Immigrants heading to American more educated than natives, claims research

Widespread narrative that immigrants are dominating the job market despite a lack of education in the United States is a myth busted by research.

According to the Migration Policy Institute (MSP) around 29 per cent of the total 36.7 million foreign-born individuals aged 25 and above, currently residing in the US had a graduate degree or higher. It also found that "most college-educated immigrants are more likely to have advanced degrees than their US-born counterparts."

About 14 per cent of foreigners with college-education "held professional or doctorate degrees, compared to 10 per cent of their native-born peers. Both groups were almost equally likely to have a master’s degree [28 per cent for the foreign born and 27 per cent for the native born]."



A paper by the Association of American Colleges & Universities [AAC & U] states that off-springs of college-educated immigrants "tend to perform exceptionally well in the higher education, achieving graduate degrees and occupying top-tier occupations at higher rates than children of native-born Americans."

However, where green-cards are involved, education does not seem to be the top criteria under which fate of the immigrants may be decided. In fact, only 14 per cent of immigrants were sponsored by companies while out of more than a million new green-card holders, almost half were immediate relatives of citizens while another 20 per cent entered America on preference given to family members, the Economist reports.

Another difficulty faced by the migrants is that not all foreign degrees and experiences are recognised by the US –  requirements for antiquated licensing and regulations cause a nuance as well.

The bias towards families, however, did not grossly affect the number of degree-holding immigrants: it rose to almost 50 per cent from 27 per cent earlier. Consequently, the US is now entertaining immigrants with better schooling than natives.