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H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

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Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#31

Post by dpatriarche »

8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #10
techsupporter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine tells me that one of his biggest regrets from the past handful of years is not having applied for and received citizenship when President Obama was president. He has a misdemeanor (for something that almost every US citizen would consider trivial) from when he was a teenager but because of when it happened and what it is, naturalizing would require a waiver from USCIS in order to proceed (and to not…

Are there any downsides to getting one, outside of perhaps having to let go of one's other citizenships for countries that don't allow it?

One downside of getting US citizenship is that if you later move to another country (your original country or a third country), you will obligated to continue to file US income tax returns, and potentially pay US income taxes. Depending on your circumstances, your tax filing might be trivial or it might be complicated, and you may or may not actually owe taxes to the US. So this might be a minor annual hassle, or it might be a painful, time consuming and expensive process. It is possible to later give up your US citizenship, but it takes time and costs money.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#32

Post by mywittyname »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #7

Canada's aggressively merit based immigration policy has clear advantages in terms of allowing talent in. That said Canadian tech firms still pay way too little.

Also timelines. I don't have first-hand experience, but the people I've talked to said they had citizenship within two years.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#33

Post by en4bz »

otalp wrote: post #16

I suppose my comments from yesterdays thread about "Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere" is relevant: I did the math for Toronto(which is more expensive than Montreal, and about the same as Vancouver). For a typical software engineer, taxes take away 25% of gross pay in Ontario while it's over 30% in California and New York. Cost of living is much less(by 30-40% if you rent) in Toronto compared t…

This assumes you live in the highest CoL areas in the US. If you live outside of the Bay Area or NYC you take home significantly more than in Canada. In Canada you NEED to live in high CoL areas like Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal to get work.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#34

Post by jszymborski »

otalp wrote: post #16

I suppose my comments from yesterdays thread about "Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere" is relevant: I did the math for Toronto(which is more expensive than Montreal, and about the same as Vancouver). For a typical software engineer, taxes take away 25% of gross pay in Ontario while it's over 30% in California and New York. Cost of living is much less(by 30-40% if you rent) in Toronto compared t…

Overall, I agree with your points, but I have some points of contention with some of the analysis.

I don't think it's quite fair to include tax if you're not going to include savings for things like health care.

Furthermore, Toronto's housing market, while less expensive than Cali/NY, is still insane. I know you acknowledge this in passing, but Montreal's housing market is insanely affordable, and we've a great tech/uni scene.

Immigration to Quebec, might be getting harder for non-Canadians w/ our new provincial gov't, however.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#35

Post by CydeWeys »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

Isn't compensation, even after adjusting for cost of living and health insurance, much lower in Canada than anywhere in the U.S.?

That doesn't particularly matter when you can't get or retain a visa to work in the US.

Maybe salaries in those places will increase as a result.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#36

Post by dubya123 »

CodeSheikh wrote: post #28

While many in the comments are throwing salary/cost of living/taxes numbers left and right but no one is making a case for extreme winters in Canada vs the Bay Area. I can understand that it might not mean a lot to some but for me it can be a deal breaker.

Hmm yeah hard winters or having your spouse deported. Hard choice.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#37

Post by microcolonel »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #7

Canada's aggressively merit based immigration policy has clear advantages in terms of allowing talent in. That said Canadian tech firms still pay way too little.

Sadly the U.S.'s affirmative action lottery based immigration policy is defended thoroughly by (D), so it's probably not going anywhere; especially since merit-based immigration (even to the limited extent that Canada's system could be called that [knowing personally how it sometimes turns out, it sure ain't perfect]) has been successfully associated with (R) at this point, and (D) isn't in the mood to even entertain anything that (R) might accept (and at this point, it seems that (R) isn't willing to support it unanimously either, so it may not get off the ground any time soon).

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#38

Post by refurb »

GFischer wrote: post #11
tick_tock_tick wrote: post #7

Canada's aggressively merit based immigration policy has clear advantages in terms of allowing talent in. That said Canadian tech firms still pay way too little.

Indeed, the reason I don't consider moving to Canada is that the areas where I'd like to live are too expensive and salaries too low for the high cost of living, mostly housing (I already can't purchase a house where I live but at least I can hope to, I'd be priced out even worse in Canada).

Toronto and Vancouver housing prices aren't that much lower than the Bay area. However, it does look like the trend is downward in those two cities at the moment.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#39

Post by webkike »

notafraudster wrote: post #22
refurb wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're saying the brain drain has reversed and now there are more Americans going to Canada than vice versa? Source?

I believe he's making two claims: 1. The magnitude of the Canada -> US migration flow has lowered 2. The magnitude of the US -> Canada migration flow has raised. I am unsure if either claim is true, but both claims can be true without the net migration flow switching signs.

Or, they are making the claim that the people who left canada for the US are migrating back to canada
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