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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

#351

Post by a3n »

b1tr0t wrote: post #118
zeroxfe wrote: post #2

As horrible as it sounds, in this specific respect, the current US administration has been really fantastic for Canada. More and more new grads are choosing to stay in the country and work with local tech companies, and we're experiencing a reverse brain-drain like never before.

From a Canadian viewpoint, the last couple of years of populism has been a bit like discovering your favorite Uncle has a probably lethal opiate addiction. But, you're going to get to inherit his Corvette.

Cool, but he's not maintaining the Corvette, he's running it into the ground.

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

#352

Post by raincom »

what_ever wrote: post #300
xtacy wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be worth getting a PhD first in the US and then migrating to Canada!

Tbh, if you have a PhD, it's not too bad on EB1.

Things were good for EB1 till 2008. Then, EB1 was abused by the so-called managers of outsourcing companies: every project manager, team lead, etc, got green cards on EB1, by showing how exceptional they were. Immigration caught up with this game by complaints by other applicants. That's why there is a lot of scrutiny.

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

#353

Post by tabtab »

paxy wrote: post #41

Sounds accurate. There is no realistic path to citizenship or even permanent residency in the USA for highly skilled immigrants from India. While the high salaries and quality of life are attractive for someone straight out of college, you quickly realize that this isn't the place to be if you want to buy a house, start a family, or make any other major life decision when you could be asked to pack up and leave tomor…

Re: "you quickly realize that this isn't the place to be if you want to buy a house, start a family, or make any other major life decision"

The reason rents are so high in California is because everybody and their dog are trying to do the same thing. There's only so much room in California. That's just the reality.

Too bad there are not incentives to create start-ups in places with relatively depressed economies, like Chicago and the Rust Belt.

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

#354

Post by tabtab »

pteredactyl wrote: post #229

I generally believe we should try harder to educate and hire Americans. I am not against immigrants or H1B holders. Or anyone trying to improve their lot in life. I am against the position H1B holders are in. And the effects it can have on a culture. Especially with the force multiplier of technology. They are basically indentured servants. And therefore more likely to do whatever their boss wants, including morally…

Companies don't want to train: they want Instant Workers. Often they want combinations of skills that are unlikely to be had by any one individual. They want version X of the database, vendor Y of the IDE, vendor Z of the network, etc. Shopping the world increases the chances of fitting their desired skill combo via shere probability; it has almost nothing to do with training. Think about it.

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

#355

Post by lhorie »

Scoundreller wrote: post #312
lhorie wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, you can always pay more once you are out of school and can afford something nicer. I used to share a 3 bed apt with two guys near union station, paid $400. Then moved to bachelor at christie, paid $750. Eventually got a detached in a nice neighbourhood w/ a 2k/mo mortgage. Housing was affordable every step of the way. The point is that it's feasible for a 3rd world person to save up, move to Toronto, and still…

3 bed apt near Union Station for $1200/month? Maybe 10+ years ago. Even over the past 2 years, rent prices have increased aggressively. Nowadays, you're lucky to spend just north of $2000/month for a 2 bedroom.

> 3 bed apt near Union Station for $1200/month? Maybe 10+ years ago.

It was 10+ years ago, sure, but also I had the smallest room (actually a den) so I paid the least. The total rent was 1500 IIRC for what was technically a 2bed+den. I just googled and rent for the same type of apt in that building is going for around $2000 as you said. So if I were to have the same rent splitting arrangement today, I'd probably be paying around $600, maybe $700 for a better room. Which, remember, is around the same as the 3-bunk-bed-room deal-of-the-century in SF.

Also consider my salary back then was CAD 37k. Nowadays a person w/ 1-2 yrs angular experience can land a CAD 100k job fairly easily. My wife sees new grads getting 75k at CGI fresh out of school. The real estate bubble popped too, so it's definitely a buyers market now for those who were eyeing home ownership.

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

#356

Post by btilly »

zaptheimpaler wrote: post #248
btilly wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the current administration is working to make citizenship revocable. I firmly believe that the current administration would love to change the rules on citizenship. However the 14th amendment is extremely clear on this, and the courts have consistently ruled for decades that Congress and the President do not have the right to change the laws to strip citizenship from people. (This was extensively litigated over l…

The US has a history of stripping people of their citizenship when things get bad, regardless of what the law says. It has happened before with Mexicans, it is happening again right now [1]. [1] https://www.vox.com/2018/8/30/17800410/trump-passport-birth-...

That is not "regardless of the law". That is "when it can be argued that the law does not apply".

The law itself is solid. Whether a particular person with paperwork issues will be given the presumption of the facts being in their favor is another story.

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

#357

Post by calvinbhai »

dominotw wrote: post #244
3pt14159 wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The half-of-salary thing is a bit rich. Tech people unknowingly push up their second or third sigma downside in America and cost of living is hard to compare. In America you're more likely to get violently harmed. More likely to become truly poor. More likely to develop life-long medical conditions. Don't have actuarially balanced government pension (SS accounting is off book, CPP is fully funded). Higher net-debt-to…

>In America you're more likely to get violently harmed. More likely to become truly poor. all these only apply to lower income ppl in US not to ppl on h1b, they can simply move back to higher middle class in India if things go wrong.

You mean if a H-1B immigrant's kid gets shot fatally in the next school shooting or a spouse is killed in a bar, "simply move back to India"? or do bullets fly only towards lower income people?

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

#358

Post by what_ever »

xtracto wrote: post #334
what_ever wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tbh, if you have a PhD, it's not too bad on EB1.

Went looking for eb1 as I have a PhD from a red brick Univ. PhD is not enough according to Wikipedia: The EB-1 is a preference category for United States employment-based permanent residency. It is intended for "priority workers". Those are foreign nationals who either have "extraordinary abilities", or are "outstanding professors or researchers", and also includes "some executives and managers of foreign companies w…

Sorry for the late reply.

> outstanding professors or researchers

Works if you have published papers referenced by 10 people. I don't have a PhD but I know a couple of people, one really close friend who did this. In most of the cases PhDs do end up with published papers that get referenced by others. It took couple of years for him for the whole process as an Indian.

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

#359

Post by calvinbhai »

_iofi wrote: post #169

I just moved out of US and in process of moving to Canada. Just for background: Worked in leadership roles for startups and Fortune 15 companies, sold a company, advise/invest in bunch of startups. My life's goal is contribute to curing/diagnosing terminal disease using technology. Everything I did in the past 14 years has been towards meeting that goal. I figured, I would need knowledge, network, and financial stabi…

I'm so happy for you that you are able to do this transition.

I used to envy EB1s a lot (I'm from India, lived here in US for a good amount of time), then got to know what a hassle it is to go through the process, even after an I-140 is approved, until they get a GC. With current processing delays for the associated renewals (adjustment of status and h1b)often, the EB1 applicant (and the family) cannot travel out of the US for most of the year. Being immigrants, this puts a lot of stress on you and your family.

Since you were good for EB1, and are in research field, I hope there's enough research funding/activity in Canada in the field you specialize in. I know a few post docs who are too tired to go through the EB1 process in the US, while they have no funding for their research in Canada!

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

#360

Post by pteredactyl »

tabtab wrote: post #354
pteredactyl wrote: post #229

I generally believe we should try harder to educate and hire Americans. I am not against immigrants or H1B holders. Or anyone trying to improve their lot in life. I am against the position H1B holders are in. And the effects it can have on a culture. Especially with the force multiplier of technology. They are basically indentured servants. And therefore more likely to do whatever their boss wants, including morally…

Companies don't want to train: they want Instant Workers. Often they want combinations of skills that are unlikely to be had by any one individual. They want version X of the database, vendor Y of the IDE, vendor Z of the network, etc. Shopping the world increases the chances of fitting their desired skill combo via shere probability; it has almost nothing to do with training. Think about it.

I agree. And for the companies it makes sense to not want to train. I'm saying the onus is not on them. But on the US education system. K-12 and beyond.
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