It is well known that we are a country founded by and on immigrants. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of us have deeply immigrant roots, with at least some of our ancestors moving here from abroad, even if this move first occurred many years in the past. More recent immigrants are also common and the United States still boasts a large immigrant population, living up to its reputation as the land of opportunity. And many people are still moving here in pursuit of those dreams that they feel the United States can offer them.
As a matter of fact, there are currently more than 43 million immigrants living all throughout the country, these foreign born people coming from all over the world. This means that up to 13% of our country’s total population is actually made up of immigrants, a number that is actually projected to continue growing in the years that are ahead of us. We have already quadrupled the total number of immigrants in this country just from the year of 1965, a mere half of a century or so in the past. And by the time that we reach the year of 2065, now not so far away at all, it is likely that more than 75 million foreign born people will call this country their home.
And when people immigrate to the United States, they tend to do so for the long haul, building lives and raising families wherever it is they end up in this country. As a matter of fact, this is something that the data gathered on the subject yet again supports. For instance, up to 60% of all people living here as immigrants have been here for at least a full 15 years, if not even longer than that. This goes to show that immigrants are serious about building lives here and making things better not just for themselves, but for the communities that they settle in as well. And immigrant success is very much on the rise, with rates of immigrant home ownership having risen by more than 2% between the years of 1994 and 2015 alone. In this same period of time, home ownership rates of natural born citizens actually remained stagnant.
And when it comes to legality, most immigrants are legal immigrants. As a matter of fact, legal immigrants actually make up three quarters, a full 75%, of the total immigrant population seen in this country. Though there are many stereotypes about our immigrant population, legal immigrants are by and large more common than any other type of immigrant that you might run into. And outside of legal immigrants, there are many people who are actively working towards citizenship and being able to legally prolong their stay in this country.
For such people, seeking the aide of an immigration lawyer is something of an absolute must. Immigration lawyers can provide valuable information that those outside of the world of immigration lawyers simply will not know, making immigration lawyers a valuable resource for any recent immigrant. Immigration lawyers can also instruct immigrants on various paths to take towards citizenship, as immigration lawyers are aware that there is more than one way to become a citizen. But as more than 65% of all immigrants looking to become citizens had done so by the year of 2015, it is clear to many immigration lawyers that citizenship is the end goal for many an immigrant no matter how they ultimately get there.
The changing of immigration laws in recent history have also made immigration lawyers more vital than ever before. If one is an immigrant and is unsure how these laws will impact their own life, contacting one of the immigration lawyers in their area is likely to be, by and large, the very best thing that they can do. After all, immigration lawyers will better be able to understand and then explain immigration laws, far better than any lay person would likely be able to do.
Ultimately, immigrants provide an important percentage of our population, a percentage that is only growing and growing and will keep growing in all the years that are ahead of us. For many, immigration lawyers are vital.