Passports and Visas

UPDATED January 21, 2024

The city of Dallas and its surrounding metropolitan area is the most populous metropolis in the southern United States and fourth-most populous in the country.  The Dallas metropolitan area, known as the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, or DFW by locals, has a population of 7.7 million people.  DFW is expected to exceed 10 million residents within 15 years, which would make it America’s third largest city.  The Dallas and North Texas region is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country thanks to its low cost of living, low taxes, abundance of resources, and ease of doing business.  Dallas has become a popular place for corporate relocation from other parts of the country and is now home to 24 Fortune 500 companies.  It is also an attractive destination for foreign investment, including from China, which has over 30 of its companies with major operations in the Dallas area.  Chinese immigrants have been in Dallas since the 19^th century and there are now over 50,000 Chinese Americans in DFW, plus a few thousand citizens of China either attending school or working corporate jobs.  There are an estimated 60 Chinese cultural organizations throughout the Dallas area and the city is home to the US-China Chamber of Commerce Dallas.  There are also direct flights that connect Dallas to China. 

New York is America’s most-populous city, and its metropolitan area has over 20 million people.  Known as “The Big Apple”, New York City contains the five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx.  The New York metropolitan area includes New York City, Long Island, and the Mid and Lower Hudson Valley.  It also includes several large cities in New Jersey such as Newark, Edison, Elizabeth, Paterson, Jersey City, and Hoboken, along with cities in Connecticut such as New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford.  New York is not only one of the most important economic regions in the world but is also considered “Capital of the World” because of its incredible cultural and ethnic diversity.  And as a hub for the art, fashion, and entertainment industries, the city attracts people from all over the world, including many young Australians that come to New York to pursue their dreams.  New York is home to the Australian International Screen Forum and the Australian Theatre Festival, two organizations that promote artists from Australia.  There are an estimated 20,000 Australians living in New York City, many of them living in a section of Lower Manhattan unofficially known as “Little Australia”.  This section of the city also has several Australian-owned restaurants and coffee shops.

San Francisco, known as the “City by the Bay”, is one of America’s most beautiful and iconic cities.  Located in Northern California, San Francisco is just one of the many cities that together make up the San Francisco Bay Area, or Bay Area for short.  The 14-county combined statistical area (that comprises the Bay Area) has nearly 10 million people, making it the fifth-most populous region in the United States.  The Bay Area includes cities such as Oakland, Berkeley, Vallejo, Concord, Livermore, Fremont, San Jose, San Mateo, Palo Alto, and San Rafael.  San Francisco has always been an attractive destination for adventurers and trailblazers seeking fortune and fame, including newcomers from the nation now known as the United Kingdom.  From Sir Francis Drake, who landed on Point Reyes and claimed this land for Queen Elizabeth I in 1579, to Andrew Smith Hallidie, the inventor of the San Francisco Cable Car, British people have made their fair share of contributions to the Bay Area.  Nowadays, many entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists from the United Kingdom come to San Francisco to work in the area’s high-tech economy.  There are professional organizations such as GBx that support British businesspeople and others like the British Benevolent Society that organize social events.

UPDATED January 21, 2024

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States and is an important global city that attracts visitors from all over the world to engage with its many cultural attractions, educational institutions, and multitude of federal government agencies, as well as non-government organizations.  It is also one of America’s most prosperous cities and has the highest percentage of college graduates in the country.  The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, known as Greater Washington, D.C., includes the District of Columbia and parts of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.  This is America’s sixth-largest metropolis and has a population of 6.3 million residents.  Cities within this area (apart from the District of Columbia) include the Virginia towns of Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Reston, and Falls Church, and Maryland towns of Bethesda, College Park, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Silver Spring, and Rockville.  Greater Washington, D.C. also has a large population of immigrants, including about 75,000 Chinese Americans plus several thousand citizens of China living here temporarily as students, businesspeople, or government officials.  Washington, D.C. is home to the Chinese American Museum, which celebrates the myriad contributions ethnic Chinese have made to the United States. 

Seattle is the largest city in the state of Washington and is also the largest city in America’s Pacific Northwest region.  Known as the “Emerald City”, Seattle is situated in a magnificent natural environment along the Puget Sound, surrounded by evergreen forests, mountains, and water.  The Seattle metropolitan area (the fifteenth-largest metropolis in the United States) has a population of 4 million people and includes the cities of Tacoma, Bellevue, Kent, Everett, Renton, Kirkland, and Redmond.  For many years the economy of Seattle was based on the lumber industry and extraction of natural resources, and then diversified into aircraft and machinery manufacturing during the 20^th century.  In recent times, Seattle has become well known as the corporate home for several famous companies such as Nordstrom, Costco, Amazon, Microsoft, Expedia, Redfin, Zillow, and Starbucks.  Located on the Pacific Rim, Seattle has always been an important city for international trade with Asia and has attracted many Asian immigrants over the years.  There are an estimated 12,500 people with ethnic heritage from Laos living in Seattle, making this city one of the largest Lao communities in the U.S.  Each year Laotian Americans celebrate Lao New Year at Wat Lao Mixayaram, a Buddhist temple in Seattle.

Los Angeles is America’s second most populous city after New York.  Greater Los Angeles—which includes Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Ventura County, and Orange County—has a population of nearly 19 million people.  Known for its endless freeways and commercial sprawl, Greater Los Angeles is the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area and includes over 200 cities such as Santa Monica, Pasadena, Culver City, Glendale, Long Beach, Carson, Irvine, Anaheim, and Inglewood.  Once a part of Mexico from 1821-1848, it is well known that Los Angeles has a huge Mexican American population of over 3.7 million residents.  It may be less well known that Los Angeles has the fourth-largest population of Cuban Americans in the country.  Cubans originally came to Los Angeles’s Echo Park neighborhood in the 1960s to escape the Castro regime, where they started restaurants and other small businesses to support themselves.  Although most Cubans have moved out of this neighborhood, there still stands the José Martí monument (one of Cuba’s most historical figures) at Echo Park Lake.  Today there are nearly 100,000 Cuban Americans throughout Southern California and each year Los Angeles hosts the Cuban American Music Festival.

越来越多的美国人选择在厄瓜多尔退休，以享受负担得起的生活消费，温暖的赤道气候，以及多样化的文化和自然景点。

虽然厄瓜多尔在处理贫困问题方面仍旧有不少问题，而且尚未成功实现经济工业化，为公民提供坚实的中产阶级的就业机会基础，但这是一个资源丰富的国家，有着大量的城市和乡镇，这些城镇有着足够的多基础设施、医疗设施和受过教育的民众，使之成为那些寻求新生活或第二家园的美国人的舒适居住地。  当然，在厄瓜多尔的生活成本也大大降低。  绝大多数退休人员每年只需花费25,000美元就能过上舒适的生活--远低于美国或加拿大等国家的平均生活成本。 

Numbeo (https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Ecuador) 的数据显示，厄瓜多尔的生活成本比美国的平均支出低了45%左右。同时Numbeo还发现租金也降低了大约72%。&n

Denver, known as the “Mile High City” because of its elevation of 5,280 feet, is the capital of Colorado and is one of the fastest growing cities in America.  The Denver Metropolitan area is the 19th most populous metro area in the U.S. and has a population approaching three million people.  The metro area includes the towns of Arvada, Castle Rock, Centennial, Lakewood, Littleton, Thornton, Westminster, and Aurora.  The region’s growing and diverse economy, along with its proximity to Rocky Mountain ski resorts and other outdoor recreational activities, make Denver one of America’s best places to live.  Denver has a diverse economy and strong foundation of Fortune 500 companies operating in various industries such as healthcare, financial services, media, apparel, electronics, mining, aerospace, energy, and food and beverage.  Although Denver still maintains a small population of immigrants from Asia, there are still opportunities for locals to get a taste of the Far East without leaving home.  There are an estimated 20,000 Vietnamese living in Denver and the city is home to the Little Saigon Business District.  This is a section of the city where Denverites can enjoy foods from Vietnam and celebrate annual events such as Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn Festival.

Greater Houston is the fifth most-populous metropolitan area in the United States and has a population of over 7 million residents.  Houston is one of America’s most ethnically diverse cities.  With over 145 different languages being spoken in this global city, it is no surprise that Houston has plenty of great restaurants offering delicious cuisine from all over the world, including some of the country’s best Chinese cuisine.  This is a fast-growing and youthful city that attracts entrepreneurs, corporate businesspeople, international investors, and students.  Greater Houston encompasses nine counties and includes the cities of Sugar Land, Baytown, Conroe, Pasadena, Pearland, The Woodlands, and Galveston.  Houston has over 100,000 ethnic Chinese, with about half of those residents either immigrating from Taiwan or whose parents or grandparents came from Taiwan starting in the early 1970’s.  Taiwan is solidly represented in this city through active organizations like the Taiwanese Heritage Society of Houston and the Houston chapter of the Taiwanese Association of America, which organizes events like “Taiwan Yes Houston” that celebrates Taiwan’s night market culture.  Ties with Taiwan are further cemented through direct flights from Houston to Taoyuan International Airport (Taipei) on EVA Air.

Argentina’s popularity with foreign retirees continues to grow as expats seek the lower cost of living in the eighth-largest country in the world. Diverse European influences give the Argentine Republic a rich and vibrant culture reflected in its architecture, fashion, museums, literature, and cuisine. Its majestic landscapes span the towering Andes Mountains, lush rainforests, pristine Atlantic beaches, glacial lakes, and the flat plains of Patagonia and the Pampas.