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Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

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Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#321

Post by jarek »

nojvek wrote: post #319
vacri wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had both Scots and Canadians complain about how cold Melbourne gets. The problem isn't so much that the temperature drop doesn't get below freezing very often, it's that we don't build for the cold. Another friend says that he knows a German who, when she visits someone's house, shakes an inner wall with her fingertips and says "you guys can't build houses for shit". The ironic thing is that we have some of the…

I'm from Australia. Can definitely say housing is cheaper than Vancouver. Vancouver has been flooded by Super Rich Asians from China dumping their money in property and sky rocketing the prices for property. Can't get a 2 bedroom for less than $750,000.

> Can't get a 2 bedroom for less than $750,000.

Sure you can, maybe not in the tiny downtown peninsula. Mid-rise along Mid-Main or Fraser, or some of the towers around Joyce goes for $500k. (Still a lot, but not that lot. I've moved to London and it's a lot more expensive than Vancouver.)

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#322

Post by cylinder »

watwut wrote: post #239
disbelief wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Countries in the EU (and elsewhere) have more sane immigration systems. As a Canadian having immigrated to both Germany and the US, I can say that the US system is at least two orders of magnitude more difficult, costly, needlessly complicated, and in the end a lot of it comes down to luck (most of it bad). Germany has no lottery system, and renewal is very straightforward. I applied for my visa while in Germany as a…

European countries immigration systems are not equal. Just getting a job in Switzerland if you are foreigner is considerably harder. The employer has to demonstrate that no native would be able to your job. The government will send him unemployed locals and employer has to write what exactly disqualified that local. It is considerable hustle, so most of them do not bother. Plus, as a foreigner in Switzerland, you wil…

Right. But for some reason people think the US should be an open playground for all of the world, and that it should never actively defend and protect its own citizens.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#323

Post by cylinder »

turar wrote: post #19

This is a repeat of the same story that happened the last time H-1B limit didn't meet the demand for visas. US tech companies, most notably Microsoft, opened "offices" in Vancouver. What happens next is that those employees will work for 1 year in Canada, and then will become eligible for L-1 intra-company transfer back to the US, side-stepping the H-1B quagmire.

Exactly this. And if they are classified as Executives and worked overseas for three years, they can basically immediately get green card upon arrival in the US.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#324

Post by cylinder »

markbnj wrote: post #288

Would this experience be any different for an American trying to work in Canada, or somewhere in Europe? I haven't tried it, and honestly don't know. But the tone of your comment is a little aggrieved, as if a non-US citizen should of course find it easy to get his dream job in the U.S. My Dad recently sold a house in Canada, and he can't get the money out of the country for six months. Why? Because he's not Canadian…

Professional Canadians can work in the US pretty easily under NAFTA (and vice versa).

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#325

Post by cylinder »

LetBinding wrote: post #184

Is there a Big Data / NLP / Machine Learning scene in Vancouver? I rarely see any Data Scientist positions being advertised in Vancouver? I am a foreigner with a PhD in applied NLP from a US university and I have been looking at such positions in other tech hubs like Vancouver, Montreal, Berlin, etc. But these types of jobs only seem to be in the Valley. I work in the Valley and I like it here but I want to move to a…

It's probably not as hard as you imagine. I would say look for jobs and let your employer figure out the H1B and file for employment-based green card for you once you arrive (good candidate with your background and credentials). You'll have six years to figure something out.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#326

Post by cylinder »

gdilla wrote: post #241

I am a Canadian-American, and I wish Canada actually did more to exploit US immigration dysfunction. Unfortunately, I think the weather gives Canada a bad rap. I'm not even joking, Canada needs a tropical island. That's really the last step to really compete with sunny California.

I don't think Vancouver is so bad. If Seattle can be a solid tech hub, I don't think the weather is to blame for Vancouver lagging.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#327

Post by cylinder »

vacri wrote: post #76
jbarham wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly Vancouver's winters are milder than anywhere east of the Rockies, but the flipside is that you have to put up with rain, rain and more rain. After living in Vancouver for five years I moved to southern California where the weather was fantastic. I'm now in Melbourne, Australia, which is considered by Aussies to have cold winters but as a Canadian I just laugh whenever I hear that. Apart from the weather I'd…

I've had both Scots and Canadians complain about how cold Melbourne gets. The problem isn't so much that the temperature drop doesn't get below freezing very often, it's that we don't build for the cold. Another friend says that he knows a German who, when she visits someone's house, shakes an inner wall with her fingertips and says "you guys can't build houses for shit". The ironic thing is that we have some of the…

This. I'll take NYC winters over Melbourne any day. And yes, so many Aussie tradies are flat-out incompetent, don't give a shit and are quite often thieves (have a lot of stories about contractors coming back to the site after completion to steal water heaters and such).

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#328

Post by pyre »

yxhuvud wrote: post #247
pyre wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again, it's a zero-sum thinking error to assume that there's some fixed number of jobs and therefore more people equals lower pay. I'm not stating the "more people" == "less pay". I'm stating that foreign workers are willing get paid less money, regardless of what the job pool is. They have fewer options available to them, so they accept "worse" pay for what maybe essentially the same job. Also, the amount of jobs…

New people consume stuff too. Hence yes, companies most certainly create new jobs to cater to their needs.

True, but the amount of new people matters. Does 1000 people per year really move the needle all that much? How many jobs does that indirectly create?

edit: Wikipedia say that (e.g.) H1Bs are capped at 65k/year. Spread across the US, I'm curious how much this affects job creation? I could see an argument if they were concentrated in one place though.

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#329

Post by lsc »

bduerst wrote: post #305
lsc wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>One of the factors evaluated for h1b approval is whether or not the immigrant's salary is higher than the mean wages for U.S. citizens working in the same SOC category in the same area. You can make many valid arguments for loosening the American immigration laws; but driving up the average wage because that's what the government mandate assumes that companies are irrational. A profit-maximizing company is only goin…

Only for fungible labor. Many skilled positions have scarcity, and employers are willing to pay more for an immigrant if their skillset is a better fit and/or can fill the position immediately.

>Only for fungible labor.

Oh come now. All of us are fungible. None of us are irreplaceable (at least not to our employers.)

Re: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles

#330

Post by djb_hackernews »

davidw wrote: post #320
djb_hackernews wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, however this is where the details start to muddy the conclusion. The fact is the H1-B visa program is completely abused in order to bring in cheaper employees at the expense of the rest of the community. These H1-B employees have little recourse, limited career potential and supress wages. The uncertainty of their immigration status means they don't buy houses, start families, or participate in the community.…

I agree that H1B's are problematic, but think the solution is more liberty for those people, so that they're in a better bargaining position with the company, rather than lowering the number of people allowed in.

I completely agree. I've been working on a blog post titled something like 'How to argue against the H1-B program and not look like a Xenophobe' and this is precisely one of the points I make.

Among many changes, one of them should basically be a fast track to citizenship for H1-B holders, and not have it be tied to the employer. If they are that smart and that needed we should make it easier for them to stay.

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