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A record-breaking 87,000 Chinese got US green cards in 2011, according to the US Department of Homeland Security, but fewer Chinese chose to become US citizens compared with the past two years.
According to a report released by the Homeland Security Department, 1,062,040 people became legal permanent residents of the US in 2011, and Chinese formed the second-largest group of new green-card holders, with 8.2 percent. Mexicans were the largest group, with 14 percent, and Indians the third-largest, with 6.5 percent.
Sixty-five percent of new legal permanent residents were granted green cards because of their family relationship with a US citizen or other green-card holder, the department said
Meanwhile, nearly 700,000 legal immigrants became US citizens in 2011, the largest number of whom came from Mexico. People from China ranked fourth, after Mexico, India and the Philippines, the department said.
Last year, 36 percent of new US citizens were born in Asia, and 32,864, or 4.7 percent, of them were from China. The number of Chinese gaining US citizenship declined last year compared with the two previous years — 1,100 fewer than in 2010 and 4,300 fewer than in 2009 — according to the department
That fewer people from the Chinese mainland are becoming US citizens is in line with a general decline in applications for US citizenship among all nationalities since 2008 due to the financial crisis, said Yu Hao, a special correspondent and commentator of Global Chinese Broadcasting Cooperation in the US.
But the economic downturn has discouraged many Chinese in particular, he said, because they are more optimistic about their homeland's economic pros-pects.
Yu said it is more convenient for the Chinese with US green cards to retain their Chinese citizenship to enjoy the welfare in China.
"Because China does not recognize dual nationality, it is more convenient for them to have US green cards than a US passport when working and living in China," he said.
But as the number of Chinese immigrants to the US increases, more are expected to become green-card holders, Yu said, and, if the US economy recovers, the number seeking US citizenship could increase again.
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