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Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

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Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#41

Post by spamizbad »

exstudent wrote: post #37
x0x0 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are referring to recent proposed visa changes, you appear to be defining dysfunctional as not passing visa programs very beneficial to a tiny group of people: incubators like YC, and owners / large investors in tech dependent startups. As not a member of those groups, that's quite a stretch.

And you know, everyone who's not xenophobic, enjoys living in a diverse community and philosophically believes people should be able to live wherever they want.

Strawman. Vivek Wadhwa scolded Democrats for not taking a deal proposed by the Republicans whereby 55K diversity visas in exchange for startup visas. [1]

[1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/10/dear-congressman-gutierrez-...

Startup visas have nothing to do with diversity. It has to do with enriching the US economy. Nothing wrong with that. I support the startup visa moment, but not at the expense of other visas. We should be giving more visas - not less or the same amount reclassified.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#42

Post by refurb »

walterbell wrote: post #23

With the recent cancellation of Canadian real-estate immigration visa, hopefully the Vancouver housing market will stabilize, http://www.theprovince.com/business/Will+cancellation+Immigr... China has been allowing domestic yuan conversion to western mortgages, boosting real estate demand in Vancouver, NY, SF & elsewhere, http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Secret+path+revealed+Ch...

Wow! I had no idea the Immigrant Investor Program (IIP) worked that way in Canada![1] Basically you just give the Canadian gov't an $800K, interest-free loan and you get residency? Maybe I'm not reading it right, but you don't invest your money, the gov't invests it for you? And it's guaranteed?

I thought it was more like the US system where you had to invest money in a company of your choosing. If the company went under, tough.

The interesting thing is that the US program has an annual cap of 10,000, but hasn't reached it in the last few years. In Canada there was a backlog of tens of thousands of people.

[1]http://www.cic.gc.ca/enGlIsH/immigrate/business/investors/in...

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#43

Post by acdha »

blutoot wrote: post #32
parennoob wrote: post #22

As someone in the Sisyphean green card system (processing taking forever for the initial application, 6-7 years to go after that for the actual green card, best case); I am really glad that Canada is offering better alternatives. I bet if they emphasize this angle (quicker permanent residency for non-contract employees), they will get a decent amount of talent that otherwise is stuck grinding away in Silicon Valley f…

Working for 6-7 years for the same employer is now considered "grinding away"??

Just to second derefr's point, that's 6+ years where you MUST stay at that job and your employer knows they don't have to keep you happy. I've heard more than a few stories about this being publicly discussed when deciding who works on some unrewarding slog. Imagine spending the better part of a decade knowing that if you want to do more than, say, Sharepoint upgrades you'll have to do it in your own time.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#44

Post by papercruncher »

pskittle wrote: post #29

Has anyone here been hired by or hires engineers for an american company which has an office in Vancouver? Would you be kind enough to talk about you experience

I worked in Vancouver as a Microsoft employee for a few years, it was a great experience. Ping me if you want to chat

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#45

Post by exstudent »

spamizbad wrote: post #41
exstudent wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you know, everyone who's not xenophobic, enjoys living in a diverse community and philosophically believes people should be able to live wherever they want.

Strawman. Vivek Wadhwa scolded Democrats for not taking a deal proposed by the Republicans whereby 55K diversity visas in exchange for startup visas. [1] [1] http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/10/dear-congressman-gutierrez-... Startup visas have nothing to do with diversity. It has to do with enriching the US economy. Nothing wrong with that. I support the startup visa moment, but not at the expense of other visas. We sho…

I support open borders for the reasons I listed.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#47

Post by parennoob »

acdha wrote: post #43
blutoot wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working for 6-7 years for the same employer is now considered "grinding away"??

Just to second derefr's point, that's 6+ years where you MUST stay at that job and your employer knows they don't have to keep you happy. I've heard more than a few stories about this being publicly discussed when deciding who works on some unrewarding slog. Imagine spending the better part of a decade knowing that if you want to do more than, say, Sharepoint upgrades you'll have to do it in your own time.

To be fair, it is possible to change jobs when your application is ongoing. Just tedious. Tedious enough to be a strong disincentive.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#48

Post by blutoot »

parennoob wrote: post #47
acdha wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to second derefr's point, that's 6+ years where you MUST stay at that job and your employer knows they don't have to keep you happy. I've heard more than a few stories about this being publicly discussed when deciding who works on some unrewarding slog. Imagine spending the better part of a decade knowing that if you want to do more than, say, Sharepoint upgrades you'll have to do it in your own time.

To be fair, it is possible to change jobs when your application is ongoing. Just tedious. Tedious enough to be a strong disincentive.

Can anyone realistically make a meaningful impact in a big company in less than 6 years, especially when one is just starting out in the industry?

Also isn't it only fair that if a company that's gonna spend all this money on changing your fortunes forever (i.e. sponsor your green card), then it should be able to get as much value out of you as it can? So the burden falls kinda on the employee to make the best of that period and propel her career.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#49

Post by bruceb »

exstudent wrote: post #37
x0x0 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are referring to recent proposed visa changes, you appear to be defining dysfunctional as not passing visa programs very beneficial to a tiny group of people: incubators like YC, and owners / large investors in tech dependent startups. As not a member of those groups, that's quite a stretch.

And you know, everyone who's not xenophobic, enjoys living in a diverse community and philosophically believes people should be able to live wherever they want.

Pretty much every country has limits on immigration. It is hardly unique to the US. There are different cultures and traditions in the world. It takes for people to adjust to a new country and the country to adjust to them.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#50

Post by blutoot »

blutoot wrote: post #32
parennoob wrote: post #22

As someone in the Sisyphean green card system (processing taking forever for the initial application, 6-7 years to go after that for the actual green card, best case); I am really glad that Canada is offering better alternatives. I bet if they emphasize this angle (quicker permanent residency for non-contract employees), they will get a decent amount of talent that otherwise is stuck grinding away in Silicon Valley f…

Working for 6-7 years for the same employer is now considered "grinding away"??

Wow - this deserved a downvote?
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