Asian American has the fastest growth rate among all ethnic groups.
Asians recently passed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States.
According to ASC 2013, both China and India sent more immigrants to the U.S. than Mexico
http://www.wsj.com/articles/immigrants-to-u-s-from-china-top-those-from-mexico-1430699284?alg=y
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The Hart-Celler Act abolished the national origins quota system that was American immigration policy since the 1920s, replacing it with a preference system that focused on immigrants' skills and family relationships with citizens or U.S. residents. Numerical restrictions on visas were set at 170,000 per year, with a per-country-of-origin quota, not including immediate relatives of U.S. citizens or "special immigrants" (including those born in "independent" nations in the Western Hemisphere, former citizens, ministers, and employees of the U.S. government abroad).[1]
The Immigration Act of 1924, also called the National Origins Act, provided that for three years the formula would change from 3% to 2% and the basis for the calculation would be the census of 1890 instead of that of 1910. After June 30, 1927, total immigration from all countries will be limited to 150,000, with allocations by country based upon national origins of inhabitants according to the census of 1920. The quota system applied only to white immigrants. It aimed to reduce the overall number of unskilled immigrants, to allow families to re-unite, and to prevent immigration from changing the ethnic distribution of the population. The 1924 Act also included the Asian Exclusion Act, which limited immigration to persons eligible for naturalization. As a result, East Asians, Arabs, and Indians were effectively banned from immigrating. Africans were also subjected to severe restrictions.[1] Immigration from North and South America was not restricted.
The Asian immigrant profile is very different from that of Hispanics. While Hispanic immigrants tend to be blue collar works, Asian immigrants tend to be highly educated, white collar professionals employed.
A century ago, most Asian Americans were low-skilled, low-wage laborers crowded into ethnic enclaves and targets of official discrimination. Today they are “model minority” with the highest education and income levels.
The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act created two visa categories, focusing on family reunification and works in specialty occupations such as STEM.
Recent Asian immigrants are also about three times as likely as recent immigrants from other parts of the world to receive their green cards—or permanent resident status—on the basis of employer rather than family sponsorship (though family reunification remains the most common legal gateway to the U.S. for Asian immigrants, as it is for all immigrants).
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H). It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. such as in architecture, engineering, mathematics, science, and medicine.
When the H-1B category was enacted in 1990, Congress set a maximum of 65,000 aliens who could be issued H-1B visas or otherwise provided H-1B status during each fiscal year. This limitation, commonly referred to as the “H-1B cap,” does not apply to H-1B petitions filed on behalf of certain aliens who have previously been counted against the cap. Thus, generally, a petition to extend an H-1B nonimmigrant’s period of stay, change the conditions of the H-1B nonimmigrant’s current employment, or request new H-1B employment for an H-1B worker already in the United States will not count against the H-1B fiscal year cap. An approved petition for initial employment is also exempt from the cap if the petitioner is an institution of higher education or nonprofit entity affiliated with or related to an institution of higher education, or if the petitioner is a nonprofit research organization or governmental research organization.
Highlights of the 2014 H1-B report:
The number of H-1B petitions filed increased 6 percent from 299,467 in FY 2013 to 318,824 in FY 2014.
The number of H-1B petitions approved increased 10 percent from 286,773 in FY 2013 to 315,857 in FY 2014.1
Seventy-two percent of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2014 were for workers between the ages of 25 and 34.
Forty-five percent of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2014 were for workers with a bachelor’s degree, 43 percent had a master’s degree, 8 percent had a doctorate, and
4 percent were for workers with a professional degree.
Sixty-five percent of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2014 were for workers in computer-related occupations.
The median salary of beneficiaries of approved petitions increased from $72,000 for FY 2013 to $75,000 for FY 2014.
EB-5 is the preferred visa category for those who want to immigrate to the US and who can afford it because it takes only one year to get your green card compared to almost 10 years waiting in line for H1-B visa holders. Indian and Chinese citizens need to wait for almost 10 years for their green card application to be processed and approved.
Asian Americans trace their roots to any of dozens of countries in the Far East, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Each country of origin subgroup has its own unique history, culture, language, religious beliefs, economic and demographic traits, social and political values, and pathways into America.
Highest education attainment – many Asian immigrants came to the US already with a bachelor or graduate degree or they came to the US to pursue higher education. Also, Asian Americans highly value education and Asian parents have high expectations for their children’s academic performance.
Highest median household income – due to high education level and also larger household size, multiple generations living under the same roof, Asians also tend to concentrate on the coasts, with higher living expenses.
Many Asian immigrants moved to the US for better quality of life, not necessarily for financial improvement
Asian Americans place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood.
More than half (54%) say that having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in life; just 34% of all American adults agree. Two-thirds of Asian-American adults (67%) say that being a good parent is one of the most important things in life; just 50% of all adults agree.
Their living arrangements align with these values. They are more likely than all American adults to be married (59% vs. 51%); and their children are more likely than all U.S. children to be raised in a household with two married parents (80% vs. 63%).
Confucianism
Saving face
Self-control
Interpersonal harmony
Respect for elders
Value of education
Family roles as highly structured, hierarchical, male-dominated
Humility/modesty
Avoidance of family shame
Aversion toward direct confrontation
Knowing your place: respect authority
Moral ideals, not a deity or an afterlife
Asians have often been grouped under the rubric of “model minority,” meaning they make few political demands and keep their head down.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/affirmative-action-a-complicated-issue-for-asian-americans.html?_r=0
The World Giving Index covers
Helping a stranger
Volunteering time
Donating money
In 2010, 1) Bill Gates and Warren Buffett took their much anticipated trip to China to encourage philanthropy among China’s super rich, and 2) Many of these Chinese super rich turned down their invitations to meet with Gates & Buffett, because of their unwillingness to give away part of their wealth and participate in philanthropy. Gates later said 2/3 of the invitees attended the event.
No Religious Precedent: While religion is not the only factor to birth philanthropy, it is an effective driver of the philanthropic mindset. The most famous philanthropists in history, and indeed the forefathers of the modern (post Industrial Revolution) philanthropic model such as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and John D Rockefeller were rooted in their spiritual motivations. These pioneering philanthropists ascribed to the American philanthropic spirit, a cultural legacy from America’s forefathers: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington, Christians in the Age of Enlightenment.
China, a State that for many generations has had as its official religion Atheism, continues to be widely criticized for its lack of religious freedom. As a result of its policies, China has bred a general population that today is mainly faithless. The spiritual motivations and drivers that helped give rise to philanthropy in other nations are not present in China.
No Cultural Precedent: Even with all of China’s recent industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, China is still in an agrarian popular culture. More than half of China’s population continues to live in villages based on an agrarian economy. The other half of China’s population is mostly one generation removed from the same agrarian reality. Agricultural society is based on harvest and storage. Hoarding is a very strong cultural imprint that has lasted for many millennia. Even now with economic development, the hoarding culture — which is engrained in familial norms and passed-down by generational lessons — endures even beyond the first and second ‘moneyed’ generations. China will need at least one or two more generations of continued economic development and consistent education of its lower classes before the hoarding imprint can begin fading. Having a hoarding culture is a direct limitation to any rise of philanthropy in China.
No Historical Precedent: China’s history is based, in one perspective, on familial wealth & power via heirlooms, bequeathments and hereditary titles. China comes from an Imperial, agrarian society, where power and social status is based on familial wealth. Modern Chinese society continues to have many aspects that still emphasizes family wealth. We see this today in the continued inadequacy of China’s social welfare system, where Chinese parents still need to save all their wealth in order to pay for the education, and buy real estate for later generations. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have not been explicitly religious in their motivations for philanthropy. But they have had historical precedent from such past American philanthropists as Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Ford. China does not have philanthropic heroes in its own history.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/china/2010/10/04/turning-down-gates-buffett-philanthropy-in-china-requires-for-profit-social-enterprises/
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2014/04/30/rise-of-social-media-transforms-philanthropy-in-china/
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/24/145521090/for-chinas-left-behind-kids-a-free-lunch
In 2011, renowned investigative journalist Deng Fei went on a reporting trip to Guizhou province, a remote area in southwestern China, where he visited rural schools and spoke with students and teachers. He came away shocked that many schools did not provide lunch, and that most students came from homes too poor to afford breakfast.
The trip inspired him to launch an online campaign asking followers of his microblog on Sina Weibo to make small donations to provide free lunches for rural schoolchildren. Within the first eight months, he had raised nearly $4 million from some 900,000 individual donors.
Economic development in China over the past two decades have created many millionaires and a growing middle class. However, With the onset of reforms, the dismantling of state welfare safety nets, and the rise of new social challenges, the need for citizen action has increased dramatically. Around this time, China was also witnessing a rise in social media and increased public discussion on social issues, particularly around the plight of average citizens. According to the China Internet Network Information Center, between 2008 and 2013, the number of social media users more than doubled from 298 million users to over 617 million (nearly twice the U.S. population). Through sites such as Sina Weibo (a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook), which Deng Fei launched his campaign on, and Tencent’s Wechat (a mobile messaging app), stories on everything from factory pollution to the plight of “left-behind” children trickled into the mainstream.
The rapid rise of social media and the advent of online giving have empowered new donors and grantees alike. By being able to donate online easily while gaming, shopping, or socializing, ordinary citizens are able to respond instantly to issues they care about through sites such as Tencent Online Donation Platform, Sina Micro-Philanthropy Platform, and Alipay E-Philanthropy Platform. Donations are often no more than a few dollars, but these can quickly add up. According to the China Online Donations Report, total online donations through third-party social network donation platforms surpassed $83 million in 2013.
While these indications are promising, the long-term sustainability of online giving remains untested since the government does not currently regulate donations given through social media platforms. In addition, though online platforms can increase transparency by giving prospective donors greater access to information, they do not provide sufficient oversight over donations so face difficulty in ensuring accountability.
Yet despite these potential pitfalls, social media platforms have already shown potential to become game changers for China’s nonprofit sector by encouraging average citizens to participate in philanthropy, and by providing these prospective donors with greater choice, information, and access.
This was highlighted during the Lushan Earthquake in April 2013, when many donors turned to online platforms for their giving. Through online donation sites, more than $48 million was raised in just 10 days, of which close to $12.8 million came from individual donations, according to the China Online Donations Report. With government restrictions recently eased, donors could now choose from different foundations, including non-state-backed organizations. Given greater choices, individual donors – particularly those using online giving – tended to favor groups with more autonomy and transparency. Jet Li’s One Foundation, known for its high standards and openness, received more than $49 million in relief donations, surpassing the combined donations to the China Red Cross and the China Charity Federation. It marked the first time a privately operated charity received more donations than government-backed organizations during a major disaster.
Key observations:
The power of social media
The importance of personal connections
No intermediary, donations are deposited directly in the victim’s parents’ bank account
In spite of availability of online payment methods, people prefer in-person and cash donations, perhaps due to concern for fraud