Tibetan American - Immigration Timeline

Immigration Timeline

• 1948 Telopa Rinpoche is hired by Johns Hopkins University to teach Tibetan Buddhism.

• 1952 14th Dalai Lama's elder brother, Taktser Rinpoche and his friend Dhondup Gyaltsen immigrate to the United States.

• 1955 Geshe Ngawang Wangyal arrives in the U.S. He serves as religious leader and spiritual teacher of a Kalmyk Mongolian community in New Jersey and teaches at Columbia University.

• 1957–71 Tibetan guerrilla fighters are trained by the CIA and launch numerous incursions into Tibet.

• 1958 The first Tibetan Buddhist monastery in North America, Labsum Shedrup Ling, is established in New Jersey under the spiritual guidance of Geshe Wangyal.

• 1960 The Rockefeller Foundation establishes eight centers for Tibetan studies in the U.S., which invite 17 Tibetan lamas.

• 1964 Six Tibetans, four from India and two from the U.S., enroll in a year-long special intensive program at Cornell University to study public administration and economics.

• 1967–69 Six Tibetans immigrate to the U.S. to work as lumberjacks for the Great Northern Paper Company in Portage Lake, Maine. The following year, 21 others joined them.

• 1971 The CIA cancels its covert operations supporting Tibetan guerillas following President Richard Nixon's trip to China and a new era of improved U.S.–Sino relations.

• 1985 There are 524 Tibetans living in the U.S.

• 1988 Tibet Fund begins administering yearly Fulbright Program scholarship grants to bring Tibetans students and professionals to the U.S. for higher education.

• 1989 The Tibetan United States Resettlement Project (TUSRP) is established to support the resettlement of 1,000 Tibetans. Edward Bednar is appointed director.

• April 1989 ICT president Tenzin Tethong, the Dalai Lama's Representative Rinchen Dharlo and Edward Bednar meet with pro-Tibet organizations, resettlement agencies, congressional staff, immigration law advisors, etc. to begin 18 months of advocacy for TUSRP.

• 1991 As part of Fulbright scholarships administered by Tibet Fund, Berea College in Berea, Kentucky enrolls the first batch of two students with two succeeding each following year to study in 4 year undergraduate programs. The program still continues with over 20 graduates, who have mostly resettled in America.

• 1992 The first group of the 1,000 Tibetans arrives in the U.S. under the TUSRP and settles in six cluster sites throughout the U.S.

• 1993 In little more than a year since the first group of Tibetans arrived in 1992, 21 cluster sites open in 18 different states across the United States.

• 1993–2002 Through family reunification, more Tibetans arrive to join the original 1,000. By 2002 there are approximately 8,650 Tibetans and 30 Tibetan community associations in the United States.