Impact of Historical Events, Immigration Policy and Economic Change on Temporary Immigration to the U.S.

Sara Speckhard, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Rebecca Kraus, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

In 1952, immigration policy in the U.S. was codified into the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA). This provided a cohesive policy for admitting immigrants and temporary visitors with a clearly defined set of admission classes. Since that time, the numbers and types of classes of temporary visitors and “non-immigrants” have expanded greatly. Also, the supply and demand for different types of temporary employment based immigrants and types of students has varied. This paper investigates the changing trends of non-immigrant admissions with important world events, immigration policy changes, and world economic conditions. The paper uses data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Immigration Statistics, both information published in the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics and additional data stored in paper files. The admission data is compared to timelines of historic events, immigration legislation and economic data for both host and source countries.