A great deal of attention has recently been focused on America’s undocumented immigrants, a population estimated at around 10 million people (Passel, Capps, and Fix 2004). Much less attention has been paid (in both scholarly and academic circles) to legal immigrants, although in 2010 (the most recent year for which complete data are available), the Department of Homeland Security granted 1,042,625 permanent resident visas. Indeed, since 1994 when the government began to publish the Annual Flow Report, we have granted between 700,000 to around 1,300,000 new legal immigrant visas annually. Legal immigration into the US involves a process of varying length. That is to say, the elapsed time between applying for a permanent resident’s visa and being granted that visa can range from as little as a few months to as long as several years. It is known that the type of visa being applied for (the various types are explained later) accounts for some of the variation in processing length, and also that lost paperwork is a significant factor (Jasso 2011). This study found no evidence of discrimination in regards to the race, skin color, and religion of the survey respondents in terms of the time it took to get their visas processed. The average wait time for visa processing was about 5 years; Mexicans and Filipinos waited longer than immigrants from other countries. For various reasons discussed in the text, our current immigration system has created a twotiered family-based immigrant visa system. That is, the system gives heavy preference to family members of persons who are already legal immigrants. The preferential status of so-called family reunification visas has been a point of controversy in immigration advocacy circles and that controversy is also reviewed.

戶口普查的主旨在於瞭解一個國家或地區的人口及其相關特性，國家的政策制訂及人力規劃需仰賴正確的調查結果。但隨著社會變遷等諸多因素，即使增加費用也無法提高普查的完訪率，資料的品質也因民眾配合意願而降低。為提高資料品質與降低調查成本等因素，部份國家積極發展新的普查方法，預計在2010年普查正式實施，取代傳統的戶口普查。 本研究整理新的普查方法，包括登記式普查、登記式普查結合抽樣調查、滾動式普查等方法。其中也包括行政院計畫預計在2010年以登記式普查結合抽樣調查取代傳統的戶口普查，效法新加坡、北歐四國與荷蘭，整合公務登記系統取得普查短表資料，抽樣調查代替國外長表問卷，希冀獲得較為詳細的教育、生育、居家老人照護等社經議題之統計資料。除了整理資料外，本文也將討論2010年台灣的戶口普查，以常住人口為調查目標，可能衍生的問題。 另外，本研究也將整理美國與法國即將採用的調查方法，包括美國社區調查（American Community Survey）的設計與抽樣方法，用於普查以取代長表問卷的可能，並研究抽樣調查蒐集人口的限制，比較普查及調查蒐集資料的優缺點。 / The objective of the population and housing census is to collect the demographic information on the population in a nation or an area which will be used as a reference for government planning and policy making. Because of the dramatic change in the social environment, some problems were generated as a result, such as the increase in survey cost, non-response rate, and data demand. Although many countries are still using the Traditional Census method for the 2010 census, some are active in developing new methods to improve the quality of data collected and to decrease the survey cost. Following the examples of Singapore, Netherland, and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden), the method for conducting the 2010 Taiwan Census will be different, changing from the traditional census to registered-based census with sampling survey. This method will integrate the official registry system to acquire the basic demographic characteristics, and collect more detailed information on the social and economic topics, including the aspects of education, fertility, and elder care by using sampling methods. Consequently, this research will be separated into two parts. The first part will introduce and analyze several common census methods used, including the Traditional Census method, Registered-Based Census, Registered-Based Census with Sampling Survey, and the Rolling Census. In addition, the target population of 2010 Taiwan Census is De Jure population and we shall also discuss its potential problems. In the second part, the research will further examine the survey methods that will be used for the U.S. and French census, including the design concept and the sampling method executed by the American Community Survey (ACS) to replace the long-form questionnaire for the 2010 U.S. Census. Finally, we will discuss the restrictions of using sampling to collect data, compare the strengths and weaknesses of census and the different sampling methods, as well as analyze the problems related to the registered population and the permanent residents.

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