TAS AmericasWhy join
Twenty-one reasons to join.
Each of them begins with the same idea. One household has little bargaining power; hundreds of thousands of households speaking with one voice have a great deal. Membership is free for the first 90 days, and every reason below is yours from the day you join.
Everything on this page, one window at a time.
Choose a topic. It opens in its own window: keep it in the centre, dock it as a side panel or expand it. Open several and switch between them below.
2 topics
- 01
What a member holds.
Written for both journeys this house serves: for everyone with a foreign-born story who is building a life in any of the fifty states, whether…
Open window - 02
Ten reasons for community leaders.
For the presidents, secretaries and elders of hometown and alumni associations, student unions, cultural and faith communities, professional…
Open window
What a member holds.
Written for both journeys this house serves: for everyone with a foreign-born story who is building a life in any of the fifty states, whether they came from Mexico, Central or South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Europe or the Middle East, and for the Americans who now live in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Oceania. Students, professionals, business owners, parents and grandparents, and the generations born far from where their families began.
- 1
The journey home
Members travel on fares we negotiate for the routes families actually fly, in the weeks they actually travel: Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year, Carnival and the summer holidays.
- 2
Every milestone, attended
A quinceañera, a graduation, a wedding, a parent’s eightieth birthday: group travel lets the whole family arrive together.
- 3
Parents who visit
Travel medical cover for parents who come to stay, through licensed providers, so that a visit of three months is a pleasure and never a risk.
- 4
Parents who stay
When your parents are at home and you are not, elder-care referrals put help within their reach.
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Money that arrives
A parent’s monthly support, a term’s tuition, a holiday gift: transfers go through regulated providers, on fairer terms, and arrive when they should.
- 6
One family, one conversation
Phone and data plans keep grandparents, parents and children in the same family chat, whatever the time zone.
- 7
A doctor who understands you
Health, dental and vision programs where you live, help finding care in your own language, and a plain account of how it is paid for.
- 8
A credit history from zero
Your good name at home does not travel. We guide you to a first bank account and a record that landlords and lenders respect.
- 9
Your qualifications, recognized
We guide engineers, nurses, physicians, accountants and teachers through having their degrees and licenses assessed, and back into their professions.
- 10
A business of your own
Orientation on registering and running a small business, with banking, payments and cover arranged for the shops and trades members build.
- 11
Children at home in two languages
Heritage-language classes, tutoring and college guidance for the generation growing up between two cultures.
- 12
Tax season in two countries
We refer you to qualified tax professionals who understand income, property and family on both sides of a border.
- 13
Insurance you can read
Life, final-expense, travel, home and auto cover through licensed insurers, with the terms explained in plain language.
- 14
Your affairs in the United States, kept in order
For Americans living abroad: US accounts kept open, US tax filing understood, passports kept current and a child born abroad properly registered.
- 15
A card that moves with you
One card is recognized by every house of the family. Move from Houston to Madrid, or from Miami to Tokyo, and your membership moves too.
- 16
Protection against fraud
Scam Watch describes the calls from false “officials”, the fake job offers and the rental schemes that target people far from home, and tells you how to check each one.
- 17
Your consulate, explained
The Consular Desk sets out how to reach your country’s consulate in the United States, or how Americans abroad enroll with the nearest US embassy, renew a passport and book an appointment, without the guesswork. We are independent of every government.
- 18
The associations behind you
Your hometown association, alumni club, congregation or chamber of commerce joins the network at no cost for its first 90 days, and stands with its members.
- 19
No one buried without ceremony
Under the Mutual Aid Compact, associations stand together when a member dies far from home. It is a commitment between associations, not insurance.
- 20
Help when life goes wrong
TAS Foundation gives free first help to anyone, and fuller support in hardship to card-holding members.
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Free for 90 days, and we never ask about status
Membership is free for the first 90 days, one per adult, with children under 18 included on a parent’s membership. We never ask about immigration or residence status, and we never sell personal information.
Ten reasons for community leaders.
For the presidents, secretaries and elders of hometown and alumni associations, student unions, cultural and faith communities, professional associations and chambers of commerce, wherever in the United States they meet, and for the associations of Americans abroad.
- 1
Your association joins free for 90 days
It keeps its name, its funds, its leadership and its independence. We exist to make it stronger, never to replace it.
- 2
Benefits for every member
Each member of your association can hold the card and use all twelve areas of benefit.
- 3
A reason for the young to join
Students and young professionals come for the card, and stay for the association.
- 4
A seat in a national network
Your association sits with the hometown, alumni, professional and business associations of communities across the United States, and with sister associations across the family.
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A voice in what we negotiate
Associations tell us what their members need most, and we carry it to the table.
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The Mutual Aid Compact
When a member dies far from home, your association does not stand alone. Read the Compact
- 7
An orderly way to respond
The Compact gives the community a settled way to act, in place of the emergency collection every committee knows. It is not insurance and creates no right to payment.
- 8
Visibility in your city
Newly arrived families, students and professionals find your association through the network.
- 9
Guides in your members’ hands
The free guides, Scam Watch and the Consular Desk, in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, are yours to share at every meeting.
- 10
Continuity
The oldest institutions of community life across borders, strengthened for the generation that follows.