The H-1B Alternative: Canada
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If American businesses can't attract top foreign IT talent to the United States because of a cap on H-1B visas, what should a company do? Set up shop in Canada. |
That's what Microsoft is doing, establishing a software development center in Vancouver, British Columbia, about 140 miles north of its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., the company announced Thursday. [Silicon Valley, by the way, is 845 miles from Redmond.]
It's easier to bring foreign high-tech talent into Canada than the U.S., Craig Natsuhara, a business immigration lawyer with Davis LLP in Vancouver, told the Globe and Mail, a Canadian national newspaper.
Canadian immigration law provides for seven different categories of IT workers, Natsuhara says, including one called "embedded systems software designer" that Canadian companies often employ to bring in programmers from overseas.
"When you look at the supply in the marketplace of students with computer science degrees, two-thirds of all the graduates in the world are coming out of India and China and the Asia-Pacific region," the newspaper quoted Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen. "And Vancouver has a very strong connection and a very strong link to that part of the world."
Unlike the U.S., Canada does not have a visa quota. The number of new H-1B visas each year is capped at 65,000. Efforts to increase that number were stymied last month when the Senate refused to vote on the immigration reform bill.
So, without immigration reform or even increasing the H-1B cap, American businesses might follow Microsoft's lead, set up shop just north of the border, and begin to employ what they feel is needed foreign talent close to home. That's bad news for those who feel American IT pros--especially those who are unemployed--are being bypassed for jobs as U.S. employers hire foreigners who H-1B opponents contend get the jobs because they're willing to accept lower wages. Perhaps Microsoft's move will encourage both sides to seek common ground in providing displaced IT workers the proper training, and assuring employment for all qualified American IT professionals while meeting the needs of U.S. employers that seek qualified business-tech talent.
