An interesting new report by the Pew Research Center shows that the education level of recent Latino immigrants to the U.S. is rising, particularly in states like Florida. The percentage of recent immigrants from Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean (as well as Spain, which Pew included as sending over “Latino” immigrants) with a college education has more than doubled since 1990.
Huge jump in college degrees
Pew defines “recent immigrants” as those who arrived in the U.S. in the past five years. Researchers found that among recent immigrants in 2018 who were at least 25 years old, 67% had a high school diploma and 26% had at least a bachelor’s degree. To compare, just 38% of recent immigrants had graduated from high school in 1990, and only 10% had a college degree.
Recent Latino immigrants to Florida had the second-highest rate of college education in the U.S., beaten only by Michigan. However, Texas and California, which have the highest number of recent arrivals, have relatively low rates of recent Latino immigrants with a college degree.
It appears that shifting immigration patterns is one reason for this trend. While immigration from Mexico has dropped as a share of the whole of Latino immigrants to the U.S., Cubans, Dominicans and Venezuelans make up a larger share compared with 30 years ago.
Your options for immigrating to the U.S.
There are immigration options available for people of all levels of education, whether you are looking to remain in the U.S. long-term or not. However, the American immigration system is complicated, and to get fair treatment, you need the advice and assistance of an experienced immigration attorney, whether you are looking to enter this country, or remain here.
