The Irish immigrating to the US are becoming quite a significant number with an increase by almost twelve percent in the previous year. This has been despite the substantial fall in those coming as temporary visitors. A small increase was also seen in 2009 for those coming from Ireland to live and work in Britain. This is as per the immigration data collected by the authorities of the United States and Britain.
In 2009, around 1,637 Irish citizens were given a permanent residence status in the United States. This shows an increase from 1,465 from the previous year. Majority of them (1,066 applicants) were allowed a residence permit merely because they had an immediate relative who is a citizen of the United States. Another 494 applicants obtained a visa based on their employment as per the US Department of Homeland Security.
This increase of immigrants to the United States can be considered as being similar to the rate of immigration to Canada and Australia in 2009. Canada saw an increase by 13% where as Australia saw a jump by another 25%. This is specific to the number of residence visas that have been granted to the nationals of Ireland.
According to the data published by the British Department for Work and Pensions, there has been an increase by 7% in the number of Irish for work registration in Britain in the initial nine months of 2009.
Around 8,620 applicants obtained a National Insurance Number in Britain by the end of September. When compared to the previous year, it was 7,990. The majority of those who had registered for work which consists of 7,380 people belonged to the age group of 18 – 34 years.
From the previous year till April 2009, around 18, 400 Irish nationals have immigrated. It has been predicted by the Economic and Social Research Institute that this trend would continue in 2010 and 2011 with another 100,000 people immigrating in search of employment opportunities.
The statistics clearly show that Britain and the United States continue to be the favorite destinations for the immigrants to live and work.
