[OC] Wartezeiten für familiengesponserte Visa für die USA

“I’d support them if they followed the law and immigrated legally.”

* Sources: U.S. State Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | Note: Data was originally compiled in “[Why Legal Immigration Is Nearly Impossible](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/why-legal-immigration-nearly-impossible)” by David Bier for the Cato Institute. “All other countries” represents the average.
* Tools used: Observable Plot and Illustrator

In this guest essay, Jorge Loweree, the managing director of programs and strategy at the American Immigration Council, explains how difficult and rare it is to legally immigrate to the United States:

“There is *no* line to get into for a vast majority of people who wish to come to the United States,” writes Jorge. “If the government is serious about securing the border, we have to make it easier for people to come through legal channels,” he adds. “For people seeking to immigrate to America to reunite with U.S.-citizen family members already here, the wait times are punishing because the backlogs are ludicrous. Most U.S. citizens petitioning to reunite with adult children can expect a minimum wait of nine years. But for some nationalities, the wait is especially untenable: If someone applied this year to sponsor a sibling from Mexico, they’d be waiting in a line for easily 40 to 50 years.”

Read the rest of the essay [here, for free](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/14/opinion/immigration-us-legal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.L04.4qYD.sjmiahZopTYv&smid=re-nytopinion), without a subscription to The New York Times.

I know someone who sponsored their parents’ immigration from Mexico, it took several years, but nothing like this. Is this a recent increase or something?

This chart is so nice and clean.