Old World European Living For a Third of U.S. Costs

Monday, September 10, 2018 Dear International Living Reader, If you long for a life in Europe but you assume you can't afford it... I have good news. You can live better than you imagine for less than it costs you to stay home. The secret lies in an often-overlooked European country with warm weather, a rich history, and the most affordable cost of living in the region. IL Correspondent Tricia Pimental tells you more below… Colm Lambert Managing Editor, IL Postcards * * * Old World European Living for a Third of U.S. Costs By Tricia Pimental Although my husband, Keith, and I considered moving abroad in the past, it wasn't until I retired that we began to look seriously. My Social Security and Keith's income were not enough to continue to pay the mortgage and living expenses back home. So, we rented a furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage with a fireplace and a swimming pool in northern Portugal for $790 a month—a far cry from the $2,100 we paid back home. It wasn't the plan to stay, but that was five years ago and we're still here. It's a mystery why this intoxicating country has been so often and so long overlooked. We've traveled through all of Europe and can't imagine living anywhere else. The weather is hard to beat. A temperate climate (although rainy in winter in the north) allows plenty of time for outdoor activities. Healthcare, both public and private, is widely available, inexpensive, and excellent. And it's the most affordable country in Western Europe. In Portugal, Keith and I immediately saw our expenses fall to between one third and one quarter of what they were back in the U.S. For example, a couple can easily live in a suburb of Lisbon in a comfortable apartment, without a car, and enjoy a moderate budget for entertainment, in addition to necessities, for $1,500 a month. Try doing that in any other Western European capital. A lunch for two at an inexpensive restaurant runs $16; pay double that for a mid-range eatery. A round-trip public transportation ticket is about $3.25, but you can travel on a pass for an entire month for less than $40. A one-bedroom rental in town averages $690, and outside the city center, $450. Utilities average about $110, and internet usage about $27 for one month.

Last Chance: Speak Spanish Now

You are receiving this e-mail because you subscribed to International Living Postcards. To change your email settings, view the information at the bottom of this email. ** ENDS SOON ** Special Free Access (And Bonus Extras) What's the #1 Thing Every Expat Says They Wish They'd Done Before Going to Latin America? "I wish I'd learned a bit of Spanish..." Take Advantage of this Special Offer Today Sunday, September 16, 2018 Dear International Living Reader, Our free video webinar, "Fast and Easy Spanish for Baby Boomers", is coming down in a few hours. If you've yet to watch it—now's your LAST CHANCE. Grab a pen and paper and go to the link here. We want to prove it to you, once and for all, how easy it can be to speak Spanish. No matter what your past experience has been or what might be holding you back, you owe it to yourself to check this out...especially if you're thinking of spending time in Latin America or any place where Spanish is spoken. You might be planning a trip to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta...you might be considering retirement in Panama or Nicaragua, Ecuador, Colombia...maybe you're considering making a property investment on the coast of Costa Rica or Spain's Costa del Sol... I'm sure you know how much more rewarding and comfortable your experience will be if you can speak Spanish... With a few easy-to-remember cues and tips, Warren Hardy explains how easy it can be in the video webinar you'll find right here. Or, if you've already watched it, go here to take advantage of the special offer Warren mentioned, the special program (unavailable anywhere else) that will have you up and running—guaranteed, in fact, to have you speaking Spanish in no time at all. Don't delay. This video and this special deal both disappear soon.

Canada Immigration Newsletter - CICNews.com

CIC NEWS Canada Immigration Newsletter Volume 22, No. 9.1, September 12, 2018 More than 700,000 subscribers

Ontario revises CRS minimum rule for Human Capital Priorities Stream Change follows three targeted draws that saw minimum score drop as low as 350 for Express Entry candidates.

Quebec Immigrant Investor Program now open The Quebec Immigrant Investor Program is now open to new applications. A total of 1,900 applications will be accepted. PEI closing two controversy-plagued entrepreneur streams Many approved for PR through 100% Ownership and Partial Ownership streams never opened businesses. Vision for proposed Northern Ontario immigration pilot outlined Leading advocate of project says 'middle-skilled' labour is needed in Ontario's northern regions. Feds address immigration concerns raised by tougher impaired driving sentences The Government of Canada has confirmed that impaired driving offences committed before the coming into force of tougher sentences in December 2018 will not place foreign nationals at risk of inadmissibility or deportation. CanadaVisa News Briefs | September 6 to September 12, 2018 Government of Canada announces VAC service changes in Asia, Asia Pacific and the Americas Government of British Columbia invites Skills Immigration and Express Entry BC registrants David's Blog: Ontario's medical coverage waiting period endangers newcomers Ontario needs to allow exemptions to its mandatory three-month waiting period for medical coverage. Assessment Find out if you're eligible for Canadian immigration now. » Fill it out now Discussion Forum Join the biggest online community for Canadian immigration » Join The Forum Question? Get answers to your specific Canadian immigration questions. » Ask A Question Tools & Resources » Canada Job Search Tool » IELTS Practice Tests » Citizenship Calculator » Canada Immigration FAQ » Resume Guide » Saskatchewan EOI Points Calculator » Quebec Skilled Worker Points Calculator » Canada Study News » CanadaVisa Study Hub » CLB Language Converter » CRS Calculator » Visiting Canada Tool » School Search » Canada Immigration Processing Times Tool

New Estimate of 22 Million Illegal Immigrants Is Not Plausible

New Estimate of 22 Million Illegal Immigrants Is Not Plausible Washington (September 22, 2018) – A new article published in the academic journal PLOS One argues that the size of the illegal immigrant population in the United States has been grossly underestimated by prior research. The authors make assumptions about cumulative inflows and outflows since 1990 and arrive at a "conservative" estimate of 16.7 million illegal immigrants in 2016 and an average estimate of 22.1 million — 50 to 100 percent larger than other estimates. The findings are unsupportable. Accepting that there are 22 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. also requires accepting that every Census Bureau survey missed huge numbers of people and that most administrative data from the federal government is woefully incomplete. There is no body of research that corroborates such a claim. Most prior research subtracts the legal immigrant population, based on administrative data, from the total foreign-born identified in Census surveys. The difference represents the number of illegal immigrants, which is then adjusted upward to reflect undercount. Using this method, most researchers find that 10 to 11 million illegal immigrants are included in Census Bureau surveys, with perhaps one million missed based on other research. But if the new study is correct, then the Census Bureau is missing another 11 million illegal immigrants, something that would have obvious impacts in other datasets and in the real world. "No matter how carefully a theoretical model may seem to be calibrated, it is not useful unless it is consistent with the real world," said Steven Camarota, the Center's Director of Research. "It is incumbent upon the authors to explain how their estimate can be reconciled with other data. It seems extremely unlikely that the Census Bureau, the Department of Education, and other records of vital statistics miss so many people year after year." Specific examples: When the Census Bureau recanvassed a subset of the population after the 2000 and 2010 censuses, they found a miss rate of roughly 1 percent. If the new study's illegal estimates are correct, then we would expect to see an undercount two or three times larger than what the Bureau estimated. About 4 million women in the American Community Survey (ACS) each year reported they had a child in the prior year. This nearly matches the number of births reported by the National Center for Health Statistics (NSHC) based on birth certificates, which suggests the ACS is not missing large numbers of mothers. If there were 11 million more illegal immigrants in the country, then NSHC data would need to show roughly 300,000 more births, which it does not.   Looking at births specifically to immigrants in a forthcoming report, the Center compared ACS and NSHC data in detail and found that the ACS may understate births to immigrant by just 5 percent. We would expect to see a far greater undercount if the ACS missed 11 million illegal immigrants.   In 2014 the count of public school students in the ACS differed from Department of Education figures by only 3 percent, which is partly explained by the differences in data collection rather than undercount. But, if there were 11 million illegal immigrants missed by the ACS, roughly 1 one million would have to be enrolled in school, implying a large difference between the ACS and DOE figures that does not exist.  On the issue of counting illegal immigrants, the Center for Immigration Studies agrees with the Migration Policy Institute's critique of the new paper: "People leave footprints" and millions of illegal immigrants cannot simply be "hidden" from demographic profiles. Visit Website

The Truth about the ‘Public Charge’ Immigration Rule

Ending the charade that food stamps and public housing aren't welfare. 

Share Tweet Forward The Truth about the 'Public Charge' Immigration Rule Washington (September 25, 2018) [Excerpt from a National Review Online article by Mark Krikorian]– Making sure that we admit as immigrants only people who can support themselves is the first principle of American immigration law. And I don't just mean that it's foundational as theory, but also chronologically — Massachusetts prohibited the admission of paupers in 1645. This principle was incorporated into the first general federal law regulating immigration, the Immigration Act of 1882. That law banned immigrants likely to become a "public charge," that is, dependent on taxpayer funds for their support. For the entire Ellis Island period and beyond, this was the main reason people seeking to immigrate to the United States were turned away. Current law (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)) says that any alien applying abroad for a visa, or wanting to upgrade to a green card from within the country, who "is likely at any time to become a public charge is inadmissible." Over the weekend, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the DHS bureau that deals with green cards and citizenship, released the draft of a proposed rule spelling out in detail how the public-charge principle should be applied to those applying green cards. View the full article: https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/09/immigration-public-charge-rule-food-stamps-public-housing-welfare/ Contact: Marguerite Telford mrt@cis.org (202) 466-8185   Visit Website

U.S. Is Poised This Week to Endorse UN Refugee Compact that Contradicts Administration Goals

The Trump administration's continued commitment to the UN agreement is puzzling.

U.S. Is Poised This Week to Endorse UN Refugee Compact that Contradicts Administration Goals Washington, D.C. (September 25, 2018) - Just days after announcing a lower refugee-resettlement ceiling for the coming fiscal year, the Trump administration is poised to endorse the UN's Global Compact on Refugees, which is in total contradiction to the administration's refugee policies. View the full blog post at: https://www.cis.org/Rush/US-Poised-Week-Endorse-UN-Refugee-Compact-Contradicts-Administration-Goals The final text of the Global Compact on Refugees was released late July. This refugee compact is expected to be adopted by UN member states (including the United States) at the 73rd General Assembly in New York later this week. The UN refugee compact seeks: More resettlement places while using expedited modalities More family reunification for resettled refugees Complementary pathways for refugees through private sponsorship programs Meanwhile, the Trump administration lowered the refugee ceiling to 30,000 from 45,000 (both the lowest determinations since the refugee resettlement program was created in 1980). The reasoning behind such low ceilings is two-fold: Improving the screening and vetting of resettlement candidates and reducing the untenable asylum backlog. Nayla Rush, a fellow at the Center and the author of the report, wrote, "It is puzzling that the Trump administration remains committed to this UN compact, especially after it already pulled out of a separate agreement related to migration. President Trump is carrying on with a refugee process that was started under President Obama, which totally contradicts his own administration's policies. Why sign it?" Contact: Marguerite Telford Director of Communications, Center for Immigration Studies (202) 466-8185 mrt@cis.org Visit Website Further Reading:  The Global Compact on Refugees Draft Raises Many Concerns U.S. Pulls Out of Global Compact on Migration

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Canada Immigration Newsletter - CICNews.com

CIC NEWS Canada Immigration Newsletter Volume 22, No. 8.4, August 30, 2018 More than 700,000 subscribers

Late summer review: Canada's Express Entry-linked Provincial Nominee Programs It's been a busy summer for Canada's Express Entry-linked Provincial Nominee Programs, with developments in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Ontario leading the way.

Are NAFTA work permits at risk? With the future of the trade deal potentially on the line, concerns grow for NAFTA's professional work permits. Saskatchewan holds first Expression of Interest draw for Express Entry candidates SINP also revises In-Demand Occupations List to 'ensure positive employment prospects.' Quebec City mayor calls for immigration increase to address 'dangerous' labour shortages Régis Labeaume says Quebec's capital city should be welcoming 5,300 newcomers a year. Ontario issues new invitations to Express Entry candidates and entrepreneurs Ontario has now issued 977 invitations through its Express Entry-linked French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream in 2018. CanadaVisa News Briefs | August 23 to August 30, 2018 British Columbia conducts weekly Tech Pilot draw British Columbia issues Skills Immigration and Express Entry invitations Assessment Find out if you're eligible for Canadian immigration now. » Fill it out now Discussion Forum Join the biggest online community for Canadian immigration » Join The Forum Question? Get answers to your specific Canadian immigration questions. » Ask A Question Tools & Resources » Canada Job Search Tool » IELTS Practice Tests » Citizenship Calculator » Canada Immigration FAQ » Resume Guide » Saskatchewan EOI Points Calculator » Quebec Skilled Worker Points Calculator » Canada Study News » CanadaVisa Study Hub » CLB Language Converter » CRS Calculator » Visiting Canada Tool » School Search » Canada Immigration Processing Times Tool