Baljeet Singh, President of the Sikh Society of San Diego said the Sikh community's efforts have come to bear fruitful results.
" This has paved the way forward nationally not only for the Sikh community but also for other ethnicities in the United States," he said.
Describing it as a milestone, the United Sikhs said that this will be for the first time the minority will be taken into consideration, be counted and coded in the US Census in 10 years.
A delegation of the United Sikhs has held several meetings with the US Census lately with the last meet on January 6 in San Diego.
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US Census Deputy Director Ron Jarmin said, " It is clear that a separate code is needed to ensure an accurate count of Sikhs in the United States, recognising a unique identity."
"Working with United Sikhs, we understand how this change affects the national Sikh community, leading us to add this code for the 2020 Census," said Shagufta Ahmed with the Census Bureau and Office of Management Budget.
According to the United Sikhs, the current estimates of Sikhs living in the US are at 10 lakhs.
Sikhs meet the criteria for representation in the US Census as a distinct ethnic group and have a distinct unified appearance, culture, language, food and history.
The United Sikhs have advocated for the separate coding for more than two decades and filed commentary with the US Federal Register advocating for Sikhs to be added as an ethnic group, in large part, so that action can be taken to address major Sikh issues such as bullying, intimidation and hate crimes against the community.