Passport Power: How Does Canada Stack Up Against The World? | Lifestyle From CTV News

Some Asian passports are becoming the most valuable for travellers seeking easy access to as many countries as possible, while Canadian passports are a little more powerful than they used to be. The newest update to the Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports based on their ability to facilitate visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to as many countries as possible, places Canada in a seven-way tie for 16th place. Although the index lists the seven countries as being ranked sixth, there are 15 countries ahead of them. Read full story here:…

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US Now Requires Social Media Info For Visa Applications | Engadget

If you want to stay in the US, you’ll likely have to share your internet presence. As proposed in March 2018 (and to some extent in 2015), the country now requires virtually all visa applicants to provide their social media account names for the past five years. The mandate only covers a list of selected services, although potential visitors and residents can volunteer info if they belong to social sites that aren’t mentioned in the form. Read full story here: US Now Requires Social Media Info For Visa Applications |…

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Pilot Project Demos Credit Cards With Shifting CVV Codes To Stop Fraud | Ars Technica

US-based PNC Bank is in the middle of a pilot project that aims to test out credit cards with constantly changing card verification values (or CVVs) to reduce online credit card fraud. The dynamic CVV is displayed on the back of such a card in e-ink, and changes according to an algorithm supplied by Visa. Read full story here: Pilot Project Demos Credit Cards With Shifting CVV Codes To Stop Fraud | Ars Technica

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Why Aren’t Chip Credit Cards Stopping “Card Present” Fraud In The US? | Ars Technica

A security analysis firm called Gemini Advisory recently posted a report saying that credit card fraud is actually on the rise in the US. That’s surprising, because the US is three years out from a big chip-based card rollout. Chip-based cards were supposed to limit card fraud in the US, which was out of control compared to similar fraud in countries that already used EMV (the name of the chip card standard). Gemini Advisory now says that 60 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen in the US in…

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Air Canada, CIBC, TD And Visa Offer To Buy Aeroplan | CBC News

Air Canada is teaming up with three financial services giants to try to buy its former loyalty program, Aeroplan, from its current owner. Air Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, CIBC and Visa made the announcement Wednesday they want to buy Aeroplan from Aimia, in exchange for taking over the liability of $2 billion worth of outstanding Aeroplan points, plus $250 million in cash. The airline announced last year it would soon be ending its 30-year partnership with Aeroplan, a development that sent the parent company’s stock price tumbling and scrambling for new partners. Air Canada started Aeroplan as its…

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US Visa Applications May Soon Require Five Years Of Social Media Info – Engadget

The State Department wants to require all US visa applicants, both immigrant and non, disclose their social media handles to the US government, CNN reports. In documents that the department will file to the Federal Register tomorrow, it proposes that nearly every individual applying for a US visa be required to hand over any social media handles used on certain platforms in the past five years as well as submit any telephone numbers and email addresses used during that same time period. Previously, this information was only requested from visa…

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Trump’s Wall Will Do Nothing To Block The 740,000 People Who Overstayed Their US Visa Last Year — Quartz

For years, the best—and virtually only—publicly released statistic tracking illegal immigration in the US has been the number of people caught at the southern border. Now, the US Department of Homeland Security is scrutinizing a lesser known type of undocumented immigrant: the one who comes in legally. In a new report released May 22, the agency has attempted to count the people who overstayed their visas in fiscal year 2016. The results tell a different story than the border apprehension numbers, and suggest that the US should broaden its singular…

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