalists were Indian-Americans.
As National Geographic Bee champion in the 28th edition of the contest, Nair, a sixth grader from Florida, received a $50,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society. This is the fifth consecutive year that an Indian-American has won the prestigious national tournament. In 2015, Karan Menon had won the competition.
Eighth-grader Saketh Jonnalagadda, 14, from Massachusetts was the runner up and recipient of the $25,000 college scholarship. Third place and a $10,000 college scholarship was grabbed by Kapil Nathan, 12, a sixth-grader from Alabama. The final question, which clinched the win for Nair, was: “A new marine sanctuary will protect sharks and other wildlife around Isla Wolf in which archipelago in the Pacific Ocean?“.
The answer was: “Galapagos Islands“. Nair, whose parents hail from Kerala, is the second Florida student to win the contest. In 2010, eighthgrader Aadith Moorthy of Palm Harbor was the national champion. The contest ended with a nail-biting final round between Nair and Saketh.
See also
Indians in the USA
