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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

#421

Post by Fomite »

immigraway wrote: post #328
EternalData wrote: post #237

It's oddly ominous reading about America's rise on the back of textile patents taken from England and Europe, then poaching of German physics talent and scientific talent from across the world. Germany was, by far, the pre-eminent power in theoretical physics at the turn of the 20th century, with Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck & Born about to be at the peak of their powers. Then the country decided to turn on intellect…

Current changes proposed to US immigration policy would cost the country a small number of high-skilled individuals from the Middle East (a few thousand) and a large supply of agricultural workers from Latin America (~10 million). It's a small impact on the overall competitiveness of the US, hardly equivalent to the Nazi brain-drain.

Beyond the policies, there's also a signaling problem. I know several people who have taken a pass on U.S. jobs because of the uncertainty and growing anti-immigrant rhetoric. And they definitely don't trust the average American not to lump them in with targeted groups by virtue of being brown.

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

#422

Post by mudil »

EternalData wrote: post #237

It's oddly ominous reading about America's rise on the back of textile patents taken from England and Europe, then poaching of German physics talent and scientific talent from across the world. Germany was, by far, the pre-eminent power in theoretical physics at the turn of the 20th century, with Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck & Born about to be at the peak of their powers. Then the country decided to turn on intellect…

Enough of this fear mongering, and Nazi comparisons. Nazism, after all, was practiced by a majority of German population, and if everyone now in the US is forecasting it and fighting a what's to come, how can it really happen?

I am much more concerned about our "soft hegemony", propagated by politicians (for politicians) and accepted by a wide populace. Namely, slogans and ideals that are passed as a public policy. Instead of delivering goods, these politicians deliver slogans. California governor would talk for hours about the environment, but nothing would actually be done about the Oroville dam or building a new reservoir to store the water, to actually improve the environmental impact of millions of Californians. Take any lingering issue, from inner city blight to terrible situation of African American males, it's all political talk and nothing is done to actually fix things. That's where hegemony is, in my opinion.

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

#423

Post by chongli »

jimmyk wrote: post #414
chongli wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point that is really crying out to be made is that college campuses and the backs of ambulances/squad cars are two very biased sets of places to attempt to collect a representative sample of the immigrant population. In fact, if you were to collect samples of natural born American citizens in the same two sets of places you'd reach the exact same biased conclusions about Americans.

If you collected statistics about immigrants on college campuses and immigrants in the back of a squad car you'd find they got here from very different places and on very different visas (or lack of visa). In fact, if you were to collect samples of natural born American citizens in the same two sets of places you'd reach the exact same biased conclusions about Americans. What conclusions are you referring to, in part…

What conclusions are you referring to, in particular?

The respective ones. If you collected statistics about Americans in the back of a squad car, you'd conclude that Americans are a bunch of criminals (shocker of shockers). That's the point: it's just about the silliest, most extreme way to bias your sample.

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

#424

Post by dang »

spitfire wrote: post #171
chollida1 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Canadian visa might sound appealing at first blush but won't help for ycombinator founders as far as I know. To be eligible you need to have funding from a canadian venture fund, see below. I guess ycombinator could setup a Canadian fund and apply for the funding eligibility, but with the principles being mostly American and living in the US, I'm guessing it would be a very tough sell. http://www.cic.gc.ca/englis…

Oh please no. Leave the VC reality distortion field south of the border please. We don't need YC ruining Canada with hopped up "startup" bros. If we even need more VC firms (I don't think we do), let indie VC or something like it come up. Edit: This isn't meant to mean people shouldn't start companies here. They should. But they should do it firmly grounded in reality, not based in SV VC world which has very little t…

> We don't need YC ruining Canada with hopped up "startup" bros.

As a Canadian who once got funded by YC and is no "\"startup\" bro" I wince at this comment, which is beyond inaccurate. So is the bit about solid long-term businesses—I can tell you from plenty of first-hand observation that you're quite wrong in YC's case.

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

#425

Post by illumin8 »

mizzack wrote: post #415
illumin8 wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My grandfather owned many apple orchards, and he said without migrant labor, he would have had to go out of business years ago. He could not hire US citizens as workers because nobody that is born here wants to climb trees all day picking fruit for minimum wage. This was back in the 80s. He also had very good things to say about how hard-working and dedicated the migrant workers were. Now, you might argue that withou…

> The narrative that illegal immigrants are all criminals is deeply flawed and inaccurate. Illegal immigrants are, by definition, all criminals.

No need to be pedantic; the narrative that they are all gang members, rapists, hard, violent criminals is deeply flawed and inaccurate.

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

#426

Post by fixxer »

komali2 wrote: post #284
mehaveaccount wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The obvious question is will the US government allow one of its most profitable states to leave? Highly doubtful. Great way to start another civil war, though!

I hear a lot of people in my area (West burbs of Chicago) joke about building the wall up to cut off California. Sure, they're joking, but I don't think the average citizen outside CA gives a damn about the state as a tax revenue base. They do, however, get tired of the far left rhetoric. Nobody thinks more highly about California than Californians.

Personally, I am ambivalent (and technically I am a Californian).

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

#427

Post by marcosdumay »

nostrademons wrote: post #312
marcosdumay wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost always the government that makes or breaks a country.

Only if there's no mechanism for bad governments to be replaced, peacefully. We'll see if we still have that mechanism in 4 or 8 years, but in the meantime, I'll remain cautiously optimistic. The U.S. has had terrible presidents & strong political leaders before, ones who drove the country down a terrible path, and they've usually been forced out of power and their policies reversed within a decade. That's the great…

I meant full government, not head of state. I agree that most of Trump's acts will be neutered, and in a few years things will probably change.

I just don't think a government having a big impact is surprising.

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

#428

Post by kps »

dvdhnt wrote: post #51

That's cool. Good for folks in that situation. What about people with families or dependents that can't afford to uproot their life and relocate to SV? Don't get me wrong, this is great, but it would be even better if it expanded to include additional circumstances.

VCs don't want people with a life outside work.

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

#429

Post by chongli »

mehaveaccount wrote: post #227
elif wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's "a few people." It is everyone holding or desiring a US visa that is worried. I would contend that it is only the extent of that fear that is variable. Maybe I am wrong and there are visa holders feeling absolute confidence at the moment, but I would like to hear why from even one before considering your "a few people" categorization as anything but spin.

I'm a visa holder and I'm not worried because worst case scenario I go back home to live with my family who loves me.

You haven't been reading the news very carefully. Worst case scenario is that you get sent to a 3rd party country, have your passport seized upon landing, and possibly end up in prison where your human rights are at risk.

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

#430

Post by jimmyk »

chongli wrote: post #423
jimmyk wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you collected statistics about immigrants on college campuses and immigrants in the back of a squad car you'd find they got here from very different places and on very different visas (or lack of visa). In fact, if you were to collect samples of natural born American citizens in the same two sets of places you'd reach the exact same biased conclusions about Americans. What conclusions are you referring to, in part…

What conclusions are you referring to, in particular? The respective ones. If you collected statistics about Americans in the back of a squad car, you'd conclude that Americans are a bunch of criminals (shocker of shockers). That's the point: it's just about the silliest, most extreme way to bias your sample.

Are you saying that police officers, by virtue of the fact that they primarily interact with criminals, would conclude that people here on, say, student visas are a bunch of criminals?
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