Indian citizens are far and away the top recipients of H-1B visas each year. As a result the Indian diaspora in the US is highly-skilled. The US Census Bureau estimates that 75% percent of all ethnic Indians working in the US hold at least a bachelor’s degree, and 69% percent work in management and professional occupations.

US, UK and Canadian census data from 2010 estimates that the Indian Diaspora grew to three million in the US, 1.5 million in the UK, and one million in Canada – a twentyfold increase in half a century. Today, Indians are the fourth largest immigrant group in the United States after the Mexicans, Filipinos, and Chinese.

Also, since the 1990s, Australia and New Zealand have become important destination countries for Indians. Both countries look to attract English-speaking, highly-qualified professionals, often to supply their IT industries. The Indian diaspora in Australia numbers more than 400,000, almost two percent of Australia’s total population.

1.3.3. The Gulf Diaspora: The Persian Gulf Countries

The most recent development of the Indian Diaspora is the “Gulf Diaspora”. The 1970s oil boom in the West Asia/Middle East ended up triggering significant migration from India to the Persian Gulf. An increasing number of semi-skilled and unskilled workers, primarily from South India, have worked in the gulf countries on temporary schemes in the oil industry and in services and construction.

With modern air transportation, this was on a contractual basis rather than the permanent basis that was the case in the 19th century. More than 8 million Indians reside in Gulf today; an estimated 70% of them are blue collar workers. These workers are responsible for running oilfields, businesses, transport and household work.