When Immigrants Are Not Migrants: Counting Arrivals of the Foreign Born Using the U.S. Census

Abstract

"This paper compares characteristics of recent immigrant arrivals in the United States using two measures from the decennial U.S. census: the came-to-stay question and the migration question.... Among recent arrivals, defined as those who reported they came to stay in the quinquennium preceding the census, a large number were resident in the United States five years before the census date. Furthermore, the proportion of recent arrivals present in the United States five years before the census increased between 1975-1980 and 1985-1990.... Generally, in both the 1975-1980 and 1985-1990 cohorts, those resident in the United States five years before the census have significantly less schooling and lower incomes than those who were abroad."