Abstract

Immigrants who ultimately attain U.S. lawful permanent residence (LPR) enter with various initial legal statuses, which stratify their access to resources and have great implications for their economic integration. This study examines how initial legal status affects LPRs’ asset building by investigating three types of financial assets – bank account ownership, investment account ownership, and retirement account ownership. Results reveal that initial legal status stratifies immigrants’ subsequent asset building – those with more institutional resources perform better in accruing assets. Findings provide unique insights into immigrant asset building and highlight postmigration resources, especially institutional-level ones, as facilitators in the process.

摘要

最终获得美国合法永久居留权 (LPR) 的移民以不同的初始合法身份进入，这对他们获得资源的机会进行了分层，并对他们的经济一体化产生了重大影响。本研究通过调查三种金融资产——银行账户所有权、投资账户所有权和退休账户所有权，来检验初始法律地位如何影响 LPR 的资产建设。结果表明，最初的法律地位对移民随后的资产建设进行了分层——那些拥有更多机构资源的人在积累资产方面表现更好。调查结果为移民资产建设提供了独特的见解，并突出了移民后资源，尤其是机构层面的资源，作为这一过程的促进者。