Quiz Answers

1. (d) 32 million foreigners legally entered the US either as permanent legal immigrants or as non-immigrants with permission to visit the US on a temporary basis in 1999, the most recent year for which Immigration and Naturalization Service data is available. As a global hub for tourism and international business, the number of international visitors to the US has risen steadily in recent years and, in 1999, more than 31 million visitors including

tourists, business and diplomatic travelers, and foreign students came to the US.

2. (a) Approximately 2.6% of the population in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area was of foreign-born origin in 2000, a figure much smaller than the 11.4% of the US population that is foreign-born.

3. (b) During the 1990s, more than 70% of legal immigrants were granted legal permanent residency in order to join other family members who are US citizens or who are legal US residents.

4. (c) While the nation’s Hispanic population increased by 54%, the Hispanic population in Allegheny County grew by 28%.

5. (d) According to the National MultiCultural Institute (www.nmci.org), people of color, women and immigrants accounted for 85% of the net growth in the nation’s labor force during the 1990s.

6. (c) “Green cards” are currently pink. Officially known as “Form I-551: Alien Registration Receipt Card”, this document issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service represents the right for an individual to permanently live and work in the United States. It has previously been printed in green and blue versions.

7. Trick question. All of these metropolitan areas have more foreign-born persons per capita than the Pittsburgh area. In fact, among the 49 major metropolitan areas in the US with a population greater than one million persons, only the Cincinnati area has fewer foreign-born persons per capita than the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.

8. (c) According to data from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the top four countries of origin for legal immigrants from 1990 to 2000 were Mexico, the Philippines, Vietnam and China. While Mexico has historically been a leading country of origin for immigrants to the US, an increasing number of immigrants have come to the US from Asian countries since the 1970s.