by KYW's Karin Phillips
Who is coming to the Delaware Valley from abroad, and why?
Census figures say there are more than 600,000 foreign-born people living in the Greater Philadelphia region, with recent figures showing that immigrants are coming from India, Mexico, China, Korea, Vietnam, Germany, Italy, the Ukraine, the Philippines and Liberia.
We're about in the middle when it comes to claiming the numbers of people coming to the United States.
But Amanda Bergson-Shilcock (right), director of intake and operations at the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians, says Philadelphia does have its own attractions:
"We have more than 90 colleges and universities. We get a lot of folks who come here as international students."
Bergson-Shilcock says immigrants are greatly needed in this region, one of the oldest in the country:
"Folks are retiring out of the workforce and we need new folks to come in and replace them. The second is, as folks become older and they, what's called 'age in place,' older folks who are staying in their own homes, they need health care services."
On July 2nd of this year, 3,000 people from 46 countries took the oath of citizenship at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. One of them was Chetan Rajan, who came from India to Philadelphia ten years ago:
"This is the legalest way to go, and it does give you great benefit. And it's a great nation to be a citizen of."
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