Determinants of Transnationalism among New Legal Immigrants in the United States

Saheli Datta, Syracuse University

Immigrants now live their lives across national borders, optimizing the benefits of and responding to the constraints of two or more states. This article analyzes the determinants of transnational engagement among adult immigrants newly admitted to legal permanent residence in the United States. Transnational activities are operationalized as ownership of property abroad and sponsorship of immigration of relatives to the United States. The logit and negative binomial analyses provide strong evidence that older, male immigrants are thus more likely than younger females to own property abroad or file a petition to sponsor immigration of a relative to the U.S. Proficiency in English and employment status are the other significant factors in explaining variance in transnational engagement among immigrants. No compelling evidence for the effect of level of education, ownership of property in the U.S., intent to live permanently in the U.S. or amount of savings on immigrant transnationalism was found.