16 (1980) estimated that approximately 1,140,000 foreign-born persons emigrated between 1960 and 1970, of whom 58 percent were women. Jasso and Rosenzweig (1982) concluded that the emigration rates varied substantially among countries, with relatively high emigration rates for North and South America and Eu-ope and relatively low emigration rates for most of Asia. Finally, Warren and Passel (1987) estimated the average emigration rate for legal immigrants from 40 source countries between 1965 and 1979 to be approximately 30 emigrants per 100 immigrants.

Emigration is partly offset by the number of foreigners receiving U.S. immigrant visas but not undertaking permanent residence in the United States. There are no reliable data on this latter group, but immigration officials agree that it is substantial, particularly in Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Thousands of legal immigrants from these areas maintain their residence in their home countries and visit the United States only often enough to retain their green cards. They may move to the United States at a later time if economic conditions or personal circumstances so dictate, but they should not be counted as immigrants to the United States at the time they obtain their permanent resident status.

In addition to foreign-born emigrants, there is a smaller number of U.S.-born emigrants, many of whom are retirees hoping to stretch their savings and retirement income by living in low-cost countries. The current best estimates of the extent of total emigration are those that are used by the United States Bureau of the Census. These are based on their own data sources (such as the Current Population Survey) and on an evaluation of the most recent information available in the literature. The current accepted estimate of the emigration flow is 160,000 persons annually, of whom 133,000 are foreign-born and 27,000 are native-born. In the absence of any better information, these estimates are reasonable for both the current situation and projections of emigration through the year 2000.

Net Legal Migration. For the period 1980-1985, the annual level of legal immigration to the United States averaged 570,912 (calculated by adding immigration from fiscal years 1981-1984 plus one-quarter of FY1980 plus threequarters of FY1985). The average annual level of legal immigration from 1985 to 1987 has been 598,101. It is likely that at least the level of legal immigration recorded in the last two years will continue through the year 2000. We might subtract about 5-10 thousand persons per year who attain immigrant status but do not actually take up residence in the United States (this figure is net of the number who attained immigrant status in previous years but only took up pefmanent residence in later years). This would leave an average annual level of gross immigration of about 565,000 for 1980-1985 and 590,000 from 1985 onwards. If the estimated emigration of 160,000 persons per year is assumed to be constant throughout the period, then net annual legal immigration would be 405,000 in 1980-1985 and 430,000 in 1985-2000. Although it could be argued that the figures for 1985-1990 should be augmented by at least 100,000 annually to take account of the SAW immigrants regularized under the amnesty law and the 1980-1985 figures should similarly be increased because many of the other 1.5 million persons given amnesty originally came to the United States in 1980-1982, we will not adjust the legal figures and will