Indians top the list of those seeking citizenship in wealthy OECD nations

Out of those Indians who moved to OECD countries, 133,000 were granted nationality, the highest among all countries

India maintained its top position as the country of origin of new immigrants to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in 2021. According to OECD's International Migration Outlook: 2023 report, released on Monday, 407,000 Indians moved to OECD nations in 2021. It was 86 per cent higher than 220,000 Indians in 2020.

China and Romania followed India, with 283,000 and 215,000 immigrants, respectively.

OECD is a group of 38 countries, most of which are high-income and ranked very high on the Human Development Index (HDI).

Out of those Indians who moved to OECD countries, 133,000 were granted nationality of these countries, the highest among all countries. These acquisitions took place mostly in the United States of America (56,000), Australia (24,000) and Canada (21,000).

In taking nationality, India was followed by Mexico and Syria.

The report added that Canada accounted for the highest number of immigrants in 2022, with a record 375,000 new citizens in 2022, up 174 per cent as compared to 2021. The main countries of birth of new Canadians were India (60,000), the Philippines (42,000), and Syria (20,000).

The second largest absolute increase was observed in the United States, which granted citizenship to 970,000 people in 2022, the highest level since 2008.

Furthermore, most international students in OECD countries come from Asia. In 2021, close to 60 per cent of international students in the OECD came from Asia, mostly from China and India. Compared to 2014, the share of international students from Asia has increased, while the share from Europe has decreased. This increase was particularly strong in the European OECD countries, where the share of Asian students increased from 30 per cent to 36 per cent.

The top countries of origin of international students in OECD countries are China (885,000), India (424,000) and Vietnam (133,000). Furthermore, the number of students from India has more than doubled as compared to 2014.

Here, too, Canada saw the highest inflow of international students from India. The other countries that were the top destinations of Indian students were Latvia, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the USA.