Ranked: The 25 Countries Receiving the Most U.S. Immigration Visas

The Top 25 Countries Receiving the Most U.S. Immigration Visas

Although many Americans feel that their country is on the wrong track, this does not stop foreigners from wanting to move to the United States. For many around the globe, the promise of the American dream is still worth the permanent move and hundreds of thousands of people every year apply for their U.S. immigration visas.

The ranking uses annual data from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs to visualize the countries whose citizens are receiving the highest number of U.S. immigrant visas.

U.S. Immigration Processes

The process of U.S. immigration is confusing at best, but it always starts with a visa. A visa, in the context of immigration, is essentially a permit to enter the country, issued to those looking to work and live in the United States. There are two visa categories: immigrant and non-immigrant.

Non-immigrant visas

These visas are typically for temporary workers, but also serve other purposes, like basic travel for tourists from certain countries. Even when obtained for work purposes however, non-immigrant visas expire and do not lead to green cards or citizenship.

Some examples of non-immigrant visas categories include: members of the press, diplomatic representatives, foreign military personnel stationed in the U.S., athletes, and a plethora of other unique situations. The popular, and nearly unattainable, H-1B visas are actually non-immigrant visas.

Immigrant visas

Immigrant visas, on the other hand, can either be employment-based or family-based. The intention behind them is that they will eventually lead to permanent status in the U.S., either through green cards or citizenship. A common example of an immigration visa is the K-1 visa or the “fiancé visa” for individuals marrying American citizens.

Who’s Getting U.S. Immigrant Visas?

Last year, more than 285,000 U.S. immigrant visas were issued. Here’s a look how that is distributed across every country worldwide:

Rank	Country	Immigrant Visas Issued (2021)
#1	Mexico	40,597
#2	China	18,501
#3	Dominican Republic	17,941
#4	Philippines	15,862
#5	Afghanistan	10,784
#6	Vietnam	10,458
#7	India	9,275
#8	El Salvador	7,813
#9	Pakistan	7,213
#10	Bangladesh	5,503
#11	Nepal	5,342
#12	Ecuador	5,061
#13	Nigeria	4,990
#14	Colombia	4,785
#15	Yemen	4,770
#16	Jamaica	4,375
#17	Haiti	3,799
#18	Morocco	3,585
#19	Cuba	3,232
#20	Nicaragua	3,216
#21	Honduras	3,180
#22	Cameroon	3,048
#23	Ukraine	3,019
#24	South Korea	2,954
#25	Iran	2,802
#26	Jordan	2,785
#27	Guatemala	2,717
#28	Guyana	2,650
#29	Brazil	2,423
#30	Ethiopia	2,402
#31	Egypt	2,230
#32	Ghana	2,216
#33	Venezuela	2,031
#34	Algeria	1,922
#35	United Kingdom	1,897
#36	Albania	1,794
#37	Taiwan	1,775
#38	Peru	1,772
#39	Kenya	1,612
#40	Cambodia	1,586
#41	Lebanon	1,543
#42	Sierra Leone	1,481
#43	Canada	1,464
#44	Japan	1,401
#45	Turkey	1,361
#46	Thailand	1,221
#47	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1,203
#48	Russia	1,154
#49	Germany	1,086
#50	Armenia	992
#51	Togo	989
#52	Poland	942
#53	Cote d’Ivoire	924
#54	Hong Kong SAR	838
#55	Liberia	803
#56	Sri Lanka	799
#57	Trinidad and Tobago	793
#58	Belarus	787
#59	Sudan	783
#60	Syria	757
#61	Somalia	724
#62	Indonesia	714
#63	Romania	706
#64	Saudi Arabia	701
#65	Georgia	652
#66	Bolivia	642
#67	France	622
#67	Italy	622
#69	Moldova	611
#70	Argentina	608
#71	South Africa	599
#72	United Arab Emirates	598
#73	Cabo Verde	597
#74	Kyrgyzstan	592
#75	Myanmar	587
#76	Kazakhstan	584
#77	Iraq	579
#78	Senegal	566
#79	Zimbabwe	543
#80	Costa Rica	537
#81	Fiji	522
#82	Kosovo	520
#83	Uzbekistan	513
#84	Australia	505
#85	Guinea	500
#86	Bulgaria	493
#87	The Gambia	484
#88	North Macedonia	472
#89	Israel	471
#90	Tajikistan	444
#91	Chile	416
#92	Kuwait	412
#93	Spain	410
#94	Eritrea	371
#95	Panama	363
#96	Mongolia	355
#97	Benin	343
#98	Malaysia	330
#99	Serbia	328
#100	Azerbaijan	308
#101	The Bahamas	303
#102	Tanzania	301
#103	Tunisia	298
#104	Saint Lucia	292
#105	Rwanda	291
#106	Turkmenistan	284
#107	Uganda	281
#108	Dominica	279
#109	Belize	278
#110	Burkina Faso	259
#111	Libya	233
#112	Bosnia and Herzegovina	231
#112	Grenada	231
#114	Ireland	213
#115	New Zealand	205
#116	Hungary	203
#117	Mali	196
#118	Qatar	190
#119	Netherlands	182
#120	Lithuania	177
#121	Barbados	170
#122	Greece	168
#123	Zambia	152
#124	Singapore	148
#124	Montenegro	148
#126	Antigua and Barbuda	146
#127	Uruguay	144
#128	Switzerland	142
#129	Latvia	131
#130	Sweden	123
#131	Portugal	120
#132	Belgium	114
#133	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	113
#134	Niger	112
#135	Paraguay	111
#136	Republic of the Congo	108
#137	Czech Republic	105
#138	Austria	104
#139	Burundi	98
#140	Croatia	96
#141	Finland	89
#142	Djibouti	80
#142	Saint Kitts and Nevis	80
#144	Slovakia	77
#145	Bahrain	66
#146	Malawi	65
#147	Mauritania	62
#148	Chad	57
#149	Angola	52
#150	Gabon	49
#151	Estonia	48
#152	Suriname	45
#153	South Sudan	41
#153	Tonga	41
#155	Oman	38
#156	Madagascar	36
#156	Denmark	36
#156	Iceland	36
#159	Bhutan	35
#159	Bermuda	35
#161	Slovenia	32
#162	Cyprus	28
#163	Norway	23
#164	Central African Republic	22
#165	Botswana	21
#165	Turks and Caicos Islands	21
#167	Macau SAR	20
#168	Laos	11
#168	Saint Martin	11
#168	British Virgin Islands	11
#171	Mozambique	10
#171	Namibia	10
#171	Anguilla	10
#174	Mauritius	9
#174	Sint Maarten	9
#174	Samoa	9
#177	Guinea-Bissau	8
#177	North Korea	8
#177	Curaçao	8
#180	Cayman Islands	7
#181	Papua New Guinea	6
#182	Malta	5
#182	Aruba	5
#184	Lesotho	4
#184	Brunei	4
#186	Equatorial Guinea	3
#186	Montserrat	3
#188	Eswatini	2
#188	Maldives	2
#188	French Polynesia	2
#188	Gibraltar	2
#188	Luxembourg	2
#188	Federated Sates of Micronesia	2
#194	Sao Tome and Principe	1
#194	Timor-Leste	1
#194	New Caledonia	1
#194	Monaco	1
#194	Christmas Island	1
#194	Marshall Islands	1
#194	Palau	1
#194	Solomon Islands	1
#194	Vanuatu	1
#203	Comoros	0
#203	Western Sahara	0
#203	Seychelles	0
#203	Andorra	0
#203	Faroe Islands	0
#203	Greenland	0
#203	French Southern and Antarctic Lands	0
#203	St. Barthelemy	0
#203	St. Pierre and Miquelon	0
#203	Wallis and Futuna	0
#203	British Indian Ocean Territory	0
#203	Falkland Islands	0
#203	Pitcairn	0
#203	St. Helena	0
#203	South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands	0
#203	Liechtenstein	0
#203	Northern Ireland (DV Only)	0
#203	Svalbard	0
#203	San Marino	0
#203	Vatican City	0
#203	Cocos (Keeling) Islands	0
#203	Norfolk Island	0
#203	Kiribati	0
#203	Nauru	0
#203	Cook Islands	0
#203	Niue	0
#203	Tokelau	0
#203	Tuvalu	0
Total		285,069

Mexican citizens received the highest number of visas to immigrate permanently to the U.S. at nearly 40,600. America’s other neighbor, Canada, ranked 43rd, only receiving 1,464 visas. China and India also rank high on the list, ranking at #2 and #7 respectively.

Interestingly, only one European country, Ukraine, made the top 25. In 2021, prior to the Russian invasion, Ukrainians obtained 3,019 visas. A number of the top visa recipient nations are marked by violence and political unrest, like Afghanistan (#5) and Iran (#25).

Looking beyond the top 25, one surprising find is that eight North Korean citizens received immigration visas last year. Additionally, a number of countries only received a handful of U.S. immigrant visas including Luxembourg’s two, and Timor-Leste’s one.

Regionally, the bulk of the highest ranking countries are located in Asia. Here’s a breakdown:

Rank	Region	Immigrant Visas Issued (2021)
#1	Asia	111,419
#2	North America	91,919
#3	Africa	35,776
#4	Europe	23,972
#5	South America	20,688
#6	Oceania	1,295

Finally, here’s the geographical distribution of persons receiving U.S. immigrant visas.

The State of U.S. Immigration

Around 15% of the U.S. population is made up of immigrants, and the country is home to the highest number of total immigrants in the world, at 50.6 million.

In terms of how many visas are issued annually, there is a federal ceiling of 700,000 and certain countries have their own specific caps on how many their citizens can receive, as mandated by the United States. Although the numbers change drastically year by year, they have not come close to the limit in the last decade.

Here’s a look at the total U.S. immigrant visa issuances globally. Notably, they diminished by almost half during the pandemic:

Year	Immigrant Visas Issued Worldwide	% Change Year-over-Year
2012	482,300	–
2013	473,115	-1.9%
2014	467,370	-1.2%
2015	531,463	+13.7%
2016	617,752	+16.2%
2017	559,536	-9.4%
2018	533,557	-4.6%
2019	462,422	-13.3%
2020	240,526	-48.0%
2021	285,069	+18.5%

Overall, whether for economic purposes, reunification of families, or in fleeing from danger, people are continuing to come to the United States.

In the period between 2016 and 2060, it’s expected that the share of the U.S. population that is American-born is going to grow by 20%. Meanwhile, the share of the population that is foreign-born is expected to jump by 58%.

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