Every seventh U.S. resident is a foreigner, according to the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS). Every year about 800,000 people are granted U.S. citizenship. In all, there are about 44.7 million immigrants living in the U.S., more than half of them naturalized. 21% of all immigrants moved to this country between 1990 and 1999, 30% before 1990, and 48% of migrants, or about 20 million people, moved to the U.S. between 2000 and 2018.
Getting permanent residency aka a green card is the first step to U.S. citizenship. A green card can be gained through four main ways: through a family relationship, employment sponsorship, humanitarian protection (refugees and asylum seekers), and the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery (also known as the Green Card Lottery).