Causes For Indian Immigration To The US(1990–)

This thesis sorts out the process of Indian immigration to the US by Historical Periodization,clarifies the identity and demographic features of Indians in the US after 1990 through Quantitative Analysis,and analyzes the immigration causes by exploring the role of immigration policies,economic and educational environment as structural factors,and the role of Indians as agents in the process of immigration to the US based on Anthony Giddens' Theory of Structuration.The main body of this thesis consists of four chapters.The first chapter overviews the history of Indian immigration to the US before 1990.This history course is divided into four stages based on the US immigration policies and the scale of immigration.The first stage was from the 1850 s to 1924,when Indian Americans survived in exclusion policies.The second stage was from 1925 to 1944 when Indian Americans suffered a considerable fall due to the World War II and the Great Depression.Affected by the US post-war policies,the number of Indian Americans increased relatively from 1945 to 1965.After the enactment of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,more Indians arrived in the US.The second chapter analyzes the identity and demographic features of Indian immigrants in the US after 1990 based on statistics.The number of Indians as legal permanent residents and US citizens since 1990 has been increasing,and has ranked the second largest group to acquire these two identities just after Chinese mainlanders.Meanwhile,Indians enjoyed good gender,age and occupational features,stable family income and marital status in terms of demographic features.The growing number of Indians as legal permanent residents and American citizens and the favorable demographic features have made Indians one of the most successful foreign ethnic groups in the US.The third chapter explores the role of the US immigration policies,the Indian immigration policies,the economic and educational environment of India and the US as structural factors in immigration process.The Immigration Act of 1990 once again emphasized the preference for skilled immigrants,so that more skilled Indians arrived in the US.In 1990 s,the Indian government was active in encouraging Indians to emigrate abroad in order to attract foreign investment.And in 21 th century,the Indian government has kept close ties with overseas Indians by setting up the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs and implementing specific programs.Meanwhile,the economic and educational environment in the US,compared with India,is more favorable to attract more Indians.The fourth chapter discusses the role of Indians as agents in immigration process.For one thing,Indians have been active in assimilating into American society and made great contribution to American politics,economy and culture.Consequently,the US was willing to accept more Indians.For another,Indians in the US have been keeping close relationship with India by giving remittance and foreign investment to India,which promotes the Indian government to support Indian Americans further.According to statistical analysis,this thesis presents that favorable identity and demographic features are important for Indians to boom in the US.Meanwhile,it explores the causes for immigration and finds out that structural factors and agents play equal important roles in the process of Indian immigration to the US from the perspective of Theory of Structuration.The interaction mechanism between the two is: the immigration policies,the economic and educational environment as structural factors have affected Indian immigration to the US on the one hand,on the other hand,Indians as agents have maintained good relations with both the US and India during the immigration process,which becomes one of the most important causes to further promote the development of Indian Americans.