I: Introduction -- II: The Foreign-Born and Immigration -- III: General Methods of Population Estimation -- IV: Estimating the Foreign-Born Using Residual Methods -- V: Estimating the Foreign-Born using Administrative Records -- VI: Estimating the Foreign-Born Using Specialized Survey and Related Statistical Methods -- VII: An Evaluation of Data and Methods for Estimating the Foreign-Born -- Suggestions -- Endnotes.-.

This brief represents a comprehensive review of methods for estimating characteristics of the foreign-born population in the United States, specifically oriented toward characteristics by legal status.  A variety of methods have been proffered over the past many decades, in a large variety of venues; this work brings them together, attempts to impart some order on the definition of “legal status,” and describes strengths and deficiencies both in methods and in data.  The authors have a combined 50 years of experience in both demographic and statistical methodology.