Laws restricting Chinese people to merchant visas made many Chinese restaurants in the U.S. These visas were only for fancy shops and the person had to run it for a year. Some groups used all their cash to open a nice restaurant and then switch who ran it each year so that they’d all get visas.
immigration
Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss immigrant…
Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss immigrant in America, co-founded the famous car company and later sold off his stake in his company. After failed business ventures and the 1929 crash, the impoverished Chevrolet then got work as a simple mechanic at his own namesake company and died penniless.
Due to food and labour shortages…
Due to food and labour shortages in the 1960’s, Brazil has the world’s largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan.
Two thirds of Argentina’s population…
Two thirds of Argentina’s population is of Italian heritage. They fled there for economic opportunities and to escape devastating wars. It is the only other country besides Italy with an Italian heritage majority population.
In 1989, the American Homecoming Act…
In 1989, the American Homecoming Act helped children born from U.S soldiers in Vietnam come to the U.S with their families. They based this only on the child’s appearance. About 23,000 Amerasians and 67,000 of their relatives entered the United States under this act. It was controversial since it didn’t apply to the kids of U.S soldiers in other countries.
In 1952 Irishman Michael Patrick O’Brien…
In 1952 Irishman Michael Patrick O’Brien was trapped on a boat between Hong Kong and Macao for 11 months. He didn’t have the papers to get off at either end of the trip and no one would issue them to him.
Anthony Rossi who founded Tropicana…
Anthony Rossi who founded Tropicana Products in 1945 was an Italian immigrant who arrived in the US with $25 and did not know English. He developed an orange juice pasteurization process to allow transport from the factory in Florida to as far away as New York starting in 1970.
In 1913, 15 young men from Japan…
In 1913, 15 young men from Japan set sail on a fishing boat across the Pacific hoping to settle in America. After a 2 month journey they landed in Northern California and were fed and helped by a Native American tribe. A few days later they were caught by immigration officers and deported.
Escaped in air balloon
In 1979, two families escaped East Germany in a homemade hot air balloon. They flew for 28 minutes at −8 °C (18 °F) with no shelter as the gondola was just a clothesline railing. They landed just 10km (6.2 mi) from the border. The escape was planned out over 1 and 1/2 years and took 3 attempts.
The owner and only resident
The owner and only resident of this ghost town Lucin, Utah is a former Prague University engineering student who at 24 escaped the Iron Curtain in 1984 using his DIY glider powered with a 600cc Trabant engine, and landed undetected at Vienna International Airport.