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Legal immigration and citizenship

Who gets permission to live in the United States permanently, how people become citizens, and who is a citizen at birth.

Last reviewed October 12, 2026

Know

Facts that are not in dispute. Guess first, then see the figure and where it comes from.

A green card makes someone a lawful permanent resident, able to live and work here indefinitely. Most can apply for citizenship after five years, or three if married to a citizen. Green-card and citizenship figures are for fiscal year 2023, the latest the Department of Homeland Security has published in full.

  1. Of every 100 green cards granted in fiscal year 2023, about how many went to relatives of US citizens or permanent residents?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 64 of every 100 green cards went to relatives of citizens or permanent residents.

    Of 1,172,910 green cards, 47.0% went to spouses, children and parents of citizens, a group with no annual cap, and 17.4% to other relatives. Employment accounted for 16.8%, a figure that includes the workers' own spouses and children. Refugees and people granted asylum received 8.5%, and the diversity lottery 5.7%. About half went to people already living in the country.

    Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Lawful Permanent Residents: Fiscal Year 2023 (Annual Flow Report); 8 U.S. Code § 1151, Worldwide level of immigration (Legal Information Institute)

  2. How many years does the typical green-card holder wait before becoming a citizen?

    Slide to make your guess

    The typical new citizen had held a green card for about seven years.

    That is the median for fiscal year 2023, down from eight years in 2017 to 2019. About 878,000 people became citizens that year. The most common countries of birth were Mexico, India and the Philippines.

    Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Naturalizations: Fiscal Year 2023

  3. About how many refugees did the United States admit in fiscal year 2025, in thousands?

    Slide to make your guess

    The United States admitted about 38,000 refugees in fiscal year 2025.

    The ceiling that year was 125,000, and about 100,000 were admitted in 2024. The president set the ceiling for 2026 at 7,500, the lowest on record, then raised it to 17,500 in May 2026. Refugees are screened abroad before they arrive.

    Source: Congressional Research Service, U.S. Refugee Admissions (IF13277)

  4. For the H-1B visa for skilled workers, of every 100 eligible lottery entries for fiscal year 2026, about how many were picked?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 35 of every 100 eligible entries were picked.

    There were 343,981 eligible entries for 85,000 visas, and 120,141 were picked. Entries have fallen from 758,994 for 2024. Since September 21, 2025, many new petitions must include an extra $100,000 payment.

    Source: Envoy Global, USCIS Releases Data on FY 2026 H-1B Cap Selection Rates (summarizing USCIS figures); BAL, FY 2027 H-1B initial registration selection complete (on the $100,000 payment rule)

  5. Of every 100 babies born in the United States in 2023, about how many had a mother who was an unauthorized immigrant?

    Slide to make your guess

    About 9 of every 100 babies born in 2023 had an unauthorized immigrant mother.

    That is about 320,000 of 3.6 million births. In about 245,000 of them the father was also neither a citizen nor a permanent resident. Adding 15,000 births to mothers here on temporary visas, about 260,000 children would have been denied citizenship under the 2025 executive order. The number peaked at about 380,000 in 2006.

    Source: Pew Research Center, About 9% of U.S. Births in 2023 Were to Unauthorized or Temporary Legal Immigrant Mothers

  6. In June 2026, what did the Supreme Court do with the executive order that would have denied citizenship to some children born here?

    The Supreme Court struck the order down.

    In Trump v. Barbara the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment makes citizens of children born here even when their parents are here temporarily or without permission. Five justices joined the majority. Justice Kavanaugh agreed with the result on the ground that the order violated federal law, and Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch dissented. In August 2026 the president issued a narrower order, aimed at births arranged through commercial surrogacy or "birth tourism" and at children of foreign diplomats and others. A federal court blocked it in September.

    Source: Congressional Research Service, Trump v. Barbara: Supreme Court Holds Birthright Citizenship Executive Order 14160 Unconstitutional (LSB11468); Fragomen, District Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Against Latest Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

Green cards by category, fiscal year 2023

1,172,910 green cards in total. Employment includes workers' spouses and children.

  • Spouses, children and parents of citizens 47% 551,590
  • Other family 17% 204,240
  • Employment 17% 196,760
  • Refugees and asylum 8% 99,360
  • Diversity lottery 6% 67,350
  • Other 5% 53,600

Source: Department of Homeland Security, Office of Homeland Security Statistics, Lawful Permanent Residents: Fiscal Year 2023 (Annual Flow Report)

Charts appear here once you have answered or skipped the questions above.

Debate

Questions the facts cannot settle, with the strongest case for each side.

Should more green cards go to people chosen for their skills, and fewer to relatives?

Yes, put more weight on skills

Only about 17 of every 100 green cards go through employment, and that count includes the workers' own spouses and children, while 64 go to relatives. Refugees and asylum account for 8.5, and the diversity lottery, which picks at random, 5.7. Demand for skilled visas far outruns supply: for the H-1B there were 343,981 eligible entries for 85,000 visas, decided by lottery rather than by skill or pay. A study of 219 US cities found that growth in foreign-born science and engineering workers was linked to higher wages for college-educated workers born here.

No, keep the weight on family

Nearly half of green cards go to spouses, children and parents of citizens, and cutting them means keeping families apart. About half of all new green-card holders were already living here. The evidence that skill visas deliver more is mixed. A study of the H-1B lottery found that firms winning extra visas largely replaced other workers and saw little gain in innovation. Since 2025 many new H-1B petitions also require an extra $100,000 payment, and the typical new citizen has waited seven years after the green card.

Underneath is a disagreement about whether immigration should serve mainly the economy or mainly the families of people already here, and about who should choose, the government or the citizens who sponsor relatives.

Should children born here to parents without legal status, or with only temporary status, be citizens at birth?

Yes, keep citizenship at birth for all

The Supreme Court held in June 2026 that the Fourteenth Amendment makes citizens of children born here whatever their parents' status, and federal law says the same. A simple rule based on place of birth is easy to prove with a birth certificate. Ending it would create a growing group with no legal status: researchers at the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State project that about 255,000 US-born children a year would start life without citizenship, and that by 2075 the unauthorized population would be 5.4 million larger, including 1.7 million people whose parents were both born here.

No, limit it to children of citizens and permanent residents

About 9 of every 100 babies born in 2023 had an unauthorized immigrant mother, about 320,000 children, up from 215,000 in 2019. Another 15,000 were born to mothers here on temporary visas. Citizenship at birth for those children rewards breaking immigration law, and the family ties it creates make removal harder later. Three justices read the Fourteenth Amendment's phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" more narrowly: Justice Thomas as covering only those who live here permanently, Justice Alito as covering those who owe allegiance only to the United States. After the ruling, changing the rule would take a constitutional amendment.

Underneath is a disagreement about whether citizenship should follow the simple fact of birthplace or the lawful status of the parents, and about how much a rule should bend to discourage illegal immigration.

Wording

Terms that frame the argument before it starts. Who uses each one, and what can be checked.

Uncertain

Questions that have a factual answer in principle, where the evidence is still contested.
Does the H-1B program lower pay or jobs for skilled workers born here?
Studies point in different directions. One comparing 219 US cities found that more foreign science and engineering workers went along with higher wages for college graduates born here. A study using the H-1B lottery itself found that firms winning extra visas mostly substituted those workers for others they would have hired, with little gain in innovation. The answer may differ between the firms that win visas and the wider economy. The $100,000 payment added in 2025 is too new to study. Sources: Peri, Shih and Sparber, STEM Workers, H-1B Visas, and Productivity in US Cities (Journal of Labor Economics); Doran, Gelber and Isen, The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from Visa Lotteries (NBER Working Paper 20668; Journal of Political Economy, 2022)
How large would the effects of ending birthright citizenship be?
The best-known projection, from the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State, finds the unauthorized population would grow by 2.7 million by 2045 and 5.4 million by 2075. It assumes these children leave or gain status at the same rate as their parents, and the authors say the numbers would be larger if more of them stay. Even with no new illegal entries after 2025, the projection still finds 1.3 million more people without status. Sources: Migration Policy Institute and Penn State, Repealing Birthright Citizenship Would Significantly Increase the Size of the U.S. Unauthorized Population

Sources