Most People Who Want To Immigrate to the U.S. Have No Legal Option:
A foreigner who wants to secure a green card—which allows them to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely and later apply for citizenship—must qualify for one of five selective categories, says Bier. There’s the refugee program, where “qualified refugees have less than a 0.1 percent chance of being selected for resettlement” and only some nationalities are eligible; the diversity lottery, where “applicants have a 0.2 percent chance of receiving a green card”; family sponsorship, which is capped for relatives beyond spouses, minor children, and parents; employment-based self-sponsorship, which requires high professional or financial standing; and employer sponsorship, a pathway so byzantine that very few employers actually use it.
Many factors keep foreigners from qualifying for those categories. Those include low annual visa caps, a lack of U.S.-based sponsors (whether employers or qualifying family members), narrow definitions of eligible nationalities, and cost. Some groups, including Indian nationals, can face decades long or lifelong waits for green cards—even if they’re already in the U.S. on renewable work visas.
One major reason for the illegal immigration is that for most people around the world, there simply is no legal path for them to immigrate to the United States.