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YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#141

Post by homakov »

doh wrote: post #135
homakov wrote: post #121

Weird choice of country for this purpose. I wonder who needs visa to the US and doesn't need one to Canada, and I'm pretty sure the number is small.

As others pointed out, Canada recently made mandatory their eTA program which is very similar to US ESTA, so the differences are non-existent anymore. Original text: The number is huge. For instance the whole EU doesn't need visa for Canada [0] but it does for US (although it's called a waiver program [1], which guarantees nothing). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Canada#Visa_exe... [1] https://trave…

That's news to me. I thought EU can enter US easily

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#142

Post by mikeash »

crazy1van wrote: post #49
matthewmacleod wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen that do not currently hold dual nationality with another country, an existing visa, or another document permitting entry. No hysteria there.

Are there any stats on how many prior YC founders were from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen?

A brief search turned up one from Sudan. I don't know where to find a comprehensive list. Don't forget to include non-Americans with dual citizenship. Someone "from" a totally unrelated country might still have citizenship in one of the banned countries and would not be allowed in. See Mo Farah as a prominent example.

I imagine the main concern here is uncertainty, though. The original travel ban was introduced with no warning and affected people who already had plans, who already had visas, and even who were already in flight. There's no telling if and when they might do something like that again. That kind of uncertainty tends to discourage people from trying to make plans in the first place.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#144

Post by fennecfoxen »

jensv wrote: post #15

What is the visa situation right now? What exactly has changed?

You know H1B visas? You know how there's an expedited program for them which basically every tech company tries to use? Well, not anymore there isn't.

First link off Google News: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/06/us-h1b-visa-...

And, there may be more changes coming in the future, so, yay political risk?

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#145

Post by pm90 »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #98
GuiA wrote: post #40

The lead the US has had in science/engineering/technology over the past 70+ years is in no small part due to the massive brain drain from Europe, and the rest of the world, due to fascist regimes. If the US's new shiny fascist regime keeps progressing at this pace, you can bet that things will reverse quickly. Good bye, world leading startups, nobel prizes, top universities, etc. These things can happen faster than o…

Where are people gonna go? There's no evidence that China wants to open up like that.

Canada, or any of the Immigrant friendly European countries. In fact, I wonder if harsh immigration policies will see a resurgence of EU as the scientific center of the world...provided it survives through Brexit and the Greek debt crises.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#147

Post by muninn_ »

JamilD wrote: post #78
muninn_ wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because a few people from outside the US are worried about visa issues before applying to an incubator doesn't spell the end of Silicon Valley. The money, talent, and infrastructure to support startups (and large tech companies for that matter) aren't going away anytime soon and likely wouldn't go away even if we completely completely halted green card holders. Not that I would ever advocate something like that.

I don't think that's necessarily true. The Bay Area's become an international hub for tech, not just a domestic one — many influential founders (including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel) were born outside the United States.

I don't disagree. It is the world's premier tech hub. But a fleeting 4 year long ban on immigrants wouldn't turn the city to rubble and leave everybody without jobs as Google and Y Combinator pack up bags and move to Tijuana and Beijing. There are larger forces at play here than that.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#148

Post by smsm42 »

minikites wrote: post #67
exabrial wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the intent of my comment, I can't believe I'm being downvoted for a rational question presented in a neutral manner.

> trying to separate fact from hysteria Painting the people who oppose the policy as "hysterical" isn't neutral and I bet that's what people are reacting to.

Opposing the policy and having trouble getting visa is quite a different thing.

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#149

Post by yessql »

homakov wrote: post #121

Weird choice of country for this purpose. I wonder who needs visa to the US and doesn't need one to Canada, and I'm pretty sure the number is small.

It's about the possibility of having your visa granted, not whether you need one. Perhaps you have heard about the travel ban in the US?

Re: YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas

#150

Post by [deleted] »

verelo wrote: post #101
67726e wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some people perceive the US to be worse than China. Those people are dangerously ignorant.

While I wouldn't say that the US is worse than China, I think your statement is just as dangerous (possibly more).

[deleted]
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