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H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

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Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#181

Post by wenc »

loftyal wrote: post #148
dilippkumar wrote: post #101

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

I've spoken to an H1B lawyer about this, You can actually monetize your online work, just as long as the freelance company is not American. You can start up a limited company in your home country and get paid into a bank account there.

This is incorrect and dangerous advice.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#182

Post by yhager »

mywittyname wrote: post #32
tick_tock_tick wrote: post #7

Canada's aggressively merit based immigration policy has clear advantages in terms of allowing talent in. That said Canadian tech firms still pay way too little.

Also timelines. I don't have first-hand experience, but the people I've talked to said they had citizenship within two years.

That sounds way too short. Until a few years ago you needed to be a resident (=reside) three years before you can apply (which takes about another year). I think now it's four + application processing time.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#183

Post by diebeforei485 »

woud420 wrote: post #162
TechieKid wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's downvoted because you, like your profile says, are "opinionated, inconsistent, irrelevant, irreverent and incontrovertible", and regardless of the number of times you are told that you are wrong and that H1Bs are dual-intent visas, keep parroting the same trash in every immigration related thread. Please quit proliferating nonsense untruths. And here, for future reference, because short of a citation of the law,…

Without getting in the history of the parent poster, he's not wrong. H1B is a temporary (non-immigrant) visa which allows dual intent. Yes, most people on dual intent visas eventually petition for a green card but I think it's unfair to qualify his post as "junk knowledge". Same thing with L-1A and O-1. Source : https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-nonimm...

It is junk knowledge to claim that something was never intended as a path to a green card.

Congress clearly intended this it back in 2000, when it passed Public Law 106-313 ("American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act"), which allowed H-1B extensions beyond 6 years for those who are waiting for green cards. If Congress didn't think the H-1B visa should be a path to a green card, why would they pass that bill?

Also the government has recognized it many times through regulation. For example, look at the number of times this regulation talks about a "path": https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/11/18/2016-27...

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#184

Post by dominotw »

Bhilai wrote: post #20

I can attest to this. I have three friends who are preparing to migrate to Canada or Australia. Mind you, these are not the typical H1B workers from Infosys. These are smart legitimate people with a masters degree who work at top tech companies. They have no hopes to get a permanent residency in US because of long queues. Renewing H1B is a big hassle. Surely its a big change to pick up your life up and move to a diff…

> preparing to migrate to Canada or Australia.

I know lot of ppl who have been dreaming of this for years but money and opportunity here in US is too good to pass up. 99% of ppl on H1B are not starting companies.

Most ppl just don't have the appetite to slash their income by half. "preparing" doesn't count as a example.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#185

Post by dominotw »

Thaxll wrote: post #42
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #24

Isn't compensation, even after adjusting for cost of living and health insurance, much lower in Canada than anywhere in the U.S.?

Most people don't care about money, they want to raise family in a safe environment, I interview a lot of foreigners and there is clear trend that they don't want to go to the US with the current administration.

> Most people don't care about money,

This is BS. Most ppl care about money above all else. India is a not a war zone its a "safe environment to raise family".

> I interview a lot of foreigners and there is clear trend that they don't want to go to the US with the current administration.

Why are you interviewing them then? Are you in Canada?

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#186

Post by latte »

dilippkumar wrote: post #101

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

>> Make and sell art, perform for an audience, publish on a blog or a youtube channel that’s monetized

That's weird. I cannot even imagine what the rationale for introducing these restrictions could be.

Normally, working restrictions for immigrants serve to protect the wages of the local work force, but in this case they only make the migrants' lives less fulfilling.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#187

Post by HumanDrivenDev »

sincerely wrote: post #154
HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish so badly I could trade places, as a conservative man stuck in a 'progressive' country with lower wages. Give me a great salary and Blumpffss 'regressive' US any day.

I mean...why can't you?

The same reason not every "I'm totally moving to canada/australia/new zealand/europe" liberal in the US can do so. Immigration laws.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#188

Post by f6e9ed793b »

docker_up wrote: post #114
jszymborski wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overall, I agree with your points, but I have some points of contention with some of the analysis. I don't think it's quite fair to include tax if you're not going to include savings for things like health care. Furthermore, Toronto's housing market, while less expensive than Cali/NY, is still insane. I know you acknowledge this in passing, but Montreal's housing market is insanely affordable, and we've a great tech/…

There isn't much savings in terms of health care. In Ontario, if you're working you have to pay a health care tax that is similar to what an employee would pay at a Silicon Valley company. And then the health care is much worse in terms of responsiveness. For example, I have Kaiser, and my Canadians friends are envious at how quickly I get scheduled for procedures. My family and friends have had to wait months for so…

> In Ontario, if you're working you have to pay a health care tax that is similar to what an employee would pay at a Silicon Valley company.

You must be comparing California monthly costs to Ontario yearly costs. Maximum Ontario annual premiums are $900.[1] To get equivalent coverage (by equivalent, I mean in terms of insurance value - as in, I won't have a $15,000 copay if I get into a serious accident) from Kaiser in Southern California (the "silver" plan) is about $750 per month for me and my wife. If you are covered through your employer (we both freelance), you might be getting fooled into thinking you are paying less money because your paychecks show a smaller number as "deducted," but that is because the rest is paid by your employer and is still part of your compensation.

[1] https://www.ontario.ca/data/ontario-health-premium-rates

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#189

Post by xtreme »

latte wrote: post #186
dilippkumar wrote: post #101

As someone who is contemplating this move, I can share some thoughts. First, money isn’t the force that’s driving immigrants out of India and into the US, Canada etc. Among the people I know and including myself, the top driving forces are safety, good governance, clean air and water. While living in the US has the benefit of higher pay, it comes at a significant cost. Here is a short list of things I can not do whil…

>> Make and sell art, perform for an audience, publish on a blog or a youtube channel that’s monetized That's weird. I cannot even imagine what the rationale for introducing these restrictions could be. Normally, working restrictions for immigrants serve to protect the wages of the local work force, but in this case they only make the migrants' lives less fulfilling.

USCIS considers pretty much everything that results in monetary gains (other than investing) as "working". Even renting your own house counts as working, so people on H1B can't do that either.

Re: H-1B: As immigration furor roils Silicon Valley, Canada smooths way for techies

#190

Post by calvinbhai »

trhway wrote: post #90
dmode wrote: post #21

I am in the same boat. Planning to move to Canada next year. I have worked in the Valley for 10 years. Had a great time, but unfortunately the wait for GC is over 20 years now and the administration has signaled that we are not welcome (my H1 was denied for some BS reasons).

I guess the people like you have been stealing good American jobs and depressing wages in the Bay Area, and that has been keeping the wages at the artificially low 400K :)

first half starts to look like a troll comment, and it's probably too late for those down voting to realize the sarcasm which is apparent in the second half of your comment :D
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