Approximately 300,000 to 400,000 people per year obtain permanent residency in the United States through U.S. citizen spouses, parents, or children.
Posted by Bulwark Takes, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Bulwark TakesAug 29, 2026
Sources consistently show that immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, parents, and minor children) are the largest group of new green card holders, at roughly 40-46% of about 1 million LPRs a year. That works out to roughly 400,000-460,000 a year, a bit above the claimed 300,000-400,000 range but the same order of magnitude, so the claim is approximately supported.
What was said
… Citizen parent or U.S. Citizen child, uh, and, you know, the close relatives of U.S. Citizens are allowed to, uh, apply for permanent residency, a green card, from abroad, come here, get their green card. Now they're on the path to becoming an American. You know, something like three, 400,000 people a year come here that way from lots of different countries. It is the most kind of plain vanilla way of coming to the United States and ultimately becoming American. …
Bulwark Takes · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, parents of adult citizens) are numerically unlimited and form the largest category of new LPRs, typically over 40% annually.[1][2][4]
Supports. A CRS report finds that from FY2014 to FY2023 the U.S. granted about 1 million LPR statuses a year, and immediate relatives of U.S. citizens accounted for 46% of them, or roughly 460,000 a year.[3]
Context. Other estimates are higher: the Boundless report says nearly half of about 1.1 million annual green cards go to spouses, young children, and parents of citizens, and USAFacts reports 1.32 million green cards in FY2025. Those figures imply totals above the claimed range.[5][6]
Context. Whether the figure is roughly 300,000-400,000 depends on the denominator (new LPRs versus all green cards) and the year, so the claimed range is somewhat low relative to the CRS estimate but close to the OHSS 'over 40% of new LPRs' figure.[2][3]
Sources
6 sources: 3 primary, 3 not rated
- 1Visa Availability and Priority Datesuscis.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 2Lawful Permanent Residents Annual Flow Reports | OHSSohss.dhs.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 3Permanent Legal Immigration to the United States: Policy ...congress.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 4Explainer: How the U.S. Legal Immigration System Worksmigrationpolicy.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Top 10 Surprising Facts About Family-Based Immigrationboundless.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6How many immigrants get green cards every year?usafacts.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post