The United States, admittedly, is one of the most famous and influential countries in the world, whose residents are always proud and love their country for its independence, protection of citizens, security of investments and private property. Despite the relatively no long history of the state, the States became an Empire with the most developed industry, banking sector, and economy, considerable political influence, the country with the most numerous army and navy, with the world's second-largest nuclear potential. The USA is also a leader in the number of film studios, entertainment, and global brands. In 2018 about 40% of the total world wealth belonged to American residents.
The American continent was so named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who worked on maps of these lands and, subsequently, his name called the whole continent. The United States of America consists of 50 States, and some island lands are also in the state subordination, such as Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, GUAM, and others. Each state has its constitution, legislative, executive and judicial powers. The names of the States, basically, come from the names of Indian tribes or the names of the kings of England and France.
The capital of the United States of America is Washington, District of Columbia (because there are several other cities of the same name), and by population, the largest city is New York. The area of the modern state — 9,5 million sq. km. Population for 2018 was 327 million people.
The first settlers of the American continent were Indian tribes that migrated from Siberia to Alaska. They inhabited the territory about 10 thousand years ago, and until the end of the 17th century, their descendants prevailed on the mainland. The modern States occupied mostly by descendants of ancient immigrants from Europe – the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Africans.
Of course, everyone knows the story about the Spanish navigator Christopher Columbus, who in 1499 opened the American continent for Europe. Then there is the gradual establishment of settlements in the territory of the modern American state by various European powers: the first Spanish colony, the city of St. Augustine, was founded in 1565. The further course of history is a variety of settlements and colonization of America by the British, Spaniards, French, Dutch, Swedes, Russian and other countries, clashes with the local population, the struggle with other colonies for influence and land, which predetermined the war, the burning of entire cities and the destruction of Indian settlements.
For example, founded in 1605 by the British, the city of Jamestown was burned by local Indian tribes in a constant struggle for territory.
In 1626 — colonists from Holland founded New Amsterdam, a city that became the capital of the Queen of the Netherlands in North America, and later it became New York.
Just 150 years later, the movement for secession and the creation of a new independent state began, which was the beginning of the ten-year war for independence of the United States. July 4, 1776, sovereignty of England is proclaimed. The first authority, the Committee, designs the national symbol of the state - the Great seal. September 17, 1787, convened in Philadelphia the Constitutional Convention adopted the first U.S. Constitution, and a week later accepted a document under the name the Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the Constitution that guaranteed fundamental freedoms and rights to citizens of the new state.
In 1789, George Washington became the first President of the United States, who a year later transfers the capital from Philadelphia to Washington. In the next 20 years, the United States, which were only thirteen at the time, is buying French possessions. And during the Anglo-American war and as the result of the subsequent agreement with the UK on the transference of the land the U.S. territory is doubled.
Until the mid of 20th century, the role of the United States in world politics was limited only to influence in North, Central and South America. In 1940, the United States joined the anti-Hitler coalition, which further predetermined the significant growth and power in post-war Europe. Participation in the recovery of the economies of Europe gives the United States an undeniable advantage – they get free of charge many technologies and resources of European countries, and their monetary unit, the dollar, receives the status of the world currency.
Attractions in the United States can be easily divided into natural and human-made. The various climate and fertile natural landscape created in the territory of the modern state a massive number of parks, canyons, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, geysers, volcanoes, and other untouched natural places and phenomena.
Several national parks were founded in the USA — among them:
Yellowstone, which received worldwide fame thanks to geysers and extraordinary beauty of the landscape. Millions of tourists every year stop here to visit information centers and museums, to see the variety of wild animals and rare birds.
Yosemite's in California. Attractions of Yosemite Valley are huge sequoia trees, reaching a hundred meters in height, granite rocks, waterfalls, and clear lakes.
Zion National Park in one of the most beautiful States of America Utah is known for its territory canyon reddish-bronze color.
Glacier Park on the border with Canada, tourists are attracted here by the wild terrain, unusual fauna, mountain scenery, and lakes. The Park has about 130 lakes and 200 waterfalls.
Grand Canyon or Grand Canyon is the most famous, the largest and one of the deepest canyons in the world. It is located in Arizona, on the territory of the Grand Canyon National Park. The canyon is formed by the Colorado River, which for thousands of years has made cracks in the layers of limestone, shale, and sandstone. The shocking length of the canyon is 446 km of amazing views and landscapes. In the Grand Canyon, traces of four geological eras of the Earth are found. The depth is up to 2200 meters, and the descent into it is fraught with danger to life. The Grand Canyon is immense and therefore very popular, and other parks have smaller canyons, but nature has worked there more subtly.
Death Valley is park in Nevada, 150 km from Las Vegas. This terrible name it received because of the rare flora and fauna, and not from the high mortality of tourists. In the valley, almost nothing grows and does not live, and the most fantastic thing in this natural attraction is its extraordinary beauty landscapes, mountains, steppes, and dunes. The lowest point in America is just in the Valley of death, and the highest temperature in the history of the state was recorded here.
The attractions created by the hands of the inhabitants of the United States usually include the creations in large metropolitan areas, although in any state you can find impressive monuments of architecture and history.
Crazy for the richness of life and entertainment, the American metropolis of New York is not a Statue of Liberty and legendary skyscrapers. It is a city-symbol of America – the constant restless movement and development: the lights of Times Square, Broadway, Brooklyn Bridge, New York stock exchange, the headquarters of the UN, the Empire state building, the Chrysler building, Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Opera, Russian Brighton beach and Central Park — a favorite place of recreation for residents and visitors alike.
In 1664, the city of New Amsterdam was captured by the British from the Dutch and then was renamed New York in honor of the Duke of York, the main instigator of the capture. In 1667, New York was officially ceded to the British by the Dutch in exchange for the colony of Suriname.
New York amazes with its sound, voice: sirens of police cars, a chime of fire trucks, dogs barking, a roar of engines, the sound of tires breaking away from the place, voices and whistles of police officers and hotel doorkeepers calling a taxi. The latter is an exciting feature of the city; taxis are called by voice or with the help of hotel staff.
Mainly it is worth noting the Central Park – a hand-made creation of architects Frederico Olmsted and Calvert VOX. Millions of tourists and locals come here for picnics, play Frisbee, badminton, sunbathe in summer and ride on ice in winter. Also, there are various cultural events – concerts of the New York Philharmonic orchestra, poetry evenings or sports.
Brooklyn bridge is a work of art where the pedestrian part is located in the middle, and the lanes for cars are on the left and right, on the level below.
A feature of New York is that more than half of the residents do not have their cars. The developed network of metro, taxi and bus services allow residents to refuse their transport. And in the conditions of the megalopolis its maintenance costs serious expenses.
On the doors of many institutions in New York, you can see the designation of the letters A, B or less C. Health services so assign your rating which checks hotels and restaurants for cleanliness, comfort, and quality of service. The ranking must be posted outside. In the evening, a lot of garbage bags are accumulated on the streets of New York. Another local flavor - there are no tanks for garbage, and the packages are folded along the road to be taken at night by the cleaning service.
Known to all as L.A. or the city of Angels, one of the most visited by tourists place in the United States. It is the largest city in California and the second most populous in the country. The main attraction of Los Angeles is the Hollywood district, with an 18-block Walk of Fame for film actors, and with the pavilions of Universal Studios and Warner Brothers.
A group of Spanish colonists founded Los Angeles on September 4, 1781. For a while, Los Angeles was even part of Mexico, but after the Mexican-American war, it became the territory of the United States. The Pacific Ocean washes Los Angeles, it is surrounded by the mountains of Santa Monica, Santa Ana, and San Gabriel. Due to its location and hot subtropical climate, Los Angeles has become a popular beach resort.
Hollywood is the most famous part of Los Angeles. There are many theaters, the most famous of which is Kodak Theatre, where hundreds of movie stars annually are gathered to pass on the red carpet for the ceremony of Oscar. On the southern slope of Mount Hollywood is Griffith Observatory opening a fantastic view of the ocean and the brand name of the city, the big white letters “Hollywood”. Space enthusiasts can explore the solar system in the Observatory, look through a telescope, study the models and movement of the earth and celestial bodies.
It will be very interesting for adults and children to visit one of the Hollywood film studios. You can watch the shooting of blockbusters and learn the secrets of special effects. One of the unusual places is Walt Disney building in neo-futurism style. Here you can get to the concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.
The capital of the United States of America – everything here symbolizes the power and greatness of the American nation: The White House, the Capitol, national museums, memorials to presidents and war veterans, The Library of Congress. Department of defense – the Pentagon, is located in the suburb of Washington, Arlington.
The third largest city in the United States became famous throughout the world for the fact that where the tallest skyscrapers are building. Willis Tower was the tallest building in the World until 2009.
The most popular and original place in Chicago is Millennium Park. Created in the early 21st century in downtown Chicago, the Park has earned fame among residents for the unique design and beauty of the landscape. The Park has an extensive collection of unusual sculptures, exhibitions of contemporary art and installation of art objects. Many tourists know the mirror sculpture of the Park in the form of beans, this object has become one of the symbols of Chicago honoring contemporary art, shocking artists and sculptors.
Chicago is also known for its sizeable freshwater lake Michigan. Here tourists will enjoy the excellent sandy beaches, and the water retains a warm temperature until the beginning of autumn.
Alcatraz. The most famous super-secure prison in the world for the most dangerous criminals was here. Now it is a Museum, which is a small island near San Francisco.
Another attraction of San Francisco is the Golden Gate bridge, a symbol of the entire Pacific coast of the United States, which serves as an object for the shootings of many films.
The history of Detroit is notable for the decline of the economy, the complete ruin and bankruptcy of the city, from where residents left, selling their property for pennies. Being the fourth largest in population and the capital of the automotive industry in the USA, there were factories of auto giants Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
After the “Big Three” plants began to have trouble because of rising oil prices and the crisis of 2008, their offices began to close one after another, forcing the population to leave the city.
Detroit, or rather its structure, was not adapted to the fact that most of the population move by car. Many kilometers of traffic jams and traffic collapse in the city center forced and the wealthy population to leave the city. Shops and cultural institutions became close without buyers. The city acquired the status of a “Ghost town”.
The island of Miami and the city of Miami Beach is a Mecca for tourists and lovers to soak up the sandy beaches that stretch for 20 kilometers along the reef. The island is located between Biscayne Bay, which separates Miami Beach from the city of Miami and the Atlantic Ocean. It is sweltering, and the water temperature is so comfortable that you do not want to get out of it for days.
The world entertainment center, the city of casinos, the wedding capital, the city of sins and vices –only as not called this famous city – Las Vegas. It is practically the only place in the United States where games of chance are allowed.
Las Vegas is famous for large hotels, inside of which the whole cities are created in the most real sense of the word: with streets, painted the sky, fragments of houses, fountains, casinos, shops, bars and restaurants, shows and many other of available entertainment. In the hotel, you can easily, without leaving, live a week and still not see everything that is in it. In Las Vegas, it is fashionable to give hotels the names of famous cities, for example, hotel Paris, hotel Venice, and the streets are full of symbols of these cities, and you can sit by the Roman fountains or ride on a Venetian gondola.
A modern Cirque du Soleil is created in Las Vegas, which combined circus, theater, and ballet. Americans have built a very high-quality show, which has become unrealistically popular around the world.
Each of us has heard or seen some exciting events and phenomena associated with America. We selected a few interesting points that eventually turned into unofficial symbols of the American state, for which someone admires, and someone sometimes hates America.
For a long time, hemp was used for the production of cloth, ropes, and the paper, it was considered a legal payment instrument, and it was levied in the form of taxes and served as currency. The Declaration of independence, the first Constitution of the United States, was written on paper made of hemp. Uniforms, as well as the state flags of the United States, were made from hemp.
Hemp in English is called “Hemp” and up to a particular time the States as North Carolina - Hemphill, Texas and Long Island - Hempstead, Pennsylvania – Hempfield, had names in which part of the word meant a favorite plant.
The world-famous brand jeans Levis originates from the tailoring of trousers made of hemp canvas. Workers at the mines complained to Levi Strauss that their pants could not withstand constant crawling on his knees and he sewed for them pants made from canvas. Pants were strong, and two horses were printed without hesitation on the label, that they are unable to break his pants.
Soon hemp was valued for its medicinal properties. At first, tinctures of hemp have become a popular medication for a migraine and nervous overexcitation but later restrictions on the use of drugs from the hemp are imposed because of popularity among the population and frequent deaths. Dried leaves of hemp, marijuana, was put in 1906 on the list of narcotic substances.
In U.S. history, the denomination (the change in the nominal value of the currency due to hyperinflation) never concerned U.S. currency! The nominal value of the U.S. dollar has been maintained since 1861.
After the Second World War, all European and Asian competitor countries had huge losses and shattered economies. The United States, in whose territory the war was not conducted and production was developed at the expense of military orders – occupied the markets of the former colonial powers engaged in battle.
In conditions of war and instability of currencies of developed countries, demand for dollars is growing in the world market, the surplus of U.S. money went to other countries and international trade, and in 1944, and the dollar becomes the leading world currency in international settlements. And financing the implementation of military orders, thus, the United States took a leading position in finance and the world economy. After the war, almost all established international financial and economic organizations are falling under the sphere of influence of America. The dollar, in its essence, began to play the role of gold. The United States could easily print dollars without fear of inflation in the domestic market.
But, reckless monetary policy has led to an international crisis, and in the late 1960s, France makes the exchange of accumulated 4,7 billion dollars for gold and introduces its currency, the gold franc. Further, the introduction of the gold mark in Germany was followed, and after the U.S. stops the exchange of dollars for gold, in fact, declaring bankruptcy. In the 1970s, the strengthening of Europe and Japan stimulated crisis of the currency system, and in international markets, in addition to the dollar, the pound sterling, the German mark, the Japanese yen, and the Swiss franc became the means of payment.
The color of the dollar bill was always black and white, but green blotches are introduced after the cases of black and white copying become more frequent. The second side of the dollar is turning green. The choice of color was most likely based on which paint was available the most. Therefore, the dollar has a second nickname – “bucks”, “Green Backs”.
In America, as in no country in the world, the system of Bank loans is famous and developed. A common joke about this confirms the absurdity of this system. “If you have $10 in the Bank, and you haven’t the issued credits, you are wealthier than 25% of the population of America”.
Every eight American have worked for the network of McDonald's restaurants at some point in their career.
Dick and Mac Donald's in the late 40's opened the first small restaurant for motorists. When the economy was in crisis, they invented a new fast-food restaurant strategy, which was based on fast service and low prices.
The kitchen worked on the principle of a conveyor, and a self-service system was introduced. After some time, customers rushed to the restaurant of the brothers with the force of an avalanche, increasing the turnover of the restaurant for a year twice.
Further development of the McDonald's network was the idea of Ray Krok, who offered his brothers to sell the franchise. In 1955 Kroc established a franchising company and had started to expand the business of McDonald. And in 1961, the brothers sell the company to Krok for $2,7 million. In 50 years, the corporation's turnover will reach $24,5 billion.
Even though McDonald's offers low-quality and high-calorie products, the restaurant is trendy among people of entirely different ages, wealth and race. In 2004, a resident of Los Angeles Morgan Spurlock created the film “Such a huge I”, in which the main character (Morgan himself) for a month regularly ate at McDonald's. Morgan gained 12 kg weight and the level of cholesterol in the blood dramatically increased, he began to feel pain in the liver, suffer from depression and constipation. The purpose of the film was to give people the opportunity to think about the need for proper nutrition.
Laws and amendments in us States became world famous for their folly, and sometimes stupidity. For example, in the state of Nebraska, anyone can buy an authentic Admiral's diploma. The owner can command entire fleets, but only within the state. The distance from the state borders to the nearest sea coast is more than 2 thousand kilometers.
And in the state of Illinois, poodles, unlike dogs of other breeds are forbidden to attend the Opera. In Florida, an unmarried girl can't parachute on a Sunday.
And there are a lot of examples: somewhere you can not ride a bike at a speed of more than 104 km/h, and in another state, you can kiss in public places for no more than five minutes. Laws seem quite absurd that it is impossible to drink beer elephant or to shave vegetation on your breast or to eat oranges publicly or to swear at the deceased. Americans say that most of these laws are no longer in force, but it still kept in the bodies of rules and tourists should be careful. An official term of imprisonment may be followed for a specific comic offense. Naturally, the occurrence of such pearls happens after any accidents.
It is undeniable that the most popular drink on the planet is a product of the American Coca-Cola company. In the American city of Atlanta in 1990, the Museum of World of Coca-Cola was opened, which tells the story of the drink the formula of which was created by John Pemberton firstly.
Artisans have learned to use the drink not only for quenching their thirst but also for purposes not quietly for the appointment of Pemberton. Police in America knows what is wonderful Cola removes stains of blood. They often pour traces of bloody with a favorite drink. Coca-Cola removes rust and dirt stains from clothes, cleans the interior and engine compartment of the car. One of the components of Cola is phosphoric acid – it will completely dissolve the nails for several days. If you take an ordinary American steak and marinate it in Coca-Cola for two days, then after this time you will find that the meat has completely dissolved.
Coca-Cola Corporation does not miss the sponsorship of any Olympics. Muammar Gaddafi demanded colossal compensation from the producers, believing that the Americans stole the drink recipe from Libya.
Apple is an ultra-modern American brand, a manufacturer of phones, personal and tablet computers, audio players and software. The headquarters of Apple – in Cupertino, one of the cities of Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is located on the South coast of San Francisco Bay in California, where many recently opened companies and international high-tech corporations, including Apple, Facebook, and Google are based.
Aesthetic design, innovative technology, security, and convenience have created a unique reputation for Apple, which is compared to the cult. Today, the overwhelming percentage of the developed population of the earth has an “Apple” smartphone.
Apple was the first American company that achieved $1 trillion in capitalization. This event occurred during the trading of the company's shares in August 2018.
The honor for the creation of companies traditionally gives to Steve Jobs. However, few people know that the founders of the “Apple Computer” were else Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Steve Jobs and Wayne Ronald worked together for a major video game company “Atari”.
The “Apple Computer” was founded on April 1, 1976. Wayne created the first Apple logo, wrote a three-way partnership agreement, and wrote the primary guide for the Apple computer. Jobs offered the name “Apple” only to be higher in the phone book than “Atari”.
At the end of 1976, the partners were looking for funds to buy components needed to create Apple I and often they sacrificed all their property. Jobs sold his favorite car, Wozniak was forced to part with the pocket calculator HP-65 created by him. Wayne Ronald did out of the company and at all, selling his share for $800. Wayne, the only one of the partners, had the property which, under unfortunate circumstances, it could go in favor of the creditors. In 2018, he would have been able to gain for his 10% a hundred billion dollars.
The iPhone always shows the time on the 9:41 screen in all commercials. In this time Steve Jobs represents the iPhone to the world for the first time in 2007.
In the first quarter of 2014, Apple showed profits that are greater than the sum of revenues of Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
The U.S. holds the glory of the leading cinematic power in the world. Only Hollywood studios annually produce hundreds of films of various genres with actors of the first advantage. In New York, in 1894, the world's first film was screened using Edison's kinetoscope. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. film industry has been based in Hollywood, where most of the films are produced. American cinema gave the world a massive number of directors and actors of the first advantage and world fame.
One of the largest Hollywood studios the Walt Disney Company was founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walter and Roy Disney. At the moment, it is a world-famous studio of animated films, which gave the world several million cartoons and cartoon characters, which the whole planet knows. The structure of the studio today includes 11 amusement parks and 2 water parks, several broadcasting networks, including the famous BBC.
Americans are proud of the social network Facebook – the most extensive network in the world, which was founded on February 4, 2004, by American student Mark Zuckerberg and his roommates - Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, while they were studying at Harvard University.
Formerly, the website served as a social networking site for Harvard students, but then other universities got the opportunity to register. Since September 2006, the site has been accessible to all Internet users over the age of 16 with an e-mail address.
Facebook is now among the top five websites in the world with the highest traffic. In April 2017, the monthly number of the audience was recorded, which amounted to 1,968 billion people. In June 2017, Facebook had 2 billion registered user accounts.
Every day, users of the social network put 6 billion likes (a word that is firmly in use with the development of social networks) and comments, as well as publish 300 million photos. Facebook Inc. also owns popular Instagram and WhatsApp services.
Another of America's iconic companies is Google, and it is the most visited website in the world. Users of the search engine are 70% of the inhabitants of the earth, and Google firmly holds first place in the world ranking of search systems.
The founders of the company are Americans Larry Page and Sergey Brin, which initially wanted to name the search system BackRub, on the base of the fact that the system checked backward links to estimate the importance of the site. But a casual episode at a meeting with the first investor influenced the idea of creating a company name.
Google is misspelled the word “Googole” meaning an infinite number of digits.
On August 19, 2004, the company logged on the IPO and gave into circulation 19 million shares for $85. The shares were sold, and income from the IPO was $1,67 billion. Most of the shares, which is 271 million shares remained under the control of Google, that was mean that Google’s employees instantly became millionaires. Yahoo, the oldest search system on the market and a competitor to Google, also increased its position as it owned 8,4 million shares of Google before the IPO took place.
Google bought several companies in 2005. It is an Earth Viewer service that allowed to view satellite photos of the earth. Later, Google introduced its map service with a satellite image of any point on the planet. And in 2007, Google buys YouTube for $1,65 billion. Now we can not imagine life without such convenient services.
The most common native language in the USA is English. 80% of the American population speaks in English. Spanish is the native language of more than 35,5 million U.S. residents – 12,4%.
The United States has the world's most extended road network, the world's most extended rail network, and the world's most significant number of airports and airfields.
The country covers almost all climatic zones - from the Arctic in Alaska to the tropical in Hawaii.
Thomas Alva Edison is an American inventor and entrepreneur, creator of phonograph; he has improved the telegraph, the telephone, film equipment. He has offered to say “Hello” making a phone call.
George Washington is an American statesman, the first President and founding father of the United States of America.
Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright are pilots-naturalists who gave the world the first plane that could be controlled, which gave impetus to the further development of aircraft in the world.
Henry Ford is an American industrialist and inventor, owner of automobile manufacturing plants around the world. Henry Ford first established an industrial conveyor for the production line of cars.
John Davison Rockefeller is an American oil businessman, philanthropist, the first dollar billionaire in world history. He has founded the Rockefeller Foundation, which sponsored medical research and education. He has also founded the University of Chicago and Rockefeller’s University.
Walter Elias Disney is an American cartoonist, actor, screenwriter, film director and producer, founder of Walt Disney Productions, which has now become the Empire of the Walt Disney Company. He was repeatedly on the verge of suicide due to severe financial problems of the company.
Isaac or Isaac Merritt Singer is an American inventor and industrialist. He is the founder of the company for the production of sewing machines “Singer”.
William Procter and James gamble are American entrepreneurs, the founders of the P&G company.
Warren Edward Buffett is an American entrepreneur, the largest and most famous investor in the world. Buffett's welfare of March 2018 is $100 billion. The biggest benefactor in the history of humanity. He leads a very modest life.
Robert Toru Kiyosaki is an American entrepreneur, writer, and investor. He is the author of the sensational bestseller “Rich dad, poor dad”.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American programmer, the entrepreneur in the field of IT, dollar billionaire, founder of the social network Facebook. He is the head of Facebook Inc.
Chicago basketball player – Michael Jordan, tennis player – Serena Williams, golfer – Tiger Woods, swimmer – Martin Phelps, boxers – Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, cyclist – Lance Armstrong.
Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna received worldwide fame and popularity for their musical hits, and Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington in the early 20th century developed such a direction of music as jazz.
Edgar Allan PoE, Mark Twain, and Ernest Hemingway are among the most popular writers on the planet.
Twenty million Americans live in a car on wheels or mobile homes.
Puerto Rico is the state in Central America that is not incorporated territory, it is not part of the United States, but it is their possessions with limited effect of the U.S. Constitution.
The USA is the birthplace of corn flakes, which are usually eaten with milk in the morning.
The most Nobel prizes were awarded to U.S. citizens.
The USA carefully checks all guests in the country. Getting a visa is quite a complicated process, accompanied by a mandatory interview at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. The visa fee is $150 per person. You can enter Mexico with a valid U.S. visa.