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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

#271

Post by countrybama24 »

inoop wrote: post #66

Earlier this year I interviewed for a research/engineering position at Apple. I was offered the job, took it, and went into the H1B lottery. It took the USCIS four months to let me know that my application was not selected, even though it was filed under 'premium processing', and the draw had been done using a computer in the first week after submissions closed. Since the job required me to be in Cupertino, the deal…

The H-1B system should at least be an auction, not a lottery. The companies that use the system to source cheaper replacements for current workers would get priced out of the market and the individuals who contribute the most to the company (and the economy) would get in. Bonus: more revenue would be raised by the government.

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

#272

Post by pskittle »

BrainInAJar wrote: post #85
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

Yes, several. I'm in Vancouver, and every job I've had have been from Bay Area companies with satellite offices here.

Thanks for your reply, how arduous is the process of hiring talent also is it easy to find decent paying jobs?

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

#273

Post by bashmohandes »

Been there, done that. I had the same experience back in 2008, when the economy was on its peak --before it crashed miserably-- back then I got an offer from Microsoft to work in their new Vancouver development center aka(MCDC). The plan was to get everyone who is stuck waiting for their H1b Visas to start working immediately (because Canada is awesome) while testing their luck with the lottery and in worse case scenario working for a period of 1 year to qualify for L1 visa, the plan was working great, actually many people ended up loving Vancouver and decided to stay there and not go to US at all, however after the economy crashed, the H1b demand fell pretty sharp for the next 3 to 4 years which made the whole development center purpose unnecessary, in addition to significantly slower hiring and layoffs in that time frame. So, now I see the same thing happening again, and I worry if this is just a déjà vu, hopefully not, fingers crossed.

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

#274

Post by pskittle »

papercruncher wrote: post #44
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

Thanks for the offer, what's your best email.

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

#275

Post by nesyt »

cgh wrote: post #267
curiousDog wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know why you lost the lottery? Because Indian outsourcing firms like Infosys, Wipro flooded it with applications to bring in cheap labor! There's no talent or extraordinary ability among the people they bring in. IMO, outsourcing companies should be banned from h1-b/greencard, period. Banning them, I doubt the H1-B quota will even fill-up EDIT: In response to the downvoters, Im Indian myself and I know the qualit…

The quality of Indian programmers tends to vary wildly. I currently work with some guys who are really good, and one guy who is simply incredible, while in the past I've worked with people who literally had never since a command line interface before. This was for a position where we deployed to Linux.

The quality of programmers tends to vary wildly.

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

#276

Post by bashmohandes »

jordanthoms wrote: post #135
turar wrote: post #19

This is a repeat of the same story that happened the last time H-1B limit didn't meet the demand for visas. US tech companies, most notably Microsoft, opened "offices" in Vancouver. What happens next is that those employees will work for 1 year in Canada, and then will become eligible for L-1 intra-company transfer back to the US, side-stepping the H-1B quagmire.

Problem with the L1 is that as I understand it, if you are on a L1 you can't apply for a green card or a H1B to stay more permanently in the US. So you are basically wedded to the company you have the visa with.

L1 is almost identical to H1b except for two main things, L1 grants your spouse an L2 visa which make him\her eligible to work in US unlike H1b\H4 nightmare, while on H1b you have more freedom applying for other jobs (if the companies are willing to transfer your visa) without going through the lottery again, unlike L1 which you get stuck with the same employer unless another company is willing to go through the lottery hassle with you. in short, Pick your poison.

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

#277

Post by jonny_eh »

countrybama24 wrote: post #271
inoop wrote: post #66

Earlier this year I interviewed for a research/engineering position at Apple. I was offered the job, took it, and went into the H1B lottery. It took the USCIS four months to let me know that my application was not selected, even though it was filed under 'premium processing', and the draw had been done using a computer in the first week after submissions closed. Since the job required me to be in Cupertino, the deal…

The H-1B system should at least be an auction, not a lottery. The companies that use the system to source cheaper replacements for current workers would get priced out of the market and the individuals who contribute the most to the company (and the economy) would get in. Bonus: more revenue would be raised by the government.

An auction based on the salary of the employee. i.e. the money doesn't go to the government, it goes to the person being hired. This also removes the criticism that the H1B is being used to bring in "cheap labour".

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

#278

Post by shas3 »

countrybama24 wrote: post #271
inoop wrote: post #66

Earlier this year I interviewed for a research/engineering position at Apple. I was offered the job, took it, and went into the H1B lottery. It took the USCIS four months to let me know that my application was not selected, even though it was filed under 'premium processing', and the draw had been done using a computer in the first week after submissions closed. Since the job required me to be in Cupertino, the deal…

The H-1B system should at least be an auction, not a lottery. The companies that use the system to source cheaper replacements for current workers would get priced out of the market and the individuals who contribute the most to the company (and the economy) would get in. Bonus: more revenue would be raised by the government.

This could potentially increase the 'cost-to-company' for each employee. Also, it could well be that an employee is worth a lot to Infosys, Cognizant, or other off-shoring companies who make up a bulk of the H1B applications, and they may be willing to spend enough to be the highest bidder.

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

#279

Post by jonny_eh »

lsc wrote: post #173
bduerst wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>there is a cap and one reason is probably because opening the gates wide open will skew the job market in US. Maybe. One of the factors evaluated for h1b approval is whether or not the immigrant's salary is higher than the mean wages for U.S. citizens working in the same SOC category in the same area. "Opening the floodgates" would only serve to skew the average salary upwards for citizens, which is good for skilled…

>One of the factors evaluated for h1b approval is whether or not the immigrant's salary is higher than the mean wages for U.S. citizens working in the same SOC category in the same area. You can make many valid arguments for loosening the American immigration laws; but driving up the average wage because that's what the government mandate assumes that companies are irrational. A profit-maximizing company is only goin…

> A profit-maximizing company is only going to hire a H1B if they are cheaper than a US citizen per unit work.

Not true. What if the company can't find a qualified candidate? Then what they pay will likely be higher than the average worker in that industry. That's how salaries go up.

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

#280

Post by countrybama24 »

rdtsc wrote: post #138
WildUtah wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An auction is the obvious solution. Submit bids with your application for the fee to be paid yearly to the USA and the highest bidders get the H1-B visas. There's no need to raise the cap and all the Apples and Googles get all the applicants they want. Today the majority of H1-B visas go to Wipro and Infosys and the like for low paid tech grunts; Apple won't have any trouble outbidding them. And those tech grunt comp…

Yeah I suggested it because it seemed like a rather obvious solution. Now not sure if government is just incapable running an auction or there is an obvious flaw in it that I just couldn't see.

They seem to auction off spectrum pretty efficiently.
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