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Engineers Are Leaving America For Canada (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a report via Bloomberg: The H-1B was created in 1990, part of an immigration overhaul signed into law by President George H.W. Bush that also created the EB-5 investor visa -- the subject of a fracas involving Kushner Cos. seeking Chinese investment -- and the diversity lottery, which Trump has attacked. Today, an estimated half a million H-1B holders live in the U.S. No one tracks exactly how many ditch their skilled visas for the permanent residency Canada offers, but during the first year of Trump's presidency, the number of tech professionals globally who got permanent residency in Canada ticked up almost 40 percent from 2016, to more than 11,000.
In 1967, Canada became the first country to adopt a points-based immigration system. The country regularly tweaks how it rates applicants based on national goals and research into what makes for successful integration: A job offer used to come with 600 points, but now it's worth just 200. Other factors like speaking fluent English or French -- or, even better, both -- have been given more weight over the years. Country of origin is irrelevant. In 2016, Canada increased national immigration levels to 300,000 new permanent residents annually. Last year, in consultation with trade groups, it created a program called the Global Skills Strategy to issue temporary work permits to people with job offers in certain categories, including senior software engineers, in as little as two weeks. Since the program started in June, more than 5,600 people have been granted permits, from the U.S., India, Pakistan, Brazil, and elsewhere.
In 1967, Canada became the first country to adopt a points-based immigration system. The country regularly tweaks how it rates applicants based on national goals and research into what makes for successful integration: A job offer used to come with 600 points, but now it's worth just 200. Other factors like speaking fluent English or French -- or, even better, both -- have been given more weight over the years. Country of origin is irrelevant. In 2016, Canada increased national immigration levels to 300,000 new permanent residents annually. Last year, in consultation with trade groups, it created a program called the Global Skills Strategy to issue temporary work permits to people with job offers in certain categories, including senior software engineers, in as little as two weeks. Since the program started in June, more than 5,600 people have been granted permits, from the U.S., India, Pakistan, Brazil, and elsewhere.
Sure yeah whatever. I have seen plenty of bright well trained citizens laid off in favor of H1B hires. Apparently they made too much money, or were not young enough, didn't graduate from the right school, or didn't check some identity box. Sorry you couldn't find an HVAC engineer - maybe you didn't try hard enough. Or maybe your standards were too low. Or your job description required something no American grad could achieve - genetically.
Also the anti-female and anti-black racism. As a old pink guy in Canada, it's way easier to have a life in Canada than the United States, because you don't have to hate folks who look suspiciously like you.
davecb@spamcop.net
I'll probably be modded down into oblivion for having a contrary opinion but I wish the USA would just get it over and annex Canada and Mexico already. Once people get over the knee-jerk reaction and actually think about what this would mean
Unless you get their permission first (and you can't), what it would mean is war on at least two fronts, and probably more. Even assuming the USA can beat both countries militarily (and then occupy them successfully, despite a complete lack of moral legitimacy), it's unlikely the rest of the world would stand for the USA going full-Lebensraum on its neighbors and allies.
At the very least, it would be extremely destabilizing, since every other major country would take it as signalling "open season" on their neighbors. Any semblance of diplomatic infrastructure more refined than "me want, me stronger, me take" would be destroyed for the forseeable future.
It's unlikely the benefits of "a unified currency" would outweigh the drawbacks of "endless war".
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
There's a correlation vs causation issue going on here. Companies didn't stop training because of H1-B's; they stopped training because higher numbers of college degrees floating around turned a ton of industries into Employer's Markets. H1-B's sped the process up, but this shit started before that. We have flooded job markets, few alternatives like manufacturing, and executives insist on boosting stock and getting their raises no matter what.
End result is a lot of qualified people competing for the same jobs, which drives down wages. H1-B's are a pretty small part of that (albeit one that tends to make headlines when abused).
Big fucking deal. Drive around south side Buffalo, NY, and you'd think you were in County Clare, Ireland. What about Little Italy in NYC? No one complains about those "hostile invasions."