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

San Jose Mercury ^ | October 8, 2018 | Ethan Baron

[artichokegrower]

Two weeks: That’s how quickly a foreign technology worker in Silicon Valley can get an employment permit from Canada. In the U.S., that process takes months.

As the administration of President Donald Trump has increased scrutiny of H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers and plans to ban their spouses from holding jobs in the U.S., Canada has been moving aggressively to suck top foreign talent out of Silicon Valley and other technology-rich regions of the U.S.

[artichokegrower]

Rather than simply get a work permit, Khandelwal opted to obtain permanent residence in Canada — the equivalent of a U.S. green card. It took about six months. In the U.S., Indian H-1B workers like him wait years, if not decades, for a green card. Later this month, Khandelwal plans to launch his startup’s artificial-intelligence-based parking-technology product.

The snow, the minus 50 degree winters, the getting dark at 1 in the afternoon and enjoy the Value Added Tax. You came to America to mine our economic and technology systems with seemingly no desire to become an American. Have fun in Canada.

[a fool in paradise]

>>Canada has been moving aggressively to suck top foreign talent out of Silicon Valley

racist author pretends there aren’t millions of experienced degreed “native” Americans of all colors and sex capable of doing these jobs.

[eyeamok]

Why doesn’t he start his new idea in his Home Country of India??? They have 1.3 Billion People, surely there is a market there

[\/\/ayne]

Take our H1B. Please.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Republicans need to move legislation mandating the salary level of H1B visas to be 20% HIGHER than the highest paid, non-executive employee in the company. The purpose of obtaining such an employee is necessity and urgency along with an empty talent pool of native Americans. In a time of urgency, everybody pays a premium. Under NO circumstances should obtaining a crucial foreign employee be a bargain in comparison to a near-perfect American alternative.

If I need to send a package that a client needs tomorrow, I cannot use snail mail for $15. Instead, because it absolutely, positively has to be there tomorrow, I must pay $200 to make sure it arrives as promised.

[freedumb2003]

>>The snow, the minus 50 degree winters, the getting dark at 1 in the afternoon and enjoy the Value Added Tax. You came to America to mine our economic and technology systems with seemingly no desire to become an American. Have fun in Canada.<<

And EVERYTHING is 15%-25% more expensive than in the USA. Costco (which they have) and Walmart have only about 20% of the selection in the USA since all products have to be bilingual.

Booze is 3 times as expensive as the USA in the Government run booze stores. A six-pack of beer will run you $10 on sale.

Being rich in Canada is a sin unless you are an entertainer or sports figure.

Get used to the black tar they call “coffee” in Tim Horton’s. It is your only option.

Likewise Rodgers Communications. No need for competition in Canada. You will take what they offer OR ELSE!! (OK, there is no else).

[FLT-bird]

Good!

The large bank I work for is just packed full of H1B Indians working at lower pay rates than Americans would work for. When I say packed full of.....I mean at least 20% of the back office employees and it may be as much as 30%. There are tons of them. Its the same story at the banks up in New York according to a couple of friends of mine in the banking industry up there.

There is no possible way anybody can tell me there Americans are not qualified to do these white collar non-tech jobs or that Americans don’t want those jobs. Instead of obtaining highly trained tech workers or engineers to make up our shortfall as the large corporations claim is the purpose of the H1B program, they have leaned on the federal government to hand out H1B visas so as to undercut American workers and crush their bargaining power. This is an abuse. The elites love it no doubt, but for most Americans in this case middle and upper middle class white collar professionals, this is awful. I’m glad to see President Trump cracking down on this. A country should act in the best interest of a majority of its citizens, not a small elite.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The snow, the minus 50 degree winters

Do not exist in Vancouver where most of these guys will be heading.

[FLT-bird]

This is a great idea. This would end the abuse of American workers I discussed.....not its not fruit pickers or ditch diggers....its accountants, auditors, finance managers, etc etc.

Requiring the pay of H1B workers to be at a premium to American workers would ensure that companies would only apply for H1B visas for employees they actually needed instead of just using them to crush the bargaining power of Americans in the labor market.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Being rich in Canada is a sin unless you are an entertainer or sports figure.

That's known as the Tall Poppy Syndrome.

[spintreebob]

pretends there aren’t millions of experienced degreed “native” Americans

I don't see them applying at my place. Where are they?

[Night Hides Not]

You came to America to mine our economic and technology systems with seemingly no desire to become an American. Have fun in Canada.

Those of us living in North Texas will largely agree with your comments. Granted, I estimate perhaps half of the younger generation, and more than half of their children, seek to assimiliate. The grandparents who are here do not, judging by their failure to learn English.

Cities such as Irving (Valley Ranch) and Frisco have become favored nesting areas for "Asians". At our local elementary school, more than 2/3 of the kids are Indian.

Despite all of this, this is still Ted Cruz country...he'll win my precinct with 60%, as usual.

Personally, we'll be here at least several more years, as my oldest child has two more years in HS. There's a new elementary school being built across the street, and my grandson is in second grade now. My wife and I both recently retired, and we love walking him to school nearly every day.

Our neighbors are mostly Indian, and we get along fine. They're good, solid family first folk, and it's a quiet neighborhood. Despite this, reform of our immigration laws is paramount, as we've all seen the excesses from companies taking advantage of the loopholes in the laws.

[BereanBrain]

I have degreed friends with 10+ years experience who can’t get a job in the USA in tech because h1-B visa will work for 1/4

[KC_Conspirator]

And now CA has 8 of the worst 20 job markets in the country, due to their ridiculous anti-business laws. But LO and BEHOLD, the liberal solution is to import slave labor. I guess they will have to compete in the market now.

[ptsal]

Check out the chart at the bottom of this story. There is a mouse wheel to dial into your area of interest.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/05/here-are-the-us-metro-areas-with-the-best-and-worst-job-markets.html

https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3694627/posts?page=1

[a fool in paradise]

I’ve got a whole department of them over age 50 who were passed over for years on job applications.

[Reno89519]

Bye! And can we send all Indians with them? All of them!

[A_Former_Democrat]

Yeah. Why come to North America, esp if there are so many qualified techies in India you can get at a deep discount?

[kabar]

LOL. Who in Silicon Valley planted this story?

[a fool in paradise]

And they are making less than $20 an hour (contracted for years) having previously worked at the same billion dollar employer at over $30 an hour (as full member permanent employees).