Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles • Hacker News Board

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

#311

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 11, 2014, 9:39 PM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #305

lsc wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

Only for fungible labor. Many skilled positions have scarcity, and employers are willing to pay more for an immigrant if their skillset is a better fit and/or can fill the position immediately.

[deleted]

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

#312

Post by induscreep » Mon, Aug 11, 2014, 9:59 PM UTC

djb_hackernews wrote: post #246

davidw wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you ask those in US they might say for worse. Rather than ask J Random Dude in the US, you should probably ask someone with a modicum of expertise in the matter, such as an economist, who will tell you that adding people is generally a net positive, rather than a negative. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy 60% of the largest high tech companies were founded by immigrants or their children: http…

Right, however this is where the details start to muddy the conclusion. The fact is the H1-B visa program is completely abused in order to bring in cheaper employees at the expense of the rest of the community. These H1-B employees have little recourse, limited career potential and supress wages. The uncertainty of their immigration status means they don't buy houses, start families, or participate in the community.…

I would say that US citizens have an easier time doing a masters or PhD because they are eligible for many scholarships and fellowships that international students do not qualify for. In addition, good universities usually offer research or teaching assistantships which result in a complete tuition waiver as well as a monthly stipend.

So, US citizens can definitely afford a masters or doctorate - but they are in so much debt from undergrad that they prefer to work than study further.

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

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Post by induscreep » Mon, Aug 11, 2014, 10:31 PM UTC

ulfw wrote: post #194

bdamm wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so bad if you spend some of that time raising children :)

Try to raise children on one salary living in a high-cost city like San Francisco/Bay Area when the spouse can't work for six years. Then try to find a job after six years out of work. I have friends whose marriage broke because of similar situations.

The spouse is free to find a job that sponsors their H1B...absolutely no restrictions on that.

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

#314

Post by read » Mon, Aug 11, 2014, 10:53 PM UTC

0xab wrote: post #168

mbesto wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's your definition of sane? None of those countries have the scale, frequency and volume of demand that resembles anything like the US.[1] > Contrast that with how things work in the US (which I don't have time to get into in an HN comment), and you'll see why it deserves to be singled out for this. I don't think anyone is questioning that other countries have much more lax policies. The question is what is your…

In terms of immigrants as a percentage of population the US is nothing special. Canada has a lot more (closer to 19% instead of 14%). Many European countries have statistics similar to that of the US (Sweden has a bit more, the UK a bit less, etc). But I digress. The problem with the existing system is that it is insane and a waste of resources. One has to get a lawyer and wait for a long time with no certainty in th…

This is the first post by 0xab after 1992 days of being a registered HN user. Imagine (a) the determination needed to not yield to temptation and post something over 5.5 years, and (b) how upsetting immigration is to someone as determined as this PhD for his first comment to be on immigration.

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

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Post by BrainInAJar » Mon, Aug 11, 2014, 11:15 PM UTC

pskittle wrote: post #272

BrainInAJar wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I don't know about the first, but as for how easy it is to find decent paying jobs, quite easy. There's a whole list of local companies that hire in the regular ways ( meetups, referrals, resume cold calls ) and most multinational companies will phone interview & let you know if remote work is an option (it invariably is for most teams)

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

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Post by bramgg » Tue, Aug 12, 2014, 3:42 AM UTC

cperciva wrote: post #97

paul wrote: post #15

I think if we ever start a second YC location, this will be the reason -- to help founders who are unable to get past the US immigration system. It's unfortunate that our government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional at every level -- federal, state, and local governments are all failing to do their jobs. I'm glad that Canada is introducing some competitive pressure.

I think if we ever start a second YC location, this will be the reason Please do. Tarsnap will apply to be part of YC Vancouver if it happens. (I'm assuming that if you create a YC somewhere outside of the US it would be in Vancouver, because really, nowhere else in the world is anywhere near as awesome.) FWIW, I think there's two "markets" of which you've only mentioned one -- in addition to founders who can't get U…

> FWIW, I think there's two "markets" of which you've only mentioned one -- in addition to founders who can't get US visas, I know plenty of talented Canadians and Europeans who don't want to live in the US due to the current political climate.

+1. With my current interests and life goals it seems like I'll eventually have head down to Silicon Vally, but the idea of living in the US terrifies me. Ycombinator opening up in Vancouver would probably prevent what would otherwise be inevitable just because of the domino effect it would have. Not to mention attending Ycombinator in Vancouver would be amazing, but that's making large assumptions.

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

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Post by pinars » Tue, Aug 12, 2014, 5:32 AM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #171

davidw wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not job related, but family related: if you're married, here in Italy, you can stay, end of story. Effective immediately. In the US, the process is something like 6 months, although apparently there was/is a backlog, and they were taking something like a year to process applications for spouses . It gives you an idea of how screwed up the system is.

It doesn't take a year for spouses through USCIS. More like a few months.

(Semi-related) I'm an L-1A spouse. It took my work application 10 months to get processed, when the USCIS' own regulation stated that the it should have been closed in 90 days.

You call them, ask them, plead with them. Nothing. "Your application is in the system and is getting processed."

Nine months into it, it turned out that they lost my digital picture taken at a USCIS facility. How in this day and age one loses digital pictures is beyond me.

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

#318

Post by nojvek » Tue, Aug 12, 2014, 7:47 AM UTC

paul wrote: post #15

I think if we ever start a second YC location, this will be the reason -- to help founders who are unable to get past the US immigration system. It's unfortunate that our government is becoming increasingly dysfunctional at every level -- federal, state, and local governments are all failing to do their jobs. I'm glad that Canada is introducing some competitive pressure.

I am a MS employee waiting to move to the US. Just so frustrated by the system. After 15 months I've fallen in love with Vancouver. I come from Australia. Yes, the winter sucks, but as Engineers we spend a lot of time indoors and it doesn't make a huge difference.

I would definitely apply for YC Vancouver. The tech community here is vibrant and growing.

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

#319

Post by nojvek » Tue, Aug 12, 2014, 7:53 AM UTC

vacri wrote: post #76

jbarham wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly Vancouver's winters are milder than anywhere east of the Rockies, but the flipside is that you have to put up with rain, rain and more rain. After living in Vancouver for five years I moved to southern California where the weather was fantastic. I'm now in Melbourne, Australia, which is considered by Aussies to have cold winters but as a Canadian I just laugh whenever I hear that. Apart from the weather I'd…

I've had both Scots and Canadians complain about how cold Melbourne gets. The problem isn't so much that the temperature drop doesn't get below freezing very often, it's that we don't build for the cold. Another friend says that he knows a German who, when she visits someone's house, shakes an inner wall with her fingertips and says "you guys can't build houses for shit". The ironic thing is that we have some of the…

I'm from Australia. Can definitely say housing is cheaper than Vancouver. Vancouver has been flooded by Super Rich Asians from China dumping their money in property and sky rocketing the prices for property. Can't get a 2 bedroom for less than $750,000.

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

#320

Post by davidw » Tue, Aug 12, 2014, 11:36 AM UTC

djb_hackernews wrote: post #246

davidw wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you ask those in US they might say for worse. Rather than ask J Random Dude in the US, you should probably ask someone with a modicum of expertise in the matter, such as an economist, who will tell you that adding people is generally a net positive, rather than a negative. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lump_of_labour_fallacy 60% of the largest high tech companies were founded by immigrants or their children: http…

Right, however this is where the details start to muddy the conclusion. The fact is the H1-B visa program is completely abused in order to bring in cheaper employees at the expense of the rest of the community. These H1-B employees have little recourse, limited career potential and supress wages. The uncertainty of their immigration status means they don't buy houses, start families, or participate in the community.…

I agree that H1B's are problematic, but think the solution is more liberty for those people, so that they're in a better bargaining position with the company, rather than lowering the number of people allowed in.