Passports and Visas

UPDATED March 25, 2022

San Francisco, known as the “City by the Bay”, is one of America’s most famous and beautiful 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, Hayward, Vallejo, Concord, Pleasanton, Fremont, San Jose, San Mateo, Palo Alto, and San Rafael.  From the early days of the California Gold Rush to modern times with the growth of Silicon Valley, the Bay Area has a long history of attracting immigrants and adventure-seekers from all over the world, including newcomers from Asia.  Cambodians first came to San Francisco in the 1950s as college students, and then larger groups came during the 1970s as refugees fleeing their country’s civil war.  There are now 15,000 Cambodians in the Bay Area and about 25,000 in the San Joaquin Valley.  Stockton, Modesto, and Fresno all have Cambodian Buddhist temples along with several authentic Cambodian restaurants.  San Francisco is home to the Cambodian School of San Francisco, an organization teaching Khmer language and culture. 

UPDATED March 25, 2022

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 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, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Burbank, Glendale, Pomona, Torrance, Long Beach, Irvine, Anaheim, and Inglewood.  Located along the Pacific Rim, Los Angeles has strong economic and cultural connections with East Asia.  Greater Los Angeles has 2.5 million residents with Asian heritage, including 50,000 Cambodian people.  The city of Long Beach is home to Cambodia Town, a 1.2 mile stretch of Cambodian-owned businesses that serves as the center of Cambodian culture in the United States.  Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach are one of the few parts of the country that have authentic Cambodian restaurants.  And the local branch of the public library even has a selection of over 5,000 books published in the Khmer language (the national language of Cambodia).  Each year the city of Long Beach hosts the annual Cambodia Town Parade and Cultural Festival.

UPDATED March 25, 2022

Chicago is America’s third-most-populous city and its metropolitan area, known as Chicagoland, has a population approaching 10 million people.  Chicago is a vibrant international city with a robust economy that is the corporate headquarters for 57 Fortune 1000 companies.  While manufacturing and food processing provide a strong foundation for its economy, the city is also an important financial center and is home to the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago metropolitan area covers 14 counties across three states—Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin—and includes cities like Aurora, Naperville, Joliet, Elgin, Waukegan, Cicero, Skokie, Gary (Indiana), and Kenosha (Wisconsin).  Chicago has a long tradition of attracting people from all over the world in search of a better life.  Cambodian refugees came to Chicago starting in 1975 to escape the brutal violence in their country that killed two million people.  In 1976 they formed the Cambodian Association of Illinois, an organization that preserves and teaches Khmer culture and history to the younger generation of Cambodian-Americans in Chicago.  The organization also hosts a museum celebrating Cambodian culture and memorializing the Cambodian Genocide.

UPDATED March 25, 2022

Atlanta has a population of over 6 million people, making it the 9th most populous metropolitan area in the United States.  Atlanta is the capital of Georgia, which is the 8th most populous of the 50 states.  The city and surrounding area—known as the Atlanta metropolitan area—is also the commercial capital of the Southeast United States.  The metropolitan area includes the municipalities of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Decatur, Jonesboro, Mableton, Conyers and others.  Atlanta has become an extremely diverse and international city that includes a growing population of immigrants from Asia, including about 10,000 Cambodians.  The Cambodian immigrant community is centered around the town of Riverdale, but there are Cambodian-Americans living all throughout the metro area.  Atlanta is home to the Cambodian Association of Georgia, an organization promoting Khmer culture and language, and working to support the Cambodian community in Atlanta.  The area is also home to a few Cambodian temples, including the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Georgia.  In recent years, Cambodia has become an increasingly popular tourist destination for Atlanta residents traveling to Southeast Asia on river and ocean cruises.

The Greater Miami Area is the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the United States and has a population of 6.2 million people.  The metropolitan area is composed of Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County.  Its main cities include Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Hialeah, Coral Gables, Miramar, Davie, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, and Boca Raton.  This is a diverse community where 40% of the population was born in another country, and it is one of America’s most important cities for international trade.  Miami is a business hub for the Latin American region and is often thought of as the “Gateway to Latin America”.  The Bolivian American Chamber of Commerce has an office located in Miami and Boliviana de Aviación (the national airline of Bolivia) offers nonstop flights from Miami International Airport to Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s commercial center and most economically prosperous city.  There are a few thousand Bolivians in South Florida and there are even a few Bolivian restaurants in the area where residents of Miami can enjoy the unique cuisine of Bolivia such as salteñas, sopa de mani, silpancho, and falso conejo, along with Paceña and Huari (Bolivian beer).  Spanish is the main language of Bolivia (and arguably the main language of Miami).

New York is America’s most-populous city, and its metropolitan area has over 20 million people.  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 that include New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford.  New York is one of the most important economic regions in the world and has the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States.  New York is considered “Capital of the World”, not only due to its economic power, but also because it is a center of diplomacy and culture.  The city is home to the United Nations and there are over 800 languages spoken here, including Quechua, one of the official languages of Bolivia.  The city is also home to the Quechua Collective of New York, an organization promoting and preserving this ancient language still spoke by 10 million people in Bolivia and other countries.  There are an estimated 10,000 Bolivians living in the New York metropolitan area, concentrated mostly in Queens and northeastern New Jersey.

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 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, Beverly Hills, Culver City, Burbank, Glendale, Pomona, Torrance, Long Beach, Irvine, Anaheim, and Inglewood.  Los Angeles has the largest population of Hispanic people in the United States and has over 3.7 million residents with Mexican heritage.  There are also nearly a million people with ethnic origins from Central America, but only about 125,000 people whose origins come from South America.  There are an estimated 10,000 immigrants and U.S. citizens with Bolivian heritage in Los Angeles, making this city the third largest community of Bolivian immigrants and Bolivian-Americans in the United States.  The city of Anaheim (28 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles) has a Bolivian restaurant serving salteñas, pique macho, silpancho, sopa de maní, chairo, humintas, monconchinchi and several other favorites dishes and traditional drinks of Bolivia.

Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States and is an important global city that attracts visitors from all over the world.  The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (known locally as DMV)—which includes the District of Columbia and parts of Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia—is America’s sixth-largest metropolis and has a population of 6.3 million people.  Cities within this area (apart from the District of Columbia) include Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Reston—all in Virginia—along with the Maryland towns of Bethesda, College Park, Frederick, Gaithersburg, Rockville, and Silver Spring.  Washington, D.C. is one of America’s most culturally diverse metropolitan areas, so American people living here don’t have to venture too far to learn about different parts of the world.  For example, there are over 100,000 Bolivians living in DMV and there are over 20 Bolivian restaurants in Northern Virginia.  This area is home to several organizations that preserve and promote Bolivian culture such as La Fraternidad Diablada Boliviana, and other groups that celebrate Bolivian folkloric dance traditions.  There are also Bolivian soccer leagues, Bolivian community newspapers, and schools that teach Bolivian culture and language to children in Norhern Virginia.  

Atlanta has a population of over 6 million people, making it the 9th most populous metropolitan area in the United States.  Atlanta is the capital of Georgia, which is the 8th most populous of the 50 states.  The city and surrounding area—known as the Atlanta metropolitan area—is also the commercial capital of the Southeast United States and has the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the country.  The metropolitan area includes the municipalities of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Chamblee, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, Lithonia, Decatur, Mableton, Conyers and others.  There are an estimated 12,500 Canadians living in Atlanta and the city is home to a social club (Atlanta Canadians) that occasionally hosts events for Canadians in the metro area.  Canada is a popular tourist destination for residents of Atlanta and Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has direct flights to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary. Canada is also a frequent destination for business travelers from Atlanta.  Canada is the top customer for Georgia companies, with $5.1 billion worth of exports each year and the state imports $4.3 billion worth of goods from Canada annually.   There are 274 Canadian-owned businesses employing nearly 35,000 workers in Georgia.

The city of Dallas and the 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 local residents—has a population of 7.6 million people and includes the cities of Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Irving, Garland, Richardson, Frisco, Mesquite, Denton, Grand Prairie, and McKinney.  The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, located in North Texas, is one of the fastest growing regions in the country thanks to its low cost of living, low taxes, abundance of resources, and ease of doing business.  Dallas has the second-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the United States and there is a long list of companies that have been relocating to the area from other parts of the country.  Dallas has a growing population of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa, including a small community of immigrants from The Gambia.  The city is home to the Gambian Texas Association, a nonprofit organization that hosts social events to help strengthen the Gambian community.  Dallas also has social groups for the Mandinka people, one of the major ethnic groups of Gambia.  The city of Saginaw (west of Dallas) is sister cities with Banjul (Gambia’s capital).