In sociology, people who permanently resettle to a new country are considered immigrants, regardless of the legal status of their citizenship or residency.
First-generation immigrants are the first foreign-born family members to gain citizenship or permanent residency in the country.
[2] People beyond the first generation are not "immigrants" in the strictest sense of the word and, depending on local laws, may have received citizenship from birth.
[10] 1.5G individuals are often bilingual and may find it easier to assimilate into local culture and society than people who immigrate as adults.
[citation needed] Because 1.5 generation individuals immigrate during their adolescence at a time of identity formation, this may contribute to their curiosity about other groups that are different from their own.
However, the ease of acculturation is dependent on age; the older an individual is when they immigrated to the United States, the harder it will be for them to assimilate into American society.
[12] As such, even if a Generation 1.5 individual wanted to fully assimilate into American society—which might result in a greater earning potential—their age would make the process difficult.
For every generation, the factor of mixed-generation marriages further convolutes the issue, as a person may have immigrants at several different levels of his or her ancestry.
When demographers and other social scientists in the United States use the term "second generation", they usually refer to people with one foreign-born parent.