/*SHORT TITLE: Overview: Legal Immigrant Public Use File FY 2001 */ Overview: Legal Immigrant Public Use File FY 2001 This public use file provides data on legal immigrants, that is, aliens who were granted lawful permanent residence in the United States during FY 2001. Included as legal immigrants are 1) aliens previously living abroad who obtained immigrant visas through the U.S. Department of State allowing them to enter the United States and 2) aliens who were already living in the United States and adjusted their immigrant status through the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The data measure the "flow" of legal immigrants during a fiscal year. The Census Bureau is the primary source of information on the foreign-born population at one point in time. The Census Bureau distinguishes U.S. citizens from noncitizens but not legal from illegal immigrants. Data for legal immigrant public use files are obtained from administrative records of INS. Most of the information in these records is self-reported by aliens and entered into an automated application case processing system at INS service centers. While efforts have been made to ensure that the data are complete and accurate, there may be some inconsistencies and missing information. Note that in recent years, including FY 2001, a substantial proportion of records are missing values for: nonimmigrant class of admission, nonimmigrant year of entry, and occupation. For more information, see the Legal Immigrant section in the FY 2001 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (www.immigration.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ybpage.htm) Comparison between the FY 2001 and Prior Legal Immigrant Public Use Files: The fields included in the FY 2001 public use file are identical to those in the FY 2000 and FY 1999 public use files. However, note that the layout for the FY 2001 public use file is different. In addition, the record length for the FY 2001 public use file is 82 compared to 81 for the FY 2000 and FY 1999 public use files. One character was added to the nonimmigrant class of admission field beginning in FY 2001 to be able to distinguish H1A registered nurses in health professional shortage areas from H1B temporary workers in specialty occupations and H2A temporary workers performing agricultural services unavailable in the U.S. from H2B temporary skilled and unskilled workers performing services or labor unavailable in the U.S. In public use files for prior years, S8 was used to identify registered nurses, leaving the H1 category for H1B temporary workers in specialty occupations. Similarly, S9 was used in previous years to identify temporary workers in agriculture, leaving the H2 category for H2B temporary skilled and unskilled workers performing services or labor unavailable in the U.S.