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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

#261

Post by sumitgt »

dilippkumar wrote: post #101

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…

Thank you.

As the top comment on the article, you have clearly and succinctly expressed everything I have felt.

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

#262

Post by eloff »

stevenwoo wrote: post #246
eloff wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada is super environmentally conscious. I don't know where you get the idea from that we promote global warming, except as being a petroleum exporter (the US is a much bigger petroleum producer.) I can think of one glaring example of climate change denial among developed nations, however...

Which part of Canada and what kind of environmentally conscious? The mining companies in Canada don't seem too particularly environmentally conscious according to the older Canadian news article that aligns with my memory. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/10/19/canadian_mini... Also, the a large majority of wells in Canada are now fracking wells so fresh water contamination is a consideration as well, it seem…

Are mining companies anywhere environmentally conscious anymore than they have to be? The people and politics of Canada are in favor of combating climate change in many respects. Not like the US withdrawing from the Paris accords.

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

#263

Post by adriand »

___cs____ wrote: post #104

Canada/Australia have thriving scene, but somehow the number of jobs is really low. There was a nice discussion on reddit about brain drain to Australia/Canada. https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/9l1pug/w... https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/9l3ueo/which_coun...

'Toronto’s tech scene is so hot the city created more jobs than the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Washington, D.C., combined last year, while leapfrogging New York in a ranking of “talent markets."'

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-24/toronto-b...

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

#264

Post by arcticbull »

xtreme wrote: post #189
latte wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Make and sell art, perform for an audience, publish on a blog or a youtube channel that’s monetized That's weird. I cannot even imagine what the rationale for introducing these restrictions could be. Normally, working restrictions for immigrants serve to protect the wages of the local work force, but in this case they only make the migrants' lives less fulfilling.

USCIS considers pretty much everything that results in monetary gains (other than investing) as "working". Even renting your own house counts as working, so people on H1B can't do that either.

Not exactly, you can rent your house, that’s considered passive income like any other investment (so long as you don’t day trade), which is fine, to the best of my knowledge.

You can’t have anything that even resembles a job, either paid (active income) OR unpaid if it may replace a paid US worker.

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

#265

Post by huy-nguyen »

xtreme wrote: post #189
latte wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Make and sell art, perform for an audience, publish on a blog or a youtube channel that’s monetized That's weird. I cannot even imagine what the rationale for introducing these restrictions could be. Normally, working restrictions for immigrants serve to protect the wages of the local work force, but in this case they only make the migrants' lives less fulfilling.

USCIS considers pretty much everything that results in monetary gains (other than investing) as "working". Even renting your own house counts as working, so people on H1B can't do that either.

That’s not true. Passive income (like renting out your room/house) is not considered work unless you spent a lot of time on it e.g. AirBnB.

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

#266

Post by arcticbull »

bdcravens wrote: post #198
pshc wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re: crypto mining, that’s funny. I thought a passive activity like crypto mining is allowed as long as one doesn’t actively “work” on it. Maybe the NAFTA/USMCA rules are different?

Mining is one thing, selling for a profit is where I think you run afoul. (IANAL)

That’s just investment income afaik. Pretty sure this is okay so long as you’re not day trading.

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

#267

Post by t1o5 »

This news has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Not everyone moves to Canada after they get a residency thru the Express Entry system. The majority of them do something called "soft landing" to activate their permanent resident card and go back to US the same day. They use Canada as a plan B if something happens with their greencard process in future. This is actually detrimental for other eligible people who have applied for express entry because H1Bs fill the top layers of the express entry system and thus the permanent residence permits go wasted because H1Bs don't come to stay in Canada.

Québec is an exception here and do not follow merit based system. So the immigrants coming in Québec are not skilled or employable and is a burden to Canadians. On the other hand, skilled applicants in Québec are waiting 4-5 years for a permit from Québec because Quebec do not follow merit system. The new CAQ leader is also against immigration and has vowed to cut down immigration. So any startups planning to have an office should be aware of this. Québec IT employers are struggling to find talents because of the dysfunctional immigration department of Québec.

Now the highly regarded global talent stream is only applicable to large employers.

Startups still have to go the hard way. Getting an LMIA work permit will take 3-6 months and renewing it will also take the same amount of time.

Overall, Canada's Express Entry system is a merit based system. But the candidates do not need to prove their technical skills. Anyone with a Bachleor's degree, a good command of English and 3 years of work experience can get a residency in Canada. This doesn't necessarily mean there is talent. Moreover, a talented international worker might travel to many countries, so if you are an applicant who have travelled to many countries, 6 months express entry time do not apply, Canada will put you thru something called Security Screening which can last 1 to 2 years.

So the 6 months timeline are for people who haven't travelled a lot or worked at many countries. It's just for a less experienced Bachelor degree holder with a good command of English. Do not come to Canada for the money, salaries are not that great. Toronto and Vancouver housing prices are pumped up thanks to Quebec's money for citizenship scheme. Québec immigration is dysfunctional, so good luck finding talents in Montreal for your startup.

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

#268

Post by arcticbull »

loftyal wrote: post #148
dilippkumar wrote: post #101

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.

What matters is where you are physically located when performing the work not where the company that owns the work product is incorporated from a US immigration perspective. You should double check this with another attorney.

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

#269

Post by jpatokal »

arcticbull wrote: post #266
bdcravens wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mining is one thing, selling for a profit is where I think you run afoul. (IANAL)

That’s just investment income afaik. Pretty sure this is okay so long as you’re not day trading.

The real problem here is that you can't stake your and your family's future on being "pretty sure" that a random immigration bureaucrat will see it that way, so the only sane thing to do is avoid anything with even slight risk. (Or move to Canada.)

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

#270

Post by lhorie »

3pt14159 wrote: post #252
martin_iden wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like Toronto, but cost of living is high (one of the largest housing bubbles in the world, high taxes), salaries are low and jobs (not only in tech) are scarce. In the States you won't find engineers, doctors, accountants working in the supermarkets/starbucks. Go to any store in Richmond Hill/North York and you will see plenty. There is an ugly truth that people don't like to discuss much, Canada accepts too…

Martin you can rent a room in Toronto for $850 with a single housemate. It's no where near that in the valley. What other major costs are there? Healthcare is covered. Dental is <$1k / year. Vision is <$1k / year. Food is way cheaper than SF. Less on accountant fees, less on legal fees, less on anything I can think of, really.

I really don't understand where people get the idea that housing is expensive in Toronto. You can rent a room in a rental home in scarborough or etobicoke for as low as a few hundred dollars. You'd share a house with a dozen people sure, but you typically get a private room at least. The cheapest I've been able to find in SF was $600 for sharing a _room_ with half a dozen people.
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