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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

#491

Post by pizzetta »

sama wrote: post #117
clamprecht wrote: post #4

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.

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

If anything worried me it would be fundamental research more than startups -whether the new admin affects fundamental researchers coming in would be a bigger issue than a few entrepreneurs having to work harder at home. Missing up on start-ups is not all that. Uber, AB&B, etc. are nice to haves, but aren't making fundamental discoveries --they are changing how we use resources we already have rather then providing new things.

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

#492

Post by nickzarzycki »

neptunespear wrote: post #358
Pxtl wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be delicious and terrible irony if Vancouver took over the role of startup capital, since it is the only place with a more unaffordable housing market than the SF bay.

$600 CAD/month for a bedroom in a house that's close to frequent transit and in a low-crime area isn't hard to find if you don't have your heart set on living right in downtown Vancouver. I am not going to pay $2200/month to live in gangland-torn East Menlo Park.

"$600 CAD/month for a bedroom in a house that's close to frequent transit and in a low-crime area isn't hard to find if you don't have your heart set on living right in downtown Vancouver."

(Has not looked for an apartment in Vancouver in the last 10 years)

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

#493

Post by refurb »

Kluny wrote: post #471
refurb wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but you get healthcare and being non-white isn't illegal, so that helps. That made me chuckle. You think Canada doesn't have racists? Good lord. And sure, if you just look at the income tax rates BC looks reasonable. Of course, if you look closer at the actual income brackets for each rate, it looks very different. That doesn't even include the sales tax (up to 15% in some provinces), taxes on alcohol, gas, etc.

I was being facetious, and yes, we do absolutely have racists, and yes, most of the people in our prisons are not white (they're First Nations, in our case). Even so, we don't quite have the same legal system that seems to systematically lock up non-white people in bulk. A lower percentage of our population is in jail, they stay in for less time, and we have less violent crime overall. If you aren't white, I feel con…

You mean the same Canada whose police would pick up drunk First Nations men, drive them out of town and let them freeze to death?[1]

[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatoon_freezing_deaths

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

#494

Post by mikeash »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #485
mikeash wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's worth pointing out that the new executive order explicitly exempts dual nationals from the ban. Not that I think that's practically any better.

Thanks, I was unaware of that.

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

#495

Post by jacquesm »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #476
jacquesm wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

52% income tax is only on income > 67K euros, below that it is tiered with the next level down being 40%. The wealth tax is subject to an exemption of the first 25K. Also important: there is no capital gains tax and healthcare costs are ~100 euros / month no matter what you earn.

It is still pretty high though. Maybe not the highest, but high enough that a lot of people will take into account when deciding for or against Amsterdam.

It's high when considered in isolation, but that's silly. When comparing places you should consider all costs, not just the local taxes.

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

#496

Post by echevil »

briandear wrote: post #474
khuey wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the most critical weakeness of Silicon Valley is real estate costs. I find it hard to imagine Beijing as a serious competitor though. If it were going to be anywhere in China I would expect it to be Shenzhen.

Beijing? Right with the Great Firewall, it's a ridiculous place to run a tech company. With the air pollution it's a ridiculous place to live. I lived for many years in Shanghai but ultimately moved because it was nearly impossible to do anything tech related that relied on standard tools such as Github or marketing venues such as Facebook, etc.

Well there are tons of interesting tech work done in China, targeting only Chinese market though :) its a self contained market

I can walk around and pay for everything with my cellphone nowadays in China, but can't really do that in Bay Area.

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

#497

Post by cmrdporcupine »

drc511 wrote: post #461
xiaoma wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree that visas are a problem but I disagree that they will be "the problem" to unseat Silicon Valley as the world nexus of startups. I've spent most my adult life in Asia and have lived in several countries and cities that claim to be very serious about becoming the next tech hub. None of them have very liberal immigration policies. All have visas for highly skilled workers, all have visas for entrepre…

What YC has to do - is classical very very early Symptom Ecosystem dissolution.i.e. SV (i know its too early to say so). Its very hard to disrupt such woven ecosystem due to inherent resiliency and there is higher chances it will survive but this is unprecedented . I checked few VC twitter feeds, they are leaning towards Canada ,very early ,very slow but still unprecedented.Networks are strong as long as the inflecti…

If there is a move of any importance into Canada (doubtful to me as a Canadian) it will not be to Vancouver with its outrageous real estate prices, and very few tech companies, but to the Greater Toronto/Hamilton area, which is where 90% of these types of businesses are. Amazon, Google, and IBM are all already here or around here [Google is in Kitchener/Waterloo]. Apple is here for sales/marketing only (at least when my worked there 6-7 years ago).

Facebook and EA have presence in Vancouver, and Amazon has some there, too. But I get the impression that Facebook and Amazon are merely interested in using Vancouver as a 'feeder' office for getting candidates long run into their Seattle offices.

In any case, the wages are lower here which means talent still continues to emigrate. Also -- the weather. I work for Google Waterloo and I suspect there are far more Canadians working for Google in Mountain View than there are here in our largest Canadian office.

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

#498

Post by pascalxus »

curiousfiddler wrote: post #448

If you don't provide opportunity and a good civil environment to brilliant/enterprising people, they will find a way elsewhere. And once Vancouver or any other city starts working for them, Silicon Valley will lose its exclusivity. The thing to note here is that this response from YC is not a political one, but a response that came out of market demand; it is pretty significant if it works out.

But, this could also be quite positive for the bay area. By reducing the number of jobs, It might finally provide the housing relief the bay area so desperately needs.

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

#499

Post by mschuster91 »

jacquesm wrote: post #198
muninn_ wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to actually take that bet. Excluding thermonuclear war, if things get annoying enough we'll just elect a democrat next year and restore the political arena that people believe is best. One (what seems to be) bad president isn't going to completely ruin Silicon Valley. It's pure hyperbole.

> Excluding thermonuclear war, if things get annoying enough we'll just elect a democrat next year and restore the political arena that people believe is best. Most likely not next year.

> Most likely not next year.

In Germany and many other European countries, when the government resigns (or the government is mistrusted by parliament), there is the possibility of immediate new elections.

Is this totally impossible in the US?

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

#500

Post by iLoch »

mediocrejoker wrote: post #451
Pxtl wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be delicious and terrible irony if Vancouver took over the role of startup capital, since it is the only place with a more unaffordable housing market than the SF bay.

Vancouver's prices are high but they are not SF-high. If you mean housing cost relative to salary, however, that's perhaps a different story.

The average software engineering salary is somewhere around $75k here though.
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