By NAN Staff Writer
News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Dec. 3, 2021: The Caribbean saw a big drop in nationals becoming legal permanent residents or green card holders in the United States last year, a News Americas analysis of latest Department of Homeland Security data has found.
Latest statistics released by DHS show just 76,528 Caribbean immigrants became green card holders last year versus 144,429 in 2019. That’s a drop of nearly 68,000.
The highest number of LPR’s or green card holders were from the Dominican Republic with 30,005. This was followed by Cuba with 16,367 and Jamaica and Haiti with 12,826 and 9,338, respectively.
By contrast, in 2019, 49,911 nationals of the Dominican Republic became legally permanent residents of the US while 41,641 Cubans got their green cards.
In 2019, 21,689 Jamaicans secured LPR status while 17,253 Haitians did the same. That’s almost a 50 percent decline.
Some 3,027 Guyanese secured their green cards in 2020 compared to 5,385 in 2019 while 1,718 Trinidad and Tobagonians secured LPR status in 2020 compared to 3,150 in 2019.
Other Caribbean nations saw only triple or double-digit numbers. Here’s where they stack from highest to lowest:
COUNTRY 2020
Bahamas 614
Belize 475
St. Lucia 463
Grenada 307
Dominica 287
Barbados 226
St. Vincent & The Grenadines 196
Antigua & Barbuda 190
Suriname 117
St. Kitts & Nevis 106
Bermuda 67
Cayman Islands 50
Turks & Caicos 33
Curacao 31
BVI 29
Aruba 22
Sint Maaarten 21
Anguilla 11
To qualify for a US Green Card to live and work in America, you must be eligible under one of the categories:
Green Card through Family
Green Card through Employment
Green Card as a Special Immigrant
Green Card through Refugee or Asylee Status
Green Card for Human Trafficking and Crime Victims
Green Card for Victims of Abuse
Green Card through Other Categories
Green Card through Registry.
