Live data from Hacker News

Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

wsj.com

31–40 of 57 posts

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#31
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a mess, but the corporations love it. It creates an indentured servant class that applies downward pressure on technical salaries. If you have a US work visa for 24 months (max), it should automatically roll over into a green card. Background checks should be the responsibility of the company to get finished before 24 months and failure to do so should be a Federal felony that puts the CEO in jail. This would c…

It seems like fixing it would push tech salaries down even more so wouldn't corporations prefer that?

Why would fixing the visa system push US tech salaries down?

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#32
So according to this article Canada has seen an increase of 500,000 foreign students.

Assuming a highly conservative $20k in annual tuition fees (the cheapest decent US public college will run you at least $30k for 2 semesters in tuition alone, never mind fees, living costs, etc), that’s about $10Bn in additional annual revenue with about 4 years locked in, every year.

And that’s just tuition. It doesn’t include living costs, the fact that many students might have friends and family visit, they will contribute to the academic and research programs at the university, and will graduate and almost certainly have a much higher output than what they will consume, being, almost by definition, more highly educated than the average Canadian.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#33
Not sure how to feel about this. It can be a good thing if we get new business and companies in line with all the talent but without that it will just push down Canadian salaries even more. I guess it depends on if they have plans just as effective in encouraging VCs and entrepreneurs to invest more here.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#34
post #3

Wonder how many people are thinking “maybe I’ll go to Canada, spend a few years, get citizenship there, then come back to America as a Canadian with much better prospects”?

TN is useful, but not _that_ useful if you eventually want to get a Green card. And GC quotas are based on place of birth.

Biggest advantage of TN is there is no annual quota which is by far the largest obstacle for most folks trying to even get in the country. Once you're in getting a transfer or obtaining eb2 is much easier bc you're going to have income to support it.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#35
post #15
post #12

I can't imagine that America's byzantine visa system is accomplishing any useful policy goal, it's just a mess. Compare to a country like Germany, where you can get a work visa, extend it indefinitely, and then roll it over into permanent residency after five years. No bullshit, no lotteries, you just meet the legal requirements and your applications are accepted in a matter of weeks.

> I can't imagine that America's byzantine visa system is accomplishing any useful policy goal I am positive it is. It works like most things in the US. The ruling class profits tremendously from the exploitation it enables, and American citizens are much too propagandized and alienated from politics to do anything about it.

The sad fact is that the ruling class could profit much more by opening up visas for skilled workers. You only hire workers and pay them because they make you more money than they cost. Business literally doesn’t work if that’s not true. Every visa you deny a skilled worker is lowered economic activity.

Our visa policies directly hinder economic growth. And in the most absurd ways imaginable. H1B is tied to an employer. If your startup goes under you’re out. If you get laid off you’re out. I’d you want to switch jobs lawyers have to get involved.

It’s a lottery once a year so tons of skilled workers sit on their hands waiting. Then most don’t get in because… lottery.

I literally couldn’t invent a more useless and stupid visa system if I tried.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#36
post #3

Wonder how many people are thinking “maybe I’ll go to Canada, spend a few years, get citizenship there, then come back to America as a Canadian with much better prospects”?

A couple of my cousins did this and this was also my parent's backup plan in case we didn't get a GC.

It's a big reason a lot of Indian national SWEs on H-1Bs end up in Canada.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#37

The plan is to use origami techniques to fold the H1-B Visa into an affordable home in Canada.

Or just get a slice of the entrepreneurial opportunities these immigrants bring to actually grow the economy. 55% of the unicorns in the US have atleast one immigrant founder. 66 of the top 500 unicorns in the US are founded by Indian immigrant founders.

https://www.businesstoday.in/amp/entrepreneurship/news/story...

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but the goal is not to move to the US permanently, it is to make a ton of money here and then retire in Canada.

If u have a ton money, it's cheaper to just live in US. Canada is very expensive for the plebs. The cost of living keeps rising and the politicians are very anti small businesses and pro oligarchy. They have a strangle hold on the country simliar to the Murdoch in Australia. Ironically, US is fairer in helping the small timers.

> If u have a ton money, it's cheaper to just live in US.

Not if you have a chronic illness and have doctor appointments most weeks.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#39
the most frustrating thing about US immigration is that nothing changes. The American politics is deadlocked. Even though both sides agree that GC backlog is a problem, nothing happens because now in American politics only small inconsequential incremental changes are possible. Anything reformative is just not possible here anymore. This is also true for issues that impact americans like gun laws.

Re: Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like fixing it would push tech salaries down even more so wouldn't corporations prefer that?

Why would fixing the visa system push US tech salaries down?

Because fixing it would make it easier for tech professionals to immigrate to the US, which would increase the supply of these people.
Post reply on HN