Immigration
Immigration
Will recession drive Irish back to Dot?
By
Getting ready: Molly Dalton, Dermot Quinn and Roseleen Weir prepare Greenhills Bakery for St. Patrick's Day and discuss the potential influx of new immigrants.The "Celtic Tiger" era of Ireland is long gone. On the isle, hundreds of thousands are protesting in the streets, there's a 10.4 percent unemployment rate and a near universal government disapproval. But the economic reversal has yet to result in a significant increase of Irish immigration to Dorchester.
Lack of employment opportunity in the States and the difficulty of obtaining visas may be making the move less appealing, according to some, though others speculate it may only be a matter of time before Dot's Irish pubs are packed once again.
At the Twelve Ben's pub on Adams Street, John Connely, a carpenter, said he often hears from contacts back home about the recent trend of immigration to Australia. Read more
In Boston, Feds say naturalization process will accelerate
Aug. 13, 2008
Tens of thousands of Massachusetts immigrants may find out sooner rather than later about the status of their naturalization requests.
Pointing to progress in processing millions of naturalization applications nationally, U.S. immigration officials announced Tuesday that the average time of processing is expected to drop six to eight months by the end of September. Read more
Adult immigrants invest their future in a new language
Mar. 5, 2008
Jesuina da Veiga, 43, is a mother of two and taught elementary school in Cape Verde for 19 years. But as a fresh immigrant in the United States she became a student again.
When she settled in Dorchester two years ago she couldn't speak a word in English. She used a translator whenever she visited the health center, and she couldn't help her children with their homework.
"Sometimes I felt sad. Sometimes I cried," she said. Read more
