As Jenna says on the Technical Careers at MS blog:
Microsoft believes that Vancouver is an international gateway to the world and an attractive destination for Canadians and people from other countries around the world looking for highly skilled jobs. And since we have development centers around the world both within the US and outside the US, what is just one more office? We are delighted about expanding Microsoft Canada's presence to the greater Vancouver area with the Microsoft Canada Development Centre.
So, what does this have to do with the US H1B visa cap? Not only will this be a full development center, but it will also be a great alternative location for some of the new hires into Microsoft who have not been able to get their H1B visas this year due to the limited quota. Since Vancouver is just a short train/car ride away, it will be easy to stay in touch.
So the development work, the salaries and tax revenues go to Canada not the US. And of course those all important technology spillovers and clustering get built in Vancouver strengthening its already significant research base and university infrastructure.
As Gandhi said: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
Replace cultures with talent and you know what nations should do :-)
Few people are getting the full implications of the announcement of the Microsoft Development Center in Vancouver, British Columbia. For those not aware of it: that is the Vancouver in Canada, north of Seattle, not the one down theI-5 in the way to Portland, Oregon.
ReplyDeleteMicrosoft is not only solving the problem of thousands of Indians, Chinese and other immigrants that currently are almost at the end of their H1-B period and have no hope of getting a green card. Microsoft is also paving the way to massive savings that probably would compensate for the aQuantive, Xbox and Great Plains/Navision mistakes in the long run.
Microsoft was fighting a lost battle against Silicon Valley and the “Seattle Valley” to get talent at huge cost. Now, instead of paying U$80K to get a junior developer in Redmond, what about paying CAD80K (Canadian Dollars) for a top Software Engineer in Vancouver?
Also, think about the consequences for the Redmond region: instead of more and more people competing for houses that get farther each day, now there will be at least 2 thousand people leaving probably in the next 2 years. Pop!Was that the house market in Redmond or Sammamish? Boom! Was that the explosion of house prices in the distant Duvall?
If only they had thought of this last year, things might have been really different for me.
ReplyDeleteAnyways a good move by Microsoft and in a short time too (considering they generally take a loooot of time to make decisions). A case of if the horse can not come to the well then the well needs to be moved.