The word immigrant has many different meanings, which may be theoretical, administrative, or statistical. In the theoretical sense, an immigrant is a person who has been born in a particular country but has parents of foreign origin. He or she may also be an individual who crosses the border of a particular country and enters with the intention of remaining there. This means that the person has traveled to become a part of the population by means other than by birth. People cannot be termed as immigrant to United States of America more than once. Implication of any statistics depends mainly on interpretation of the unit in which the statistics are expressed.
The statistical and administrative meaning of immigrant has not been fixed by the statute law, but is derived by definitions and meanings put forth by Bureau of Immigration. These meanings and definitions may also depend and vary with the law and administrative decisions.
Official statistics of immigration are subject to certain qualifications, which reflect imperfectly on the total immigration. Various agencies provide statistical information about immigration. There are professional statistical organizations that review statistical methods adopted by such agencies, programs, data, products, and priorities. Most organizations include guidance and suggestions given by statistical agencies and data could be shared with other users.
Immigrants in the statistical meaning is termed for a person who is liable to pay head tax. Immigration statistics is indicated in figures and these figures indicate net increase in population due to immigration. This data is true for an increase projected in the last eight years. Figures quoted have been slightly more than two-thirds of the calculated immigration. These figures increase by an estimated amount if people arrive by land.
The estimated number of immigrants is approximately 3,750,000, instead of 4,820,000 since 1898-1905. This information has been derived from the Bureau of Immigration.