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The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

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Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#61

Post by alecco »

anamax wrote: post #20
Vargas wrote: post #14

Hum... It is not that they (we) are leaving, it is more like they (we) are not even going. I'm a Spaniard, I have worked in five different countries in Europe and Latin America. I'm currently settled in the U.K. I have worked as a consultant, as a developer in a "one-product" company and now I´m working as an in-house developer in a non-tech company. It simply does not make sense to relocate to USA for me. I have had…

> every other day you get news about some guy who > On the other hand, I personally know some people (about 15 persons) Not to defend the US Immigration service, but those samples aren't comparable - one is orders of magnitude larger and less reliable.

> Not to defend the US Immigration service

In my experience (about 10 visits to US as Latino) US Immigration was always nice, even if sometimes slow. But Homeland Security and Customs seem to be filled with ignorant bigots. I've heard of cavity searches and like OP and 30h+ detention on harsh conditions. Only because they don't like your face.

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#62

Post by thras »

critic wrote: post #50
thras wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, sure. But then I'd have to think of an explanation for why adopted Asian-Americans do just as well (or better) academically than Asian-Americans raised by their own parents. Culture can't explain that. Maybe you could help me out?

Maybe they mingle with other Asians in school? In any case, it would be interesting to see the study you are referring to.

Sure, here's a reference: http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&#38...

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#63

Post by thras »

ajju wrote: post #51
thras wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused. Are you claiming that the populations of all countries score the same on IQ tests? Are you saying that it's all explained by culture and that all that culture goes away when someone immigrates? Do you believe in creationism? What? While I'm sure that your conviction is sincere, I doubt it's based on any actual evidence. Instead it's an expression of how you'd like the world to be.

I am saying that considering the average IQ of a country in deciding how difficult it should be for an individual (from that country) to get a visa would be stupid even if IQ was a good determinant of the value an individual brings to the country of his residence.

I think that's an absolutely fair comment (as opposed to your "must be the water" brush-off). Now, if you'd also be willing to end chain-migration, I would be all for your proposal as the best solution.

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#64

Post by jerf »

anamax wrote: post #53
chiffonade wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm a little scared of China How can you say this when the Bush administration has just spent the past 8 years systematically dismantling your privacy rights and running a global kidnapping and torture network? Meanwhile, the US imprisons more of its population than any other nation on earth, especially for non-violent crimes. It doesn't scare you that you can be thrown in jail for years because you like to smoke a…

>> I'm a little scared of China >How can you say this when the Bush administration has just spent the past 8 years systematically dismantling your privacy rights and running a global kidnapping and torture network? Because he knows the difference between the current value and the derivative? Besides, Obama has pretty much signed onto everything, so it's all good. And then there's the "where is better?" question.

"Besides, Obama has pretty much signed onto everything, so it's all good."

No, it's more than that. When they actually investigate things, it turns out they weren't as bad as painted; for instance, it turns out that Guantanamo meets all relevant Geneva conventions after all, according to the Obama administration, and I'm citing this as an example not the complete list of what I've been seeing go by lately.

There's many people here who will never necessarily like Bush, but the sooner everyone realizes that the media ran a massive disinformation campaign on him and that the Bush accusations and the Obama bootlicking in the media on the exact same policies can't both be right (and that the truth is probably in the middle), the better off our democracy will be.

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#65

Post by [deleted] »

garply wrote: post #10

I'm a US citizen in the SF bay area, bootstrapping a web company by myself, and I'm heading out to Beijing this summer. PG talks a lot about reaching 'ramen profitability' and there's no easier place to hit that than China. It's going to cost me about $400 a month to live (frugally), and if I needed to, I could teach English for about $60 / hr. Worst case scenario, a native English speaker could dedicate one or two d…

[deleted]

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#66

Post by jasonkester »

garply wrote: post #10

I'm a US citizen in the SF bay area, bootstrapping a web company by myself, and I'm heading out to Beijing this summer. PG talks a lot about reaching 'ramen profitability' and there's no easier place to hit that than China. It's going to cost me about $400 a month to live (frugally), and if I needed to, I could teach English for about $60 / hr. Worst case scenario, a native English speaker could dedicate one or two d…

Out of curiosity, have you spent much time in China? More important, do you speak Chinese?

I've spent a lot of time in Southeast Asia, but only a couple months in China. One thing that struck me there was that it's one of the few places where you really can't get by in English alone. I mean sure, you can feed yourself and find places to sleep, but it's really tough to get to know the people because pretty much nobody speaks any English at all. I met some Chinese-speaking Americans along the way, and it was simply amazing to see what I'd been missing out on.

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. are much easier places to get by as an English speaker. They figured out long ago that nobody is going to learn Laotian, so they'd better start labeling things in English. China never had that problem, so it's still a bit painful to travel in unless you know the language.

So yeah, if you know what you're getting into, then I bet you're going to have a great time. If not, I might recommend looking south a ways. Hanoi is quite livable for a SE Asian city, for instance.

Regardless, you're on the right track!

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#67

Post by siong1987 »

nickpp wrote: post #6

I left USA after being an H1B for 5 years with delay after delay in my GC application. HARD decision. Hated leaving... Went to my home country, created a software company with successful products. Now a few dozen jobs are here instead of there and some million $$$ are flowing into my country. Still, I would move to the US and open an office if I'd have a legal, fast way to get a residency there. Not likely though.

May I know where you come from?

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#68

Post by iamelgringo »

smg wrote: post #2

I am working from India for the past 3 months instead of my San Francisco office. Nearly every large IT company in India offers benefits at par with Google. Yes I mean multiple food vendors. Food being served 6 times a day. The salary of an IT professional in India easily puts him among the highest wage earners in India (something similar to how Wall Street traders were a couple of years ago). Chauffeur driven cars,…

The biggest question I have to ask myself is should I return to my studio in SF.

Tough question. I just spent 5 days visiting family in Guadalajara, MX, which is a fairly large tech center for Mexico. You can live very well for $30k a year. I had coffee with a software engineer that is building online education for the University of Mex, Guadalajara. They have 7 full degrees that you can get online. That's a bit different than the Central America I grew up in the Contra/Guerrilla filled 80's.

It would be easy to make the cultural transition. I don't know that I'd like to move there, but it's certainly an interesting option, isn't it? For the price that I'm paying for rent in Silicon Valley, I could live like a king back where I grew up.Hmmmm...

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#69

Post by queensnake »

palehose wrote: post #57

Is this really something of interest to Hacker News? It sounds more like political flamebait to me.

From the guidelines:

  http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
"Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. "

Re: The Real High-Tech Immigrant Problem: They’re Leaving

#70

Post by kirubakaran »

alecco wrote: post #52
garply wrote: post #10

I'm a US citizen in the SF bay area, bootstrapping a web company by myself, and I'm heading out to Beijing this summer. PG talks a lot about reaching 'ramen profitability' and there's no easier place to hit that than China. It's going to cost me about $400 a month to live (frugally), and if I needed to, I could teach English for about $60 / hr. Worst case scenario, a native English speaker could dedicate one or two d…

Same here, but back in Argentina after many years in Europe. * ZERO visa problems, we welcome immigrants from hunger or financial disasters, since 1890 :) * Pretty women who like foreigners (never underestimate this!) * Great nightlife (or this.) * Projected economic growth (recession instead of depression.) * After '01 default, the country works on zero credit already (no surprises.) * But infrastructure and culture…

How easy it is to live there without knowing Spanish? What are the safer parts of the country? Also can you please estimate the monthly expenses?
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