THE NEW IMMIGRANT SURVEY

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We propose to carry out, for the first time, a comprehensive, multi-cohort longitudinal survey of new legal immigrants to the United States based on nationally representative samples of the administrative records, compiled by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, pertaining to immigrants newly admitted to permanent residence. This New Immigration Survey is a follow-up to a pilot project, which received co-funding from NICHD, NIA, NSF, and INS, that has attempted to evaluate the cost and feasibility of fielding the full survey proposed here. The results obtained from the pilot project have informed all elements of the design for the full New Immigrant Survey. In order to monitor changes across cohorts, new samples of immigrants will be drawn periodically. To monitor adaptation over time, each sample will be interviewed at regular intervals over the life cycle. To assess the immigrants' legacy, information will also be obtained about and from their children, both the immigrant children they brought with them and the U.S. citizen children born to them in the United States. We also will put into the public domain a public-use data base from these surveys that will provide an important source of information to assess U.S. immigration laws, the assimilation and experiences of immigrants, and the impact of immigration in the United States. These data will provide prospective and retrospective information of pre-immigration education, work, health, migration, marriage and fertility histories for newly-arrived immigrants. They will also provide useful information on health, on economic status, on schooling, and on children's well-being from a population heterogeneous in English language abilities and native languages.