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Canada's Play For Immigrant Tech Talent (axios.com)
An anonymous reader shares an Axios report: When it comes to high-skilled immigration, the U.S.'s loss could be Canada's gain. Canada recently launched a Global Skills Strategy visa program to make it easier for its companies to bring in foreign workers with specific technology or business skills. The program allows firms to have a position pre-approved and get visas within two weeks -- a stark contrast to the months-long U.S. visa process. Why it matters: The Trump administration has moved to restrict the number of immigrants coming into the U.S. on work visas, which worries big tech and consulting firms that use the H-1B visa program to fill technical and specialized jobs. Canada's government is seizing the moment to provide an option for engineers, executives and other tech talent who may no longer qualify for an H-1B visa or who simply don't feel comfortable staying in the U.S. Open for business: Navdeep Bains, Canada's Minister of Innovation, told Axios that Canada wants to be open to ideas, open to trade, and "more importantly, we want to be open to people" in order for companies to grow. Bains stopped short of framing the program as a way to poach talent from Silicon Valley, instead saying that the government is "open to whatever region has talent."
Hate to break it to you, but US poverty line income is five figures ($22,162 for a family of four with two children under 18).
The poverty level in Silicon Valley and San Francisco is $100K per year for a family of four.
Um, Canada is NOT only the great white north. Toronto is quite warm on average, especially recently. It's not as hot as California and we get snow 2-2.5 months out of the year on average (the ski business are not pleased), but given how hot California is likely to be this summer, that is a good thing. Toronto is tech central for Canada BUT...housing prices have been so crazy it's reflecting San Francisco. Good news on that though (unless you own property): Markham and Richmond Hill (2 neighbouring cities that people frequently commute to Toronto from) appear to have burst their real estate bubble (their housing prices were as expensive as Toronto) and inventory has been sitting as long as a month (and counting). So...that could be changing in 6-12 months. So maybe it IS a good time. Don't go to Vancouver: their living costs are higher and jobs pay less. The sweet spot for cost of living may be Montreal: 30% less than Toronto, not as many jobs that there are enough. You can live in Montreal and not speak any French (outside of Montreal is another story). They had major flooding this year (2k homes ruined, but are getting a 1.8 Billion cash infusion for repairs. That may boost things in jobs and it's close to New York. It may be a good time to check them out. Anyway, there are likely opportunities here and the tech world is very strong here. Check it out. I have 2 family members who went to San Fran and are leaving after being forced to live in Oakland due to insane prices for rent in San Fran. So back to New York for them. Maybe they too will consider Toronto or Montreal.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
We've been having fun with it for decades and decades. The key is to be welcome to them, embrace their culture and contributions, and they turn into great Canadians of their own volition.
"Old man yells at systemd"
the question isn't, do immigrants help the economy?, but rather, Does any of that economic benefit trickle down to the 99%? Some of it does in the form of McJobs supporting the white collar immigrant workforce. But so far in America almost all of those gains have gone to the top 1%. That's not me being a libtard, it's a fact.In America widespread income inequality and a lack of social services makes immigration a raw deal. Your entire quality of life here depends on your job.
Canada's a bit different. They at least has single payer and a moderately functional safety net (albeit not one as robust as the Scandinavian countries AFAIK). They might see some benefit. It depends on whether their ruling class can exploit the divide between city & rural voters to cut those services like they did in America. They're definitely trying.
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"immigration tends to create more jobs than are taken."
Yes, but that doesn't benefit the residents of the country receiving immigrants.
There are more jobs because immigrants suppress wages. It's supply and demand. If you have people who are willing to supply their labor at a lower price, demand for labor increases. But the rest of us laborers are stuck on the same supply curve as the immigrants.
When Avro cancelled the Arrow and the AvroCar, Canada lost many talented engineers and the US got all these people to work in the space program. Talk to some old timer Canucks and they are still fuming over Diefenbaker.
mfwright@batnet.com
Yeah, the article and the summary seem to be anti-Trump, pro H1B, but I'm left scratching my head as to exactly who this is/ever was supposed to be good for. It's definitely good for the immigrants, because they have massively expanded employment opportunities. Is it good for Canadians? I guess it's good for the Canadians who own tech/engineering companies but aren't themselves much interested in tech/engineering and just want the money. Not so good for the Canadian techs/engineers who are suddenly competing with the entire world, strictly non-reciprocally. So I guess I'm supposed to be empathetic to the immigrants who have expanded job opportunities but not empathetic to the Canadians who have reduced job opportunities?
Proud neuron in the Slashdot hivemind since 2002.
We'd enforce our immigration laws strictly and kick out illegal immigrants, instead of harboring 10-20 million illegals and dreaming up new ways to let them stay.
We'd give strong preference to immigrants and workers with high skills, instead of having a race- and family based immigration system.
We'd cut the Medicare/Medicaid budget in half, or alternatively, cover all Americans on the current Medicare/Medicaid budget.
How about it?