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

blog.ycombinator.com

211–220 of 851 posts

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

#212
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…

https://www.wsj.com/articles/beijing-toughens-its-internet-s...

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

#213
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worry about that. It would be a devastating blow to the country if the next wave of technology doesn't happen here.

Don't worry so much. You have a mortal lock on the pipeline of first-time tech founders, and your cycles are overwhelmingly populated by graduates of US and European universities. Yes, a fair number of talented people from disfavored west Asian countries won't be able to start up here. That's OK: because of the way venture capital works, and because of YC's role in it, they really won't be able to start at all, and y…

"because of YC's role in it, they really won't be able to start at all"

Not sure what the reasoning is here. How is YC doing anything to block people from starting companies? You don't lose anything by getting rejected from YC, other than the few days spent applying.

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

#214

Wow. We often wonder how the Bay Area would be unseated as startup capital of the world. Maybe it'll be the US's immigration problem.

Calexit would allow California to bring in anyone they want though, and SF wouldn't have to worry about the US immigration policy screwing up it's tech scene. I'm looking forward to the Calexit proposition vote.

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

#215

In light of recent events [0], there's a non-zero chance that some founders out there would rather avoid going to the US at all - if only to protest with their wallet. It might be more sensible to open a second incubator in the EU. Berlin, Amsterdam, Dublin, Barcelona, there are plenty of options. (London is a good choice on paper too but pray tell what'll happen after Brexit.) [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/new…

Why not Waterloo? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/kitchener-waterloo...

There isn't much to do there outside of work!

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

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China forces its citizens to have abortions if they have more than 2 children, and they censor the internet, so you can't access social media, like Facebook for instance. So, I would say they are ethically worse than the U.S.

So, is the problem that they are forcing abortions, or that they have a social policy about childbearing? If it's about the abortions, apparently there's two types of action taken[1]. If it's in an urban area, they apparently either charge a fee or don't assign a household register to the child (not sure what that means), but if it's rural they do apparently force abortions. If you're okay with the social policy, it…

Why would you think that any particularly intrusive forced medical practive is ethical? Is such a policy really all that much more acceptable than mandating abortions?

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

#217
post #43
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…

If the US's new shiny fascist regime keeps progressing at this pace...the best thing countries like China could do right now is heavily fund things such as foreign PhD students. Wait, so you're saying everyone is leaving fascist USA, but China will be the beneficiary of that?

Consider that a lot of the talent the US attracts is from China, and they're leaving for economic rather than political reasons. If opportunities open up at home, and the US's standing erodes, that can swing a lot of momentum in their favor. Given the recent spikes in violence against Indian-Americans and tightening of immigration policies as a whole, Indian immigrants might also move to China rather than the US.

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

#218
If ease of attracting international founders is a concern, my recommendation would be Dubai. Unbelievable facilities which are turn key in their own business hub, a tax free environment to incorporate in, if it goes there. Foreigners can own property, which just makes sense for a future hub.

One of the easiest tourist visas to obtain for vast majority of nationalities, with cheap flights. Near EU, other Asian countries, and Africa. Thailand and Singapore could be other options, but they are far from EU.

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

#219
post #12

May be this is a dumb question, I will ask it anyway, Tijuana Mexico is about 500 miles from Bay Area, where as Vancouver Canada is 1000 miles. Que Canada?

Canada has some really great universities, so the talent pool might be higher quality there.

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

#220
post #29

Dubai? So are you not interested in attracting women to startups?

Have you even been to Dubai? It's more happening place than SF. Clearly you have no idea and can't differentiate b/w Saudi and Dubai.

Just yesterday:

Tourist couple arrested in Abu Dhabi for sex before marriage after police discover woman is pregnant

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tourist-couple-arrested...

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