Why Asian Immigrants Come to the U.S. and How They View Life Here

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Table of Contents

• About Pew Research Center 2
• Terminology 3
• How we did this 5
• Table of contents 7
• About Pew Research Center 1 7
• Terminology 2 7
• How we did this 4 7
• Overview 7 7
• 1. Asian American immigrants experiences adjusting to life in the U.S. 13 7
• 2. Asian American immigrants views of quality of life in the U.S. 24 7
• 3. How Asian Americans see the U.S. immigration system 34 7
• Acknowledgments 41 7
• Appendix A Supplemental tables 43 7
• Appendix B Demographic profile of immigrant and U.S.-born Asian Americans 47 7
• Methodology 50 7
• Topline 60 7
• Asian immigrants say standard of living is better for them in the U.S. but are less optimistic for their childrens future ... 8
• ... and 3 in 4 say that if given the choice today they would still come to the U.S. 8
• A brief history of Asian immigration to the U.S. 10
• A majority of Asians in the U.S. today are immigrants 10
• Why Asian immigrants come to the U.S. 11
• Asian immigrants adjusting to life in the U.S. 11
• About half of Asian immigrants came to the U.S. for economic or educational opportunities 11
• Views of the U.S. compared with origin countries 12
• Asian immigrants say the U.S. has better opportunities more free speech and is a better place to raise children 12
• Asian immigrants priorities for U.S. immigration policy 13
• Encouraging highly skilled immigrants and making it easier to sponsor family members are top immigration policy goals for Asian American immigrants 13
• 1. Asian American immigrants experiences adjusting to life in the U.S. 14
• A demographic profile of Asian American immigrants 15
• Years in the U.S. 15
• Education 15
• Income 15
• Demographic profile of Asian immigrants 2022 15
• Main reason Asian immigrants came to the U.S. varies across ethnic groups 16
• By ethnicity 17
• By years in the U.S. 17
• Among Asian immigrants those who came to the U.S. to escape conflict were more likely than others to get government financial support in their first 6 months in U.S. 18
• By main reason for immigrating 19
• By ethnicity 19
• Asian immigrants English language skills 20
• The share of Asian immigrants who speak English proficiently has increased since 2000 20
• About 2 in 3 Asian immigrants could speak or read English before moving to the U.S. 21
• Asian immigrants views of the English language in the U.S. 22
• Large majorities of Asian immigrants say its important to have translated materials available in public institutions 22
• Most Asian immigrants with a non-U.S. college degree say it was recognized by potential U.S. employers 23
• By main reason for immigrating 24
• By field of study 24
• By English ability before immigrating to the U.S. 24
• By English proficiency today 24
• 2. Asian American immigrants views of quality of life in the U.S. 25
• By main reason for immigrating 26
• Most Asian immigrants see the U.S. as better than their origin country for opportunity free speech and raising children 26
• By ethnicity 27
• By citizenship 28
• Asian immigrants views of the U.S. compared with their origin country vary by ethnic group 28
• About 3 in 4 Asian immigrants say their standard of living is better than that of their parents 29
• About 3 in 4 Asian immigrants say they would choose to come to the U.S. if they could do it again 31
• By ethnicity 32
• By age education and citizenship 32
• About half of Asian immigrants say their lives are affected by what happens to Asians and immigrants in the U.S. and people of their ethnic group around the world 33
• By nativity 34
• 3. How Asian Americans see the U.S. immigration system 35
• Asian immigrants engagement with the U.S. immigration system in numbers 35
• A majority of Asian immigrants say the U.S. immigration system needs complete or major changes 36
• By political party 37
• Asian immigrants show bipartisan support for policy goals that encourage highly skilled immigrants to come to the U.S. 38
• By ethnicity 39
• Among Asian immigrants in the U.S. support for immigration policy goals varies across ethnic groups 40
• By nativity 41
• Immigrant Asians differ from U.S. born in their views toward immigration goals 41
• Appendix A Supplemental tables 44
• Asian immigrants views of the U.S. compared with their origin country by main reason for immigration and citizenship status 2022-23 44
• Asian immigrants views of the U.S. compared with their origin country by main reason for immigration and citizenship status 2022-23 continued 45
• Immigrant Asian adults immigration policy priorities by political party age and citizenship status 2022-23 46
• U.S.-born Asian adults immigration policy priorities by political party and age 2022-23 47
• Appendix B Demographic profile of immigrant and U.S.-born Asian Americans 48
• Demographic profile of Asians in the U.S. by nativity 48
• Demographic profile of Asian immigrants in the U.S. by ethnicity 49
• Demographic profile of Asian immigrants in the U.S. by ethnicity continued 50
• Methodology 51
• Survey of Asian American adults margins of sampling error 51
• Sample allocation and Asian American incidence by sampling frame 54
• Household-level weighting 56
• Weighting of extended survey respondents 57
• Variance estimation 58
• Response rates 59
• AAPOR disposition codes 60
• Topline 61