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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

#141
post #2

As horrible as it sounds, in this specific respect, the current US administration has been really fantastic for Canada. More and more new grads are choosing to stay in the country and work with local tech companies, and we're experiencing a reverse brain-drain like never before.

> "we're experiencing a reverse brain-drain"

Are you Canadian? Is that what you mean by "we". (I'm just trying to understand the comment.)

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

#143

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

Well, most of the US is more temperate than most of Canada. So better like the cold/snow. Given the current US administration it might be a good trade.

Of course, the great Canadian conspiracy of promoting global warming to equalize that benefit may turn the tables in a couple of decades or so... /snark

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

#144
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, it has. The process is now more opaque, and it’s taking longer to get an approval. The number of requests for evidence has increased by close to 40%. There seems to be a deliberate attempt to frustrate legal immigrants out of the US, or at least, it feels like it. This is anecdotal, but I personally know 4 families that threw in the towel and moved to Canada. So, yes, in terms of policy, nothing’s chan…

Second that. I am a legal immigrant. Been in US for 5+yrs. Work in a FAANG company. Have a valid work permit (h1b) till 2021. Came back to home country for stamping, now my case is in administrative processing for 4+ months. House/Job/Child Education, all impacted because of this.

Sorry to hear that. Are you still in India waiting for your visa to be processed? Know the reason for administrative processing?

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

#145
post #76

Dunno. Salary in Silicon Valley - $300k. Salary in Vancouver - $80k. Rent almost the same. Weather in Silicon Valley - year-round sunny. Weather in Vancouver - 2 months of sun, rest gloomy. Are you sure you want to move to Canada? It used to be that MS/AMZN had a back up base in Vancouver for anyone who didn't make the cut with H1B/O-1.

Why are you comparing an extreme high salary in SF to an average salary in Vancouver?

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

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a unit for stripping people's citizenship now.

Lying on immigration applications has always been grounds for revocation of citizenship.

It's not always lying, that's why they created a unit to look into things when they decide to target someone. The trick is asking a lot of information on the forms (to increase the risk of mistakes), and then arguing that any discrepancy found does not have to be material to strip the citizenship.

And also stripping the citizenship of all the babies that one doctor or nurse has delivered over their career because they have lied at least once on a form.

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

#147

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

To add to this - universal health care.

This is very important for immigrants who have families. Basically, immigrating to Canada means you have freedom, stability, and health for you and your loved ones.

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

#148

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

I've spoken to an H1B lawyer about this, You can actually monetize your online work, just as long as the freelance company is not American. You can start up a limited company in your home country and get paid into a bank account there.

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

#149
post #84

As an Amazon employee, I really hope this factors in highly in the HQ2 decision. Toronto isn't perfect and the city sure isn't offering much in terms of tax breaks, but if Amazon wants to hire 50,000 more tech workers then they'd better be doing so in a country that will let those 50,000 people work.

I always believed that Toronto is a serious contender for the same reasons.

> the city sure isn't offering much in terms of tax breaks

Does it matter that much, though? As an insider you probably know better than me, but I assume that the lower cost of employment per head in Toronto would easily offset any kind of tax break.

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

#150

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

What the article failed to mention is that Trump and the Republican Congress have called for the US to change our immigration system to be more like Canada's. That is: focusing on skills and merit and limiting extended-family migration.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/trump-c...

Right now the majority of legal immigration to the US is based on having family in the US. The US has a much more expansive view of family unification than does Canada -- for example an adult in the US can sponsor their adult siblings and all of their children, spouses, and parents for citizenship -- which is not something you can do in Canada. Once citizens, all of those folks can then sponsor their extended family for family reunification migration as well.

https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/media/images/US_vs._Canada_1...

This kind of proposal would be good for people currently on H1B that would like to become citizens. However, the cost would be far fewer extended-family reunification immigrants.

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