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Issues in U.S. Immigration

Pakistani immigrants

by Daniella Kleskovic

Identification: Immigrants to the United States from Pakistan

Immigration Issues: Asian Immigrants; Demographics;

Significance: Immigrants from what is now Pakistan began arriving in the United States in the 18th century, but their numbers were limited by quotas and restrictions until the 1960s. Pakistanis place a high value on family and education, and many work in professional fields or as business owners, often with members of the same family working in a family business.

The country of Pakistan was created in 1947, so there are no recorded Pakistani immigrants to the U.S. before that date. However, prior to the official existence, Muslim immigrants from the area including Pakistan did move to the United States, beginning in the 18th century. Most of these early immigrants settled in Washington, Oregon and California, and found work within the agriculture, mining and logging sectors.

Pakistan Immigration Development

The highest number of Pakistan immigrants was recorded in 1965, due to the fact that in that year the U.S. removed previously existed procedures and quotas that limited the number of individuals from Pakistan who could enter. It is important to mention the fact that those who came prior to ‘65 were very often compared to Indians due to their well-educated and professional history. Moreover, most of them were familiar with the culture they were joining and new certain norms. However, as a result of larger quotas and easier procedure to get citizenship, newcomers didn't have the same qualifications as the ones before. The new wave brought less educated individuals who didn't adapt as well as the previous ones.

Not a lot of research has been conducted concerning the Pakistani immigrants' specific assimilation process. There are usually connected with larger Asian Indian ethnical and social communities.

Family Relationships Among Pakistani Immigrants

Families for Pakistani immigrants are considered to be an important element of life. They are very often patriarchal as well as tightly knit. Looking back at the first wave of immigrants, typically only males had the opportunity to educate themselves beyond a certain level, and men were given the primary responsibility with providing their families with the necessities of life. Nuclear families are the most common type of household arrangement, even though the extended relatives visit frequently and keep the relationship going throughout the year. Very often Pakistani immigrants are visited by their family traveling from Pakistan. Most of the leisure activities in a household are connected with families, and choosing the area in which to live, many gravitate to areas where other families live, so they can visit each other frequently.

Pakistani immigrants place great emphasis in keeping their culture and traditions alive. Their priority is to transfer the same beliefs and values to their children and in order to do so, they start teaching them about the history of their country and society from an early age. Very often children attend specially designed classed on weekends just to learn about Pakistan history and their identities. Most of the time given classes contain language lessons as well as religious ones. Muslims tend to live their life according to their religion which incorporates core values; therefore, for Pakistan immigrants it is essential that their children know about it from the start.

Today, in the Pakistani immigrant community, both male and female children are encouraged to focus on their education in their early years. Even though both sexes are encouraged to go to school, however, higher attention is put on the education of male children since it is considered that they will be the one supporting their family one day.

Religion Among Pakistani Immigrants

The majority of Pakistan immigrants continue to practice the Muslim religion, including praying five times per day, with the prayers are performed facing Mecca, which is classified as a holy city. Religion plays an important part in the lives of Pakistani immigrants, with any cultural norms and values based on Islam. Families tend to go to mosque at least once per week, most often on Fridays, but if for some reason they are not able to, they choose Sunday as a possible alternative. Besides their secular education, children often attend afternoon classes where they would learn about their country of origin and their religion, and many also attend summer camps focused on teaching them about their religion and culture.

Several customs are observed within mosques. For both genders, the entire body, including the arms and legs, must be covered. It is customary to cover the head also, but this is not mandatory. Men and women are seated in different rooms during the prayers unless this is precluded by lack of space, in which case they will sit in separate groups.

Most of the Pakistani immigrants that are not capable of going to mosque once per week will make a special journey to visit a mosque on religious occasions and holidays. Newcomers are welcome at mosques and there is no problem with different Muslim groups sharing a mosque, because during the prayers there is no noticeable difference among different groups.

Pakistani immigrants take an important part in the overall Islamic society and community in the States. Their main goal, together with African Americans and Arab immigrants who practice Islam, is to educate the rest of the society about the Islam and lessons their prophet Mohammed transferred to them.

Employment of Pakistani immigrants

The current profile and the situation of the Pakistani immigrants is quite different today than it was when the first immigrants arrived. The first wave of migration wave to the U.S. included mostly low skilled and uneducated individuals who worked mostly manual jobs. However, the second wave, which began after 1965, brought more educated, male Pakistani immigrants who had enough professional skills to get jobs in more well paid sectors, such as law and medicine. In addition, many Pakistani immigrants found their place within the academia sector, and many continued their education in the U.S. in order to develop themselves as individuals and to improve their opportunities for better employment in the future.

Even the more recent Pakistani immigrants have had to deal with certain problems in terms of assimilation and settling into the culture. For once, some were considered as professionals in Pakistan, but their qualifications were not accepted in the U.S.

This meant that some former professionals had to accept lower level jobs in order to be employed, in some cases also studying and working in order to qualify to practice their chosen profession in the U.S. For instance, foreign medical graduates are not generally allowed to practice medicine without undergoing additional training in the U.S., as well as passing additional exams.

Most of Pakistani immigrants are members of the middle class and are economically stable. However, the Pakistani immigrant community also includes low skilled individuals who do manual labor or other low paying work, and may live below the poverty line. These individuals usually live in large cities where low skilled work is available.

Many Pakistani immigrants work as entrepreneurs, running their own businesses such as grocery stores, clothing stores, restaurants, and news stands. Since family is important for Pakistani immigrants, it is not surprising that many members of the same family may work in the family business.

It has been recognized that the many groups of immigrants tend to assimilate to the American lifestyle. Pakistani immigrants are no exception, and many move to suburbs as soon as their income increases, in order to follow up with the rest of the community. Owning one's own home is a high priority in the Pakistani community as well, and many direct most of their savings to this effort. Pakistanis tend to rely on their extended family network and their community if they fall into economic difficulties, rather than seeking help from a government agency, so few Pakistani immigrants rely on public assistance or welfare.

Political situation concerning Pakistani immigrants

At the beginning of the 20th century, various Muslim immigrant took a major part in the public battle for citizenship and residence in the States. After the second wave of immigration that began in 1965, which included more educated immigrants, somewhat surprisingly there was no increase in political participation. However, today Pakistani immigrants are more than involved in the entire political process in the States, offering financial support to the candidates of their choice, and sometimes running for political office. In addition, given immigrants pay close attention to the political situation in their originated country, and there are established agencies that collect funds that can be transferred to those in need within Pakistan. Many Pakistani immigrants feel connected with their country of origin, and follow political matters in Pakistan as well as in the U.S.

Citation Types

Type

Format

MLA 9th

Kleskovic, Daniella. "Pakistani Immigrants." Issues in U.S. Immigration, edited by Carl L. Bankston III, Salem Press, 2015. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=IUSI_0174.

APA 7th

Kleskovic, D. (2015). Pakistani immigrants. In C. Bankston III (Ed.), Issues in U.S. Immigration. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.

CMOS 17th

Kleskovic, Daniella. "Pakistani Immigrants." Edited by Carl L. Bankston III. Issues in U.S. Immigration. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2015. Accessed September 15, 2025. online.salempress.com.

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