Who Publishes, and Who Doesn't
Transparency is what makes this research possible: Americans abroad can only be counted where governments publish data about them. This page grades that transparency. The Data Visibility Index (DVI) scores every country 0–5 on how completely its official statistics cover resident Americans, across five kinds of publication. The score measures how transparent a government is, not how many Americans live there. A low score doesn't mean a small population; it means no one can know from published sources alone. Scores are published and open to challenge.
Every country is graded on one question: how much does its government publish about the Americans living there? A 0 means nothing at all; a 5 means rich annual statistics. The grade says nothing about how many Americans are there, only how visible they are in official data. A country can host a huge American community and score 0 because no one can know from published sources.
Every metric is defined in plain language on the Definitions page; how scores are set is on the Methodology page.
Tier 1: Strong
Annual time series across most domains20 countriesTier 2: Solid
Resident counts and arrivals solid, one or two gaps21 countriesTier 3: Partial
Estimates only, or aggregated proxies30 countriesTier 4: Sparse
Very limited: a single domain22 countriesTier 5: Absent
No US-disaggregated publication at all6 countriesTransparency can improve: when a government starts publishing, or a reader points us to a dataset we missed, the score moves with the record. If a score looks wrong, the Methodology page explains how scores are set, and every score is open to challenge.
Where publication stops, asking sometimes works. Every formal information request this project has filed, including refusals and pending requests. Released data appears on country pages as badged records-request material; it never changes a score above.
| Country | Institution | Legal basis | Filed | Answered | Days | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05 | — | Released: visas issued to US citizens, 2015–2026 |
| Argentina | National Directorate of Migration (DNM) | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05-28 | 27 days | Released: residence grants to US citizens, 2004–2026 |
| Costa Rica | General Directorate of Migration and Foreign Affairs (DGME) | Constitutional Right of Access to Public Information (Articles 27 and 30 of the Constitution) | 2026-05-21 | 2026-05-25 | 4 days | Released: residence approvals and valid residence documents of US citizens |
| Costa Rica | Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) | Constitutional Right of Access to Public Information (Articles 27 and 30 of the Constitution) | 2026-05-21 | 2026-05-28 | 7 days | Released: naturalizations of US-origin persons and the electoral-roll profile |
| Dominican Republic | General Directorate of Migration (DGM) | General Law on Free Access to Public Information No. 200-04 | 2026-06-13 | 2026-06-18 | 5 days | Released: residence permits and status of US citizens, 2015–2026 |
| Guatemala | Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05-08 | 7 days | Released: register of US residents and residence applications |
| Guatemala | National Registry of Persons (RENAP) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05-13 | 12 days | Released: naturalized US-born persons and active registrations |
| Guatemala | National Statistics Institute (INE) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05-11 | 10 days | Released: US-born population by age and sex, Census 2018 |
| Mexico | Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) | General Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information | 2026-05-16 | 2026-06-12 | 27 days | Released: naturalization letters issued to US citizens, 2019–2025 |
| Panama | National Migration Service (SNM) | Law No. 6 of 2002 on Transparency in Public Administration and Access to Information | 2026-05-21 | — | — | Released: residence-permit statistics by nationality, 2022–June 2026 |
| Philippines | Bureau of Immigration (BI) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05-22 | — | Released: registrations of US nationals by visa type, 2015–2025 |
| Philippines | Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05-19 | — | Released: retiree visa (SRRV) enrollment of Americans, 2015–2025 |
| Dominican Republic | National Statistics Office (ONE) | General Law on Free Access to Public Information No. 200-04 | 2026-06-13 | 2026-06-16 | 3 days | Answered: data not yet available |
| Philippines | Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) | Freedom of Information Program (Executive Order No. 2, s. 2016) | — | 2026-05-20 | — | Answered: referred to published data, no table released |
| Guatemala | Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINEX) | Access to Public Information Law (Decree 57-2008) | 2026-05-01 | 2026-05-13 | 12 days | No data released: request refused |
| Argentina | National Registry of Persons (RENAPER) | Law No. 27,275 on the Right of Access to Public Information | 2026-05-01 | — | — | No response on file |
| Bahamas | Bahamas National Statistical Institute (BNSI) | Freedom of Information Act, 2017 | 2026-06-13 | — | — | No response on file |
| Bahamas | Department of Immigration | Freedom of Information Act, 2017 | 2026-06-13 | — | — | No response on file |
| Canada | Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Research and Data statistics team | 2026-05-25 | — | — | No response on file | |
| Kenya | Department of Immigration Services (DIS) | Access to Information Act, 2016 | 2026-05-26 | — | — | No response on file |
| Kenya | Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) | Access to Information Act, 2016 | 2026-05-26 | — | — | No response on file |
| Malaysia | Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) | — | — | — | No response on file | |
| Malaysia | Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) program | — | — | — | No response on file |
Every date and outcome is read from the request letter or the reply on file. A dash means the date is not in any document we hold.
The compiled dataset behind this dashboard is published under CC BY 4.0 — free to reuse with attribution. Cite it as: American Emigration Revue, “AER Data” (2026), americanemigration.com.
Every country file and the bulk export are listed on the open data index. Link to the dashboard or the relevant country page when citing; data and licensing questions: info@americanemigration.com.
The full series, every year, every country
The public view shows a limited year window for each series. Researchers and journalists can request access to the complete annual record for every country in the project.