More Ethiopians than Kenyans are granted US permanent residency status every year, latest data has shown. At the same time, more Ethiopians than Kenyans gain naturalized US citizenship.

Data from the Migration Policy Institute shows that between 2004 and 2022, Ethiopia has had a higher annual number of new legal permanent residents in the United States than Kenya.

In most fiscal years, the number of Ethiopia nationals who are granted permanent residency status by the US government has been double or more in comparison to Kenya.

In the fiscal year 2005, 10,571 Ethiopian nationals gained US permanent residency status compared to 5,347 Kenyan nationals. In the 2006 fiscal year, these numbers stood at 16, 152 and 8,779 respectively. In the year 2010, the numbers were at 14,266 and 7,421 respectively.

In 2021 and 2022, the variations narrowed down with 3,706 Ethiopian nationals becoming permanent residents in the US in contrast to 3,088 Kenyan nationals in 2021, and 5,720 Ethiopian nationals in 2022 and 5,014 in 2022.

Time, requirements needed to become naturalized US citizen after Green Card

Although the DV Lottery Green Card system is the most common avenue that most people use to gain permanent residency in the United States, there are multiple other ways through which an individual can gain PR status in the US, including through family and employer sponsorships.

The variations in the numbers also reflected in the number of people who acquire US citizenship through naturalization. In 2022 for instance, data from the Migration Policy Institute shows that 6,090 Kenyan nationals who held US PR status became US citizens via naturalization.

In the same year, the number for Ethiopian nationals stood at 10,858. In 2021, these numbers stood at 7,038 for Ethiopian nationals and 4,715 for Kenyan nationals. In 2009, the variations were huge with 8,698 Ethiopian nationals becoming naturalized US citizens in comparison to 2,546 Kenyan nationals.

In 2008, these numbers stood at 7,160 for the Ethiopians and 2,218 for Kenyan nationals in the United States.

The variations in the numbers can be partially explained by the populations in the two countries, the number of applications, and the number of allotted visas.

For instance, whereas Kenya has a population of around 56.2 million people, Ethiopia has a population of 132 million people, which is more than double the population in Kenya.