Foreign born

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For the band, see Foreign Born.

Foreign born (also non-native) is a term used to describe a person born outside of their country of residence. Foreign born are often non-citizens, but many are naturalized citizens of the country that they live in and others are citizens by descent, typically through a parent.

The term foreign born encompasses both immigrants and expatriates but is not synonymous with either. Foreign born may, like immigrants, have committed to living in a country permanently or, like expatriates, live abroad for a significant period with the plan to return to their birth-country eventually.

The status of foreign born — particularly their access to citizenship — differs globally. The large groups of foreign born guest workers in the Gulf States, for example, have no right to citizenship no matter the length of their residence. In Canada and the United States, by contrast, foreign born are often citizens or in the process of becoming citizens. Certain countries have intermediary rules: in Germany and Japan it is often difficult but not impossible for the foreign born to become citizens.

Further information: Nationality law

[edit] Trends by country

The percentage of foreign born in a country is the product mostly of immigration rates, but is also effected by emigration rates and birth and death rates in the destination country. For example the United Kingdom and Ireland are destination countries for migrants from Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are themselves source countries for immigration to other Anglosphere countries. The countries with the highest rates of immigration are wealthy countries with relatively open nationality or migration laws, such as Canada and Australia, as well as the Gulf States.

The largest foreign-born population in the world is in The United States of America, which was home to 33 million foreign-residents in 2002, or 11.8% of the population.^[1] The highest percentage of foreign-born residents occurs in small, wealthy countries with large numbers of temporary foreign workers, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, the population of each is, depending on the economy at the time, around 80%.^[2] In 2010, the Migration Policy Institute reported that the largest percentages were Qatar 86.5%, UAE 70%, and 68.8%.^[3]

[edit] Cities/Regions With Largest Foreign Born Populations

Rank^[4]	City	Country	Foreign-Born Pop
1	New York City	United States	5,117,290
2	Los Angeles	United States	4,407,353
3	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	2,549,780
4	Paris	France	2,429,223^[5]
5	Toronto	Canada	2,320,200^[6]
6	London	United Kingdom	2,288,000^[7]
7	Miami	United States	1,949,629
8	Chicago	United States	1,625,649
9	Sydney	Australia	1,235,908
10	San Francisco	United States	1,201,209
11	Moscow	Russia	1,128,035
12	Houston	United States	1,113,875
13	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	1,056,000
14	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	1,054,000
15	Washington D.C.	United States	1,017,432
16	Dallas	United States	1,016,221

[edit] Cities/Regions With Highest Percentage of Foreign Born Population

Rank^[8]	City	Country	Percent	Largest Source of Immigrants
1	Dubai	United Arab Emirates	82	India
2	Toronto	Canada	53 ^[6]	India
=3	Miami	United States	47	Cuba
=3	Amsterdam	Netherlands	47	Suriname^[9]
5	Muscat	Oman	44.6	India
6	Singapore	Singapore	43	Malaysia
7	Vancouver	Canada	39.02	People's Republic of China
8	Auckland	New Zealand	39	England
9	Geneva	Switzerland	39.37	Portugal^[10]
10	Mecca	Saudi Arabia	37.75	Pakistan