Passports and Visas

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.  Atlanta has become an extremely diverse and international city that includes a growing number of immigrants from Latin America.  There are over 600,000 Latino people living in the Atlanta metro area, however, only about 1,000 of these residents originally came from Bolivia.  Although Bolivia is one of the least visited countries in Latin America, it is perhaps one of the most interesting destinations in the region to explore.  Atlanta residents travel to Bolivia for a variety of reasons, including for tourism, volunteering, study abroad, and business.  Spanish is one of the official languages of Bolivia and there are plenty of schools in Atlanta offering beginner and advanced courses for adults.

UPDATED April 4, 2022

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—make Denver an attractive destination for people seeking a more active and balanced lifestyle.  Denver has a diverse economy and strong foundation of large and mid-size companies, making the city an attractive job market for people in other parts of the country that may be considering a change of scenery.  In the past decade, as Denver’s healthcare, financial services, electronics, aerospace, and biotechnology sectors continue to expand, there has been an uptick in the number of Indian immigrants moving to the region to seize new job opportunities.  Denver is now home to several Indian cultural organizations, including the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of Rockies where the local community can enjoy Indian celebrations such as Diwali.

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, Hayward, Berkeley, Vallejo, Concord, Pleasanton, Fremont, San Jose, San Mateo, Palo Alto, Sausalito, and San Rafael.  The economy of the Bay Area is one of the most vigorous and entrepreneurial on the planet.  Silicon Valley (in the southern part of the Bay Area) has attracted engineers from all over the world, including those from Brazil like computer scientist Hugo Barra and Instagram co-founder Michel Krieger.  There are dozens of successful Brazilian technology entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, and many of them first came to the Bay Area as students to attend UC Berkeley and Stanford University.  Stanford has close connections to Brazil through its Lemann Center, which provides training to Brazilian students and visiting scholars.  There are an estimated 40,000 Brazilians living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

UPDATED April 4, 2022

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.  These characteristics are attractive to immigrants, especially those from India.  There are now over 125,000 Indian people (citizens of India and Indian Americans) living in the Dallas area and 450,000 in the state of Texas, making it the second-largest Indian population in the United States, after California.  Dallas has the second-highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. and has several excellent hospitals, making it an attractive city for Indian immigrants seeking job opportunities in the high-tech and medical fields.  The area is also home to over 100 Indian restaurants and each year hosts one of the largest Diwali celebrations in the country.

Charlotte is the 23rd-most populous city in the United States and is the most populous city in the state of North Carolina.  The Charlotte metropolitan area is a sixteen-county region that stretches into the state of South Carolina and includes the towns of Concord, Gastonia, Huntersville, Kannapolis, Indian Trail, Mooresville, Monroe, Salisbury, Matthews, Statesville, Rock Hill (SC), and Fort Mill (SC).  Known as the Queen City, this metropolis of 2.6 million people has been one of the country’s fastest-growing cities the past two decades.  Charlotte’s youthful population, low cost of living, and geographic location in America’s Sun Belt, have made it an attractive destination for business investment.  This investment has brought steady job growth to the region and is attracting more and more immigrants, including those from Africa.  While the population of Gambians in Charlotte is small, their numbers are still large enough for them to organize social events and celebrations through the Charlotte Gambian Association and North Carolina Gambian Association.  The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (about a 2-hour drive from Charlotte) offers classes in Wolof, one of the main languages spoken in Banjul, the capital and commercial hub of The Gambia. 

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, Norcross, Tucker, Lithonia, Decatur, Mableton, Clarkston, Conyers, and others.  Atlanta has become an extremely diverse and international city.  The Atlanta metropolitan area has nearly 85,000 immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and has one of the largest populations of West Africans in the country, including a few hundred immigrants from The Gambia.  Although the number of Gambians in Atlanta is small (there are only about 10,000 Gambians in the United States), the community comes together for special events like The Gambia’s Independence Anniversary, weddings, and religious holidays.  There are also nonprofit organizations like the Gambian Christians Organization and the Atlanta Gambian Emergency Relief Association.  At Georgia Tech, students can study Wolof, one of the languages spoken in The Gambia.

UPDATED April 4, 2022

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 unofficial “Capital of Latin America”.  The city is also trending in the news for its efforts to become a technology hub, which in turn is prompting more Indian immigrants with backgrounds in engineering to consider Miami as a place to relocate.  There are thousands of Indian people already in South Florida and there is a strong base of professional and cultural organizations supporting this immigrant community such as the India-US Chamber of Commerce of South Florida and the Miami Association of Indian Americans for Culture and Arts, as well as other organizations representing various ethnic groups such as Telugu, Bengali, Sindhi, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, and Tamil people.

UPDATED April 4, 2022

The city of Orlando, located in the Central Florida region of the United States and known as “the City Beautiful”, is ranked as America’s 23rd most-populous city.  The Orlando metropolitan area includes various cities and towns such as Kissimmee, Sanford, Winter Garden, Winter Park, Altamonte Springs, and Apopka.  The metro area has a population of 2.6 million people and is home to several theme parks including Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, and Universal Studios.  Orlando’s theme parks, natural attractions, and year-round warm weather make it one of the most-visited cities in the world.  The Orlando economy is expanding thanks to the internal migration of Americans from slow growth states along with the flow of immigrants from all over the world, including from India.  Indian immigrants are attracted to the region’s numerous business ownership opportunities within the restaurant and hospitality industry, along with strong job prospects in the medical and technology fields.  Orlando is home to several Indian cultural organizations like the Hindu Society of Central Florida, Gujarati Society of Central Florida, Telugu Association of Greater Orlando, and many others.  Orlando also has a diversity of religious organizations including churches, mosques, and Hindu and Sikh temples.

UPDATED April 4, 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 Metro Atlanta—is also the commercial capital of the Southeast United States.  The metro area includes the municipalities of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, Lilburn, Decatur and others.  Atlanta is a diverse and international city that in recent years has attracted a growing number of immigrants from India.  While there has long been established Indian communities in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties, there has been a surge of high-tech workers from India moving into the Dunwoody/Sandy Springs, Vinings, and Alpharetta neighborhoods the past two decades.  There could be as many as 40,000 Indian citizens in Metro Atlanta and triple that number of Indian Americans.  Just like India itself, the Atlanta Indian community is very diverse and vibrant, with several different social and cultural organizations providing activities for the various religious, ethnic, and tribal groups living in the metro area, which includes Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Konkani, Sindhi, and Odia people.

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, Torrance, Long Beach, Irvine, Anaheim, and Inglewood.  Los Angeles is a place that attracts young people from all over the world, including Brazilians interested in making their mark on the world within the music, film, new media, and other creative industries.  There are also Brazilians coming to Southern California to study English at private language schools or attending one of the area’s prestigious universities.  The city is home to the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, which is the biggest Brazilian film festival in the United States.  Local American people in Los Angeles have plenty of opportunities to learn about Brazilian culture through one of the many schools and organizations providing lessons in Portuguese, samba, capoeira, and martial arts.  Los Angeles also has several good Brazilian restaurants and hangout spots.