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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

#131

They will all eventually will migrate to US once the policies are relaxed. This is a typical path for immigrants who can’t get into US directly: Rest of the world -> Canada -> acquire TN Visa -> migrate to US

Except that if it goes on for too long, a bunch of people end up building a life/business/network/etc there. Someone up-thread mentioned that this is how Hollywood ended up on the other side of the country to New York.

It seems pretty hard to argue that the US's current immigration policies aren't helping out Canada right now.

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

#132

Canada gets immigrants from developing countries; immigrants take advantage of the excellent education and healthcare system, after a few years get a citizenship, a TN visa, then move to US for a better salary and a lower rent. USA gets the cream of the crop from Canada and wins. Canada loses.

If they're Canadian citizens, then aren't they still getting taxed? If by "Canada loses", you mean that they lose entrepreneurs, then it seems like (from what the startup scene people were saying in that article) the opposite is actually occurring. Also, if your hypothesis were true, you probably wouldn't see an influx of big companies (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Intel, Uber, etc.) opening shop in Canada - the companies…

You can be a non resident Canadian and only pay US taxes

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

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median salary in Vancouver is substantially lower than Sydney, and its property values are similar. Vancouver salaries are also lower than almost all of Canada's metros, while having the highest property costs. Vancouver also has the best weather. The Canadian metro with the best opportunity and lowest comparative costs is Montreal.

> The median salary in Vancouver is substantially lower than Sydney, and its property values are similar. Not that you actually own that property value in Vancouver. If you run away and go work somewhere else for a year, and don't rent it, you owe Vancouver a hefty empty home tax.

ideally you'd be taxed at a higher rate than that just as property tax, regardless of whether it's empty, being rented, or lived in

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Language barrier aside, Montréal seems like a hidden gem.

Which language barrier? There's a fair share of Anglo QCs that will keep speaking English and everything will still work (be workable) in English. It's not hard to learn French to a day to day level though.

I heard that companies are mandated to support bilingualism because of Bill 101, which could be a challenge for startups. But then again, perhaps that can be easily overcome by investing enough in localization.

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

#135
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

18 years? That's scary. I'm surprised at the amount of confidence you have in the USCIS that you might get a greed card. If you are still on a visa, I don't see how soon you believe you can get a green card in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not sure you can use the EB-1 category even with an L-1 - unless you're at a very high level in your company. Even for that category, the waitlist is currently about 5 years.

Well, I just don't think about it. Pay being very high makes up for it. My priority date is 2 years behind the current priority date for EB2 so I'm hoping for a miracle. I cannot leave because we are so entrenched here and have lots of friends we don't want to leave behind. It doesn't have to be a L1. Even with a H1B, if you worked as a manager in India and come here with a manager title (even Project Manager), you c…

> exploited

And then you wonder why the US is so strict?

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

#136

Canada gets immigrants from developing countries; immigrants take advantage of the excellent education and healthcare system, after a few years get a citizenship, a TN visa, then move to US for a better salary and a lower rent. USA gets the cream of the crop from Canada and wins. Canada loses.

If they're Canadian citizens, then aren't they still getting taxed? If by "Canada loses", you mean that they lose entrepreneurs, then it seems like (from what the startup scene people were saying in that article) the opposite is actually occurring. Also, if your hypothesis were true, you probably wouldn't see an influx of big companies (e.g. Google, Microsoft, Intel, Uber, etc.) opening shop in Canada - the companies…

Taxation is based on residency, not citizenship, for all nations bar Eritrea and the US.

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

#137

They will all eventually will migrate to US once the policies are relaxed. This is a typical path for immigrants who can’t get into US directly: Rest of the world -> Canada -> acquire TN Visa -> migrate to US

Except that if it goes on for too long, a bunch of people end up building a life/business/network/etc there. Someone up-thread mentioned that this is how Hollywood ended up on the other side of the country to New York. It seems pretty hard to argue that the US's current immigration policies aren't helping out Canada right now.

It's only hard to argue they aren't helping out Canadian companies' shareholders. Other Canadians' lives don't get better in obvious ways when yuppies move into the neighborhood.

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

#138
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…

> 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.

no

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

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which language barrier? There's a fair share of Anglo QCs that will keep speaking English and everything will still work (be workable) in English. It's not hard to learn French to a day to day level though.

I heard that companies are mandated to support bilingualism because of Bill 101, which could be a challenge for startups. But then again, perhaps that can be easily overcome by investing enough in localization.

> I heard that companies are mandated to support bilingualism because of Bill 101, which could be a challenge for startups

Does not apply to startups, it only applies if you have +50 employees https://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/francisation/entreprises/entrepr...

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

#140

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…

> Guess how much time it takes to get a greed card? Atleast 100 years. I'm not joking. Unless there's a policy change, there's no possibility. So my entire family migrated from India (not H1B though, so no idea what that process is like), and some are still migrating, and this is just ridiculous. Green cards and citizenship are issued quite regularly. I'm not going to say its fast, but it's not literally 100 years (c…

My friend, there's a huge difference between family based green cards (FB categories) and employment based (EB). The wait times change from 1-10 years in the former [1] to 100 in the latter [2]. A normal indian cannot go through family, since they're not closely related to a citizen. I have close relatives who gave birth here (they're working on a H1-B). The mom and dad would make it quicker by waiting for the US citizen kid to become 18 and apply, than they applying. Heck, they can wait for the kid to turn 18, go to Iceland/Sri Lanka, give birth to the grandkid, and that grandkid can apply for the citizenship and that would be faster. :(

[1] - friends and my roommate here in the bay [2] - my application

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