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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

#191

Post by ulfw »

toephu2 wrote: post #103
mcpherrinm wrote: post #9

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 o…

I can’t see why people would want to move to SF City for the weather. California? YES. Definitely. Even the Bay Area yup. But the City? Erm...

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

#192

Post by coolplants »

ipnon wrote: post #190
coolplants wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.

Nothing he suggested was illegal.

You’re not a lawyer. Are you defending gaming our immigration system?

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

#193

Post by [deleted] »

coolplants wrote: post #188
sg47 wrote: 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…

> There's an easy way to game the system Please stop subverting our laws, you’re making it worse for people who don’t break the law.

[deleted]

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

#194

Post by whack »

coolplants wrote: post #192
ipnon wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing he suggested was illegal.

You’re not a lawyer. Are you defending gaming our immigration system?

Are you a lawyer? What he suggested is about as "subversive" as using your 401k to lower your tax bill. The EB1-C program's explicit requirements are to work as a manager abroad, and that's exactly what the person above suggested.

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

#195

Post by hylaride »

barry-cotter wrote: post #50
smnrchrds wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I meant by relative terms. Relative to cost of living, American tech workers get paid much more than any tech workers anywhere else in the world. American tech workers get paid close to American doctors and get to enjoy doctor-level prosperity. Canadian doctors, in relative terms, get paid about as much as American doctors and get to enjoy similar levels of prosperity as them. Canadian tech workers, howev…

> Canadian doctors, in relative terms, get paid about as much as American doctors and get to enjoy similar levels of prosperity as them. No they don't. > Canadian doctors still make dramatically less than U.S. counterparts: study > Despite recent fee hikes, Canadian doctors still lag dramatically far behind their American counterparts in income, according to a new study that also underscores the wide pay gap in both…

> The US has been the richest country in the world in terms of average individual consumption (not income, some small countries like Norway have higher incomes) since independence and before

You’re wrong. After the civil war it’s arguable and it’s certainly true after 1900, but American policies favoring agriculture (thanks to romantic notions from Jefferson among others) retarded widespread industrialization in the US until much later than the UK, France, and Germany.

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

#196

Post by coolplants »

whack wrote: post #194
coolplants wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re not a lawyer. Are you defending gaming our immigration system?

Are you a lawyer? What he suggested is about as "subversive" as using your 401k to lower your tax bill. The EB1-C program's explicit requirements are to work as a manager abroad, and that's exactly what the person above suggested.

401K is not “gaming the system.” The IRS explicitly treats it specially for the purposes of allowing hardworking seniors to retire in dignity. The immigration law does not make explicit allowances for people to game it. If less people gamed the system, it would be more fair for the rest of us who do things the right way without manipulating.

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

#197

Post by whack »

bobfrost wrote: post #27

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.

Not disputing how ridiculous your situation is, but you do have a couple other options.

The most realistic one would be to save up all your money and apply for the eb5 investor visa. If you're making 6 figures, you should be able to save up the required million dollars in about 10-20 years, depending on how much you make, and how frugal you're willing to live.

The other possibility is you marrying someone who isn't born in India. If you did that, you can use your partner's country of birth instead of your own, when waiting for the priority date. But obviously this isn't something you can plan for, and I wouldn't recommend letting this guide your life decisions.

The last option is progressing your career to the point where you can mount a realistic eb1 application. I've heard anecdotally that it's very hard, but not as hard as people may think it is. If you work at it over a 10-20 year time frame, it may be very realistic.

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

#198

Post by ChoGGi »

lhorie wrote: post #112
toephu2 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

> How's the weather there though? Right this moment, they are almost the same (46F in SF vs 37F in Toronto). Toronto winter usually goes between 5F and 40F, but summer is way warmer than SF (between 75F to 90F vs 60F to 70F in SF)

As someone born in Toronto, the weather is crap. You're right by a great lake, so it's damp/humid all year (step out of the shower and start sweating humid). Downtown is a series of giant wind tunnels, which isn't bad in the summer, but is downright chilly in the winter.

I moved to Calgary and the weather is great, nice and dry and Chinooks to warm you up during the winter.

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

#199

Post by omarhaneef »

jbarham wrote: post #97
Phanyxx wrote: post #24

Vancouverite here. When major tech companies started setting up satellite offices here, I assumed it'd be a temporary situation, and that we'd be at the mercy of any change in the U.S. immigration process. The longer there's an immigration bottleneck though, the more entrenched these companies become here. There are more senior roles opening up here all the time, and salaries are increasing in this competitive market…

I've also lived in Toronto and Vancouver. Did the obligatory move to work as a software dev in California and now live in Australia. The fact is that tech salaries in Canada are still much lower than the US while the cost of living, especially housing, is still very high, for Vancouver and Toronto in particular. Not to mention the lousy winters. Spend any time browsing /r/vancouver or /r/toronto and you'll quickly re…

I've heard this complaint -- that the property prices are high -- however, isn't there an opportunity to put a tech hub right on the border with Seattle? Make the commute even smaller and set up a whole border town? Just wondering why a developer doesn't make it a great place to live bring cafes, housing etc.

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

#200

Post by thbr99 »

It stands to be seen how many of them will go back to US when the immigration policy becomes favorable. Canada is still plan B for high skilled immigrants. If H4 work authorization is removed, there will be a surge to Canada. Many US skilled workers do a soft landing to get their PR cards as a plan B. Canada should stop issuing PR cards for soft landers who are playing Canada's immigration system.
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