immigration

American  

[im-i-grey-shuhn] / ˌɪm ɪˈgreɪ ʃən /

noun

• immigrations
  plural

1. the act of immigrating.

2. a group or number of immigrants.

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immigration British  

/ ˌɪmɪˈɡreɪʃən /

noun

1. the movement of non-native people into a country in order to settle there

2. the part of a port, airport, etc where government employees examine the passports, visas, etc of foreign nationals entering the country

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonimmigration
  noun
• preimmigration
  noun
• anti-immigration
  adjective
• immigrational
  adjective
• immigratory
  adjective
• proimmigration
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• immigrations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of immigration

First recorded in 1650–60; im- ¹ + migration

Explanation

Immigration is the process of moving to a new country to stay. New York's Ellis Island was considered a gateway for European immigration to the United States during the early 1900's. Nowadays, people immigrate through airports instead of islands. The word migration is in immigration, which is something we think of birds doing when they fly South for the winter. It's not an accident — if American birds had little passports, they'd have to go through immigration when they got to Mexico. When humans immigrate, they have to follow the rules of the new country or else they risk getting in trouble. Immigration is the act of going to a new country, while emigration refers to the process of leaving one.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

immigration immigrations

Airlines are pushing back against federal authorities intensifying immigration enforcement at U.S. airports.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Spain says it has returned to neighbouring Morocco 70,000 of the 72,000 migrants who entered Ceuta from July 30 in scenes that infuriated EU partners seeking a harder line on irregular immigration.

From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026

Equally significant, the bill offers a viable blueprint for immigration reform—one that may be achievable after the midterm elections.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

OpenAI is settling claims by the Justice Department that it discriminated against U.S. workers when advertising jobs through its immigration sponsorship program.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Most important, never open the door for any immigration enforcement officer unless you are presented with a warrant that the officer has slipped under your door.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

The move comes as local governments move to help immigrations caught up in the raids.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2025

Beck-Mewing said rents were rebounding after many property owners dropped rents during COVID, and will likely to continue to increase in 2023 due to increased rental demand after immigrations allowances were raised by almost one-third.

From Reuters ● Dec. 19, 2022

Mattoo said at the time that immigrations officials gave her no reason but told her she would not be able to travel internationally.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2022

Once the immigrations officers left, the crowd began to disperse.

From BBC ● May 5, 2022

This characteristic of the section as "a good mixer" became fixed before the large immigrations of the eighties.

From The Frontier in American History by Turner, Frederick Jackson

Related Words

• exodus
• migration
• travel