Who Arrives First? The Timing of Arrival among Immigrants in the Same Household

Hiromi Ishizawa, University of Minnesota
Gillian Stevens, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This paper focuses on differences in the timing of arrival among immigrants in the same household because earlier arriving immigrants may be able to accelerate the adaptation of later arrivals through the sharing of knowledge or scouting out of opportunities. Although U.S. immigration policy encourages family members, especially spouses, to immigrate together, it also allows closely related immigrants to enter the country at separate times. Using U.S. 2000 census data, we describe patterns of timing of arrivals among immigrants in the same household. Results show that over a third of husbands and wives arrive in different years and that the sequence is gendered, with men more often arriving before the women. These patterns differ by country of origin, and years of separation differ by family composition.