How do Asian immigrants perceive life in America?

About 54% of the 24 million Asian Americans living in the United States are immigrants. They come from all over Asia and make up a significant portion of the total immigrant population in the United States: three-quarters of the largest immigrant groups in the United States come from India (2.8 million), China (2.5 million) and the Philippines (2 million).

A new analysis of the Pew Research Center’s 2022-23 survey of Asian American adults finds that Asian immigrants generally rate their lives in the U.S. more positively than in their home countries. A majority (77%) say their standard of living is better than their parents’ in their home countries. Most (74%) say they would immigrate to the U.S. again if they could.

Illustration photo: Reuters

However, more than half (59%) of Asian immigrants said the US immigration system needs major changes. When asked about the goals of US immigration policy, 86% said one of the top priorities should be to attract skilled immigrants to the US.

These findings come from the Pew Research Center's nationally representative, multilingual survey of 7,006 Asian American adults, including 5,036 Asian immigrants, conducted from May 2022 to January 27, 2023.

Why do Asian immigrants come to America?

Asian immigrants took many paths to get to the United States. 28% said they came to the United States to be with family, 27% to seek economic opportunity, 26% came for education, and 7% said they came to escape conflict or persecution in their home country.

About 40% of Filipino and Indian immigrants come to the United States for economic opportunity, a higher rate than Korean (26%), Chinese (16%) and Vietnamese (9%) immigrants.

The reasons for migration of different Asian ethnic groups vary, reflecting the diverse histories of the countries they inhabit.

Asian immigrants adapt to life in America

Asian immigrants face many changes as they adapt to their new life in America. Among them are:

Learn English

Nearly all Asian immigrants (91%) said speaking English was important to success in the United States. 64% said they learned English before immigrating. Over the past decade, 89% of Asian immigrants learned English before arriving, a higher rate than those who arrived more than 20 years ago (57%).

Get financial help

58% of Asian immigrants said they received some form of financial assistance after arriving in the United States.

64% of migrants fleeing conflict said they received financial assistance from the US government in their first six months in the country.

About 10% of Asians who come here for other reasons such as education , economics or family say the same.

Views on life in America

Overall, a majority of Asian immigrants consider the United States better than their home country in most aspects asked in the survey. 77% said the United States is better than their home country in terms of opportunity for advancement.

67% think America is better when it comes to freedom of speech. 66% think America is better for raising children.

There are also areas where America is not perceived as better than the rest of the world. For example, on family cohesion, only 15% of Asian immigrants say America is better than their country of origin. 60% say their country of origin is better on this measure.

Asian Immigrants' Perspectives on US Immigration Policy

The survey asked Asian Americans about their views on U.S. immigration policy goals. Among Asian immigrants:

86% believe that attracting highly skilled immigrants to the United States should be an important goal of immigration policy.

82% said an important goal is to make it easier for U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents to sponsor family members to immigrate to the United States.

76% said that establishing stricter policies to prevent people from overstaying their visas should be an important goal for US policy.

Ngoc Anh (according to Pew Research)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nguoi-nhap-cu-chau-a-nhin-nhan-cuoc-song-o-my-nhu-the-nao-post316312.html