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Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

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Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#71
Poignant for me, I haven't been able to decide on where to move. US is still the big whale as far as tech opportunities go, but for Indians going there now, permanent residency is not possible within their lifetimes, with an 80+ year waiting time on the green card processing.

Canada is far easier to permanently settle in, but the opportunities are far fewer, and salaries are lower too.

I don't know what the answer is here.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#72

"Starting Monday, Canada's government says it will streamline the visa process so that international tech workers can get a work permit in just two weeks — compared to a complicated process in the U.S. that can take months." I'm increasingly troubled by the notion that the only way one can move from one place to another, is by some contrived rule of value-add that person may offer. Aside from this new rule, Canada ot…

Canada is one of the easiest First World countries to immigrate to. Apply for college -> graduate and find a job -> get residence.

It is if you're young. Over 40? Much harder. Over 50? Extremely difficult.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#73
post #8

Think Canadian salaries don't compete with US companies? Guess what happens when supply increases? Most other professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc) throttle supply through things like certification, but for some reason developers can't / don't want to get their act together to do the same. Even worse, they (we) welcome more supply! The mind boggles. And I say this as a Canadian employer who would certain…

I don't think that the market would care about professionally-certified coders. Accountants need to adhere to local and federal laws for GAAP accounting. Lawyers need to be familiar with local laws where they practice, and courts are gatekeepers to the practice of law. Doctors' specialization is protected by law for safety and liability purposes.

Paralegals and specialized software is a market response to the bottleneck of lawyers. Physician's assistants, BSN Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners are another market response to doctor bottlenecks.

I think that the majority of stakeholders in software would be opposed to licensing legislation for coding.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#74
post #40

Could someone explain how taxation works in Canada (including VAT, compulsory insurances, council tax...). Quick googling says income tax has doubled in 2017. edit: Here is a source for doubled tax, looks like google parser is wrong https://pasteboard.co/hMazP1hHs.png

> Quick googling says income tax has doubled in 2017. reply This is not true, and was likely posted by a conservative hardliners. Canada uses an after-price sales tax like the USA, but in higher quantities - it will vary between 5% and 13% depending on province. Also, all provinces are currently implementing a carbon pricing system, so some provinces will have an additional sales tax on carbon intensive goods like ga…

Here is source for doubled tax, looks like google parser is wrong https://pasteboard.co/hMazP1hHs.png

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Canadian tech worker in SF... Nope. I tripled my salary coming down here even in just nominal terms (ie, before you factor in the exchange rate that eats 25% of your salary.) I hate SF/SiValley. I would love nothing more than to go home, but I'm not about to take a paycut that's measured in multiples of the median Canadian salary.

Yeah who the fuck wants to live in Waterloo Ontario when you can live in California? Lmao. Real Canadian Winter, and crap summer. Many of the devs worth their dime in Vancouver end up remote working when they get to the Sr. level. Get paid in USD, and for 25-30% more in a stronger currency. Works out to almost 60% more?! also if you aren't a city person you can then move to one of the gulf islands.

No joke. I applied for several jobs in Vancouver and the best salary offer was 110k base (82k USD). Seattle actually seems to have a lower cost of living and salaries approx 2x as high.

Its very hard to attract workers when the salaries just cant compare.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the pickiness is a stereotype and a form of discrimination. EDIT - removed the "arbitrary", which I could argue for but for the purposes of the discussion concede. I stand by the rest of the claim despite the downvotes :)

You don't have an inherent right to enter a random country. People living there have to decide, who they allow to enter and who not. Usually, they set up a set of rules to decide, and it is up to them how these rules reflect their values.

Makes me wonder if this comment will age well, after around 50-100 years.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#77
post #40

Could someone explain how taxation works in Canada (including VAT, compulsory insurances, council tax...). Quick googling says income tax has doubled in 2017. edit: Here is a source for doubled tax, looks like google parser is wrong https://pasteboard.co/hMazP1hHs.png

> Quick googling says income tax has doubled in 2017. reply This is not true, and was likely posted by a conservative hardliners. Canada uses an after-price sales tax like the USA, but in higher quantities - it will vary between 5% and 13% depending on province. Also, all provinces are currently implementing a carbon pricing system, so some provinces will have an additional sales tax on carbon intensive goods like ga…

> In every case, there are taxes paid separately to both the federal government and provincial governments.

I would like to just add that unlike the US, where some states do not have state income taxes, all provinces in Canada have provincial income taxes, and with the exception of Alberta, all of them have provincial sales taxes.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the pickiness is a stereotype and a form of discrimination. EDIT - removed the "arbitrary", which I could argue for but for the purposes of the discussion concede. I stand by the rest of the claim despite the downvotes :)

With immigration you will definitively focus on highly educated people, people who have skills needed in the respective industries and who are likely to fit in well culturally. How would you regulate immigration?

I'd open up all the borders without restriction. It would be a madhouse for the first decade but then the world would be much better off in the long run.

It would be the first step in a united planet rather than the pettiness we suffer now with individual competing states.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#79
post #64
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because software isn't a zero sum game. Having "too many developers" in a community doesn't mean a glut of developers fighting for scraps, it means Silicon Valley. It means you get bigger companies doing bigger things with bigger success which means bigger quantities of cash whirling around up for grabs. Being the only plumber in town means you can charge whatever you want. Being the only developer in town means you'…

Software isn't precisely zero-sum, but it's zero-sum assuming a static supply of companies to work for. Which ends up being the case in Canada, since 1. there isn't much of a culture of entrepreneurship; 2. there are few VCs, and they're pretty much all hyper-conservative, to the point that they may as well be banks.

Obviously the principle of supply vs. demand still applies.

Re: Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety

#80

"Starting Monday, Canada's government says it will streamline the visa process so that international tech workers can get a work permit in just two weeks — compared to a complicated process in the U.S. that can take months." I'm increasingly troubled by the notion that the only way one can move from one place to another, is by some contrived rule of value-add that person may offer. Aside from this new rule, Canada ot…

I guess Canadians are pretty happy with their country. Why should they not be picky about who they let in?

Canada and Canadians companies were very picky about my CV. Especially those from a eastern province that has its quirks (which shouldn't have been a problem, as I'm conversational in their language). Well, apparently my CV wasn't being taken seriously there.

At the end I went back to working in the EU and earning more, (paying 5x less for a mobile plan and not having to shove snow in the winter are advantages as well)

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