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U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

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Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#101
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also better healthcare. My parents have friends that moved from the US to Canada due to this and the very competitive job market in the US with virtually no employee rights. They weren't working in tech but banking/services.

In some ways, perhaps. The fact we frequently have to pay for prescribed medication is mind-blowingly ridiculous. Even with medical insurance (through your employer or paying for the plan yourself), you're usually forced to use generic medications if you want coverage - even when your doctor signs a Special Authority[0] form to have your medication covered. And yes, there can be pretty substantial differences between…

> substantial differences between name brand and generic

I was under the impression generics are molecular identical? How do they differ when the name brand version says on the pack, for example, temazepam 10mg, and the generic version says the same thing?

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#102
post #90
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Headline from this past weekend in Toronto: "Three dead, two injured in shooting at Airbnb rental in downtown Toronto" ( https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/01/31/four-injured-pos... )

you want a cookie? homicide exists in every city. Toronto is relatively safe compared to its American counterparts.

Which American counterparts?

Detroit? Kansas City? Camden? Sure.

But cities like SF aren’t like those cities at all. Quick google shows 33 homocides in SF and 142 in Toronto. Based on population, that’s 33 per million for SF and 24 for Toronto.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#103

I'm moving from San Francisco to Toronto soon. Staying at the same job, my salary will go from $180k usd to $128k usd ($170k cad). (Equity comp remains the same) That's a pretty big cut, though at least for me it's worth it because of non-monetary reasons, like being closer to family, not dealing with immigration anymore, healthcare/education. The money stuff isn't so bad. A downtown Toronto condo is a lot cheaper th…

How's the weather there though?

Can we just stop comparing cities? Everyone loves to complain about the cost of living in SF and always brags about how they could buy a mansion in the midwest.

No one cares. It's all about location. There is a reason why California is the most populous state in the union despite it being so expensive (weather and jobs). There is a reason the population in the midwest is so low (lack of jobs and weather mostly).

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#104
post #75
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now is the time to leave. 18 years in the US with a kid born here. I missed the boat in getting my priority date around the time when my friends were getting theirs (my company was laying off people in other departments and my application got audited). Didn't think it was a big deal at that time. Now, my friends are getting their citizenships and I'm still stuck on a visa. I'm at the whim of the Consul officer and th…

>>Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. Those days are gone now. You go into EB-1 only if you get into the US on L1-A. They don't give L1-A's easily these days. For starters you need to be in director level positions to even qualify for L1-A's. Even then the waiting period for India EB-1 itself is growing and stands at 5+ years now. And it wil…

> 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year

That was the total number of citizenships granted last year. Indians were about 50k of that total - approximately 6%. That's from the article you linked.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#105
post #95

I'm moving from San Francisco to Toronto soon. Staying at the same job, my salary will go from $180k usd to $128k usd ($170k cad). (Equity comp remains the same) That's a pretty big cut, though at least for me it's worth it because of non-monetary reasons, like being closer to family, not dealing with immigration anymore, healthcare/education. The money stuff isn't so bad. A downtown Toronto condo is a lot cheaper th…

I moved to Toronto, then to SF. Thought I'd also share my anecdata here. I used to make ~100k/yr CAD (75k/yr USD) when I was in TO around 6 years ago. I bought a house around 7 years ago for 550k. I did a remote stint for a Boulder company for a couple years (~120k/yr USD working from TO), then moved to SF (~200k/yr USD + ~100k/yr equity). I'm a bit out of the loop w/ TO salaries nowadays, but your 170k CAD definitel…

You can easily find a room in a house for rent between $1000-1600 in SF. Far better than a "bunkbed". Just check craigslist.

But hey, everyone loves to knock expensive SF housing.

28k/yr for preschool in SF is on the high end. That is not the median.

Please re-do all your prices with the median, not your handpicked most expensive version.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#106

I'm at somewhat of a cross-roads related to this matter. Note that this mostly applies to immigrants from India or China. I'm from India. This applies irrespective of education level (I did my Bachelors in the US, just FYI) Currently I'm in the US on a student visa (currently during a period of that visa that permits me to work) that expires in a couple years. I cannot renew it. If I want to continue working in the U…

On the flip side, if a U.S. citizen moves to India and wants to become a naturalized Indian citizen, just curious how long would that take?

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#107
post #75
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now is the time to leave. 18 years in the US with a kid born here. I missed the boat in getting my priority date around the time when my friends were getting theirs (my company was laying off people in other departments and my application got audited). Didn't think it was a big deal at that time. Now, my friends are getting their citizenships and I'm still stuck on a visa. I'm at the whim of the Consul officer and th…

>>Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. Those days are gone now. You go into EB-1 only if you get into the US on L1-A. They don't give L1-A's easily these days. For starters you need to be in director level positions to even qualify for L1-A's. Even then the waiting period for India EB-1 itself is growing and stands at 5+ years now. And it wil…

> In short we Indians bought this upon ourselves.

I was with you till here. No, we did not bring this to ourselves. The answer is that USA has dumb policies.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#108
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toronto may be expensive but it's not SF-level expensive. Salaries may not compare but you don't have to worry about basic things like healthcare and high-powered weaponry in the streets. Those are just the top two–there are many other reasons to move to Canada than just money.

I understand SF folks are paying $500-1,000/mo for healthcare?

Most FANG tech workers pay $0/month for healthcare.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#109
I think it's hilarious that the tech companies in the States say that they "can't find talent", and yet there are reasons for that.

One: These companies want to pay less for more. Smart developers are not going to go for that, so they'll look elsewhere. Then the companies can say "Oh, we can't find anyone, boo-hoo, let's hire someone cheaper now. From overseas."

Two: See one.

IF you don't believe me, just do a job search and see all the shit software jobs out there. 12 bucks an hour for a full stack? 75k a year for 5 years experience in five languages? Oh, and you gotta be DevOps too.

These companies are just trying to take advantage of a system.

Re: U.S. immigration policy has been a boon for the tech industry in Canada

#110
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Come back on a L1 visa and boom you can apply in the EB-1 category and get your green card in a couple of years. Those days are gone now. You go into EB-1 only if you get into the US on L1-A. They don't give L1-A's easily these days. For starters you need to be in director level positions to even qualify for L1-A's. Even then the waiting period for India EB-1 itself is growing and stands at 5+ years now. And it wil…

> 8.4 lac Indians got citizenship only last year That was the total number of citizenships granted last year. Indians were about 50k of that total - approximately 6%. That's from the article you linked.

Oops, I stand corrected.

But the part about abuse still stands. Basically get married to an American, or be lucky to be a part of some one time abuse drive.

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