Is Vancouver a Legitimate Tech Hub?

[Prometheus]

Canada’s tech sector could benefit from Trump’s policies, say tech experts



Trump victory could be a win for Canadian tech



Trump Immigration order ‘a boon' for Canadian tech industry, say executives

[WarrenC12]

Canada is already a place where US companies set up field offices and hire immigrants they can't get into the US. That will naturally expand.

Vancouver shares a time zone with Seattle and Silicon Valley, along with some proximity, that helps, but our housing prices don't.

I only see expansion of Canada's current role while the US in under Trump. It could mean big things for Ontario though, rather than BC/Vancouver.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Canada is already a place where US companies set up field offices and hire immigrants they can't get into the US. That will naturally expand.

Vancouver shares a time zone with Seattle and Silicon Valley, along with some proximity, that helps, but our housing prices don't.

I only see expansion of Canada's current role while the US in under Trump. It could mean big things for Ontario though, rather than BC/Vancouver.

San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Toronto...housing prices aren't going to be a disadvantage for those cities. They are all horrendously unaffordable.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by csbvan

San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Toronto...housing prices aren't going to be a disadvantage for those cities. They are all horrendously unaffordable.

Well, wages are higher in all of those places, particularly San Fran.

[casper]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Well, wages are higher in all of those places, particularly San Fran.

So if your Uber of Apple. You can hire a software engineer in Vancouver, offer a salary above the local average and it still costs your less than being in San Francisco. Win-Win for everyone.

[Sheba]

Silicon Valley is making plans to move foreign-born workers to Canada

For many U.S. startups and their foreign-born employees, a kind of back-up plan may be starting to sound like a good idea right about now.

Yesterday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that administration officials have drafted a new executive order aimed at overhauling, among other things, the H-1B work-visa program that U.S.-based tech companies have long relied on to bring top foreign engineering talent into their ranks. Spicer said the possible executive order is “part of a larger immigration effort” related in part to Friday’s hot-button immigration ban targeting immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

According to Bloomberg, the draft proposal states that: “Our country’s immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the U.S. national interest. Visa programs for foreign workers … should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers — our forgotten working people — and the jobs they hold.” (The shorter version: companies have to try hiring U.S.-born employees first.)

Whether and when that executive order gets signed is an open question, but at least one small group of cofounders has banded together to make it easier for U.S. companies to create subsidiaries in Canada and to move their U.S.-based employees to a new, Vancouver-based office, and all within what they describe as weeks, not months. They haven’t created a nonprofit. They’ve instead formed a new company called True North that’s right now offering a $6,000 package that includes airfare for one person to Vancouver, two nights of accommodations, and a day with “world-class immigration professionals who will walk you through the process and answer any questions you have.”

[a very long weekend]

i'll believe it when i see it.

still, i see the vision. basically, get a big we work-style office going in vancouver for the foreign employees of a variety of companies, with the sorts of supports that the companies would typically have on site. if they could get it up to hundreds of people over a number of floors, it could in a very minor way replicate the sort of cross pollination you have here.

at any rate, there's nothing bad for vancouver in this, it's not like local vancouver people would be losing jobs. though adding hundreds of well paid tech workers to the local rental market...

[csbvan]

Unfortunately for that article, it just does not match the reality of what is happening on the ground.

Again, high house prices exist in all tech hubs, from San Fran to New York to Seattle to Amsterdam. Vancouver is probably one of the few where house prices are trending in the right direction. Not to mention rents are very cheap compared to those other cities.

[a very long weekend]

right, but vancouver's not really a tech hub, it probably has less "tech" than portland or san diego. you add 5-6k people earning 8-10k/month, in town because they couldn't renew their H1Bs or whatever, then you'll begin to understand the awesome power of the dark side of the force. luckily for you, many/most of those leaving would be from india, a gang that tends to prefer suburbs, so if it comes to pass, you'd at least not be plopping them all down in the built up parts of vancouver.

[Pinion]

Oh yes we wouldn't have any idea what being flooded with rich people is like.



We're also well aware of stereotypical Indian preferences, considering Punjabi is our second most common spoken language. Immigrants who prefer the suburbs would be a bad thing here.

[memememe76]

Although not specifically tech-related, I think Vancouver's movie and tv industries may benefit from what is taking place in the US. At least a couple of Oscar nominees can't attend the ceremony. That may yet another reason to film things in Vancouver/Canada. I would imagine there would be at least some cross-over between the film industry and the tech industry.

[csbvan]

Kickstarter buys a Vancouver startup, opens its first international office in the city:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/kickstarter-huzza/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technolog...ng-up-vancouver-startup/article33853103/

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Kickstarter buys a Vancouver startup, opens its first international office in the city:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/kickstarter-huzza/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technolog...ng-up-vancouver-startup/article33853103/

Thank you for the interesting news article. I found this one in the ones you posted, and thought it augured well for Vancouver. Correct me if I'm wrong:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/brit...qid=b8f16f57-9a80-4029-9580-7861847808c3

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

Thank you for the interesting news article. I found this one in the ones you posted, and thought it augured well for Vancouver. Correct me if I'm wrong:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/brit...qid=b8f16f57-9a80-4029-9580-7861847808c3

I posted about that earlier on this page.

Somewhat related: Trump's Immigration Ban Wreaks Havoc in Hollywood: Foreign Stars and Casting Impacted

Hollywood was built by immigrants — mostly Jews whose families emigrated from eastern Europe — and long has thrived on the infusion of fresh talent and consumers from around the world. So the industry is struggling to grapple with the impact of President Donald Trump's Jan. 27 executive order temporarily banning immigration to the U.S. from seven mostly-Muslim countries — even as most entertainment moguls have remained silent on the issue.

The ban, which impacts most immigrants and visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, came just as the TV industry's pilot season was getting underway. The annual production crunch sees hundreds of foreign actors travel to Los Angeles and New York for meetings and casting sessions, often on expedited visas. Studios and talent agencies declined to comment, but privately, many say they are evaluating how the so-called Muslim ban and expected visa delays for all foreign nationals will impact decisions on pilots and series pickups this spring. "Production companies are vetting talent to see if they could face a possible bar," says Richard Tashjian, an immigration attorney who works with Sony and CAA. "Past that, there is no contingency plan if the bar is expanded."

...

Immigration attorneys also are expecting increased scrutiny on certain types of visas, including those used most often by the film, TV and music industries. Entertainers typically use O visas, groups use P visas and nontalent (such as foreign financiers traveling for business meetings) use B visas. Those visas usually are sponsored by talent agencies, networks or studios with whom the person works.

Tashjian says there already has been a two- to three-week lag in receiving an O-1 visa for those applying in London. "I had a production that decided to move from the U.S. to Canada because of visa delays," he says. "So we've lost 100 U.S. crew jobs in New Orleans."

...

Adams says at least one client, a British company that employs talent from across the globe, is thinking about abandoning its U.S. offices. "The world market for the top talent is competitive," he says. "If we can't attract top talent, we lose as a country."

Meanwhile, America's loss could be Canada's gain. The country's tech companies are lobbying to assist visa-seekers who can't get into the U.S. in an effort to poach talent — and it wouldn't be surprising if Hollywood's neighbors to the north decided to do the same. But while Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and other technology companies have voiced strong opposition to Trump's immigration policies, most top entertainment execs have remained silent, preferring to speak via a bland MPAA statement. The one exception is 21st Century Fox, whose leaders, James and Lachlan Murdoch, issued a companywide memo Jan. 30 saying they value "the unique perspective offered by our many people who came to the U.S. in search of the opportunity for unfettered self-expression."

[a very long weekend]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Oh yes we wouldn't have any idea what being flooded with rich people is like.



We're also well aware of stereotypical Indian preferences, considering Punjabi is our second most common spoken language. Immigrants who prefer the suburbs would be a bad thing here.

hah, yeah, i guess you have all the chinese. the real difference between having people flood in to work in high paying tech jobs and having chinese dumping their savings into vancouver real estate is the following: the high paid tech people demand different services. i don't know if your cocktails have hit $15 or your burgers have hit $20 yet, but when you have a lot of solid middle class (100-150k/year) younger people concentrated in an area, and actually living there unlike the chinese, you get commercial lease pressures and sorting that that leads to what we here call gentrification but what you'd probably call something else.

one thing i like about vancouver is that for all that's changed, it's still a pretty blue collar town. even your more fine dining type restaurants are pretty homey and hearty.

my point was that you flood the city with H1B types, you'll really see the difference. it has completely re-made san francisco just since 2010. but then again, the indians (almost none from the punjab, more like the top schools in dehli, hyderabad, kolkatta, etc.) you'll mostly get MAY not be as bad for the gentrification. different patterns of consumption.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by a very long weekend

hah, yeah, i guess you have all the chinese. the real difference between having people flood in to work in high paying tech jobs and having chinese dumping their savings into vancouver real estate is the following: the high paid tech people demand different services. i don't know if your cocktails have hit $15 or your burgers have hit $20 yet, but when you have a lot of solid middle class (100-150k/year) younger people concentrated in an area, and actually living there unlike the chinese, you get commercial lease pressures and sorting that that leads to what we here call gentrification but what you'd probably call something else.

one thing i like about vancouver is that for all that's changed, it's still a pretty blue collar town. even your more fine dining type restaurants are pretty homey and hearty.

my point was that you flood the city with H1B types, you'll really see the difference. it has completely re-made san francisco just since 2010. but then again, the indians (almost none from the punjab, more like the top schools in dehli, hyderabad, kolkatta, etc.) you'll mostly get MAY not be as bad for the gentrification. different patterns of consumption.

With all due respect, I honestly don't think you know anything about Vancouver at all. We have the highest luxury goods sales per capita on the continent. Blue collar types were chased well into the far flung suburbs 10+ years ago, along with almost everyone else who used to live in the city. Our situation is much worse than San Francisco's. At least your situation is caused by a booming economy - ours was caused by being turned into China's Cayman Islands.

I know as a San Franciscan you're used to everyone being impressed by how expensive and weird the situation is (my extended family lives there), but you have absolutely no idea what's going on here. We don't have a rich middle class, you're right, just tens of thousands of undeclared multi-millionaires who are syphoning money from China as fast as they can. They laugh at the peasants in Palo Alto who have to do things like work for a living.

[a very long weekend]

well, if you've been made into modern day peasants by your new chinese masters, then maybe a bevy of H1B non-renewals flooding in would re-establish the middle class?

[Pinion]

Yeah, it would be a great thing.

Here's a good example of the ridiculous crap you see in this city btw

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Yeah, it would be a great thing.

Here's a good example of the ridiculous crap you see in this city btw

So many supercars, so few philanthropists.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Pinion

Yeah, it would be a great thing.

Here's a good example of the ridiculous crap you see in this city btw

Nice car. I was in Vancouver over the weekend. Odd I did not see an abundance of cars like that one.

I have to agree with "a very long weekend". Vancouver is still more down-to-earth than some parts of the bay area. I would not use the term "blue collar" to describe the city. It is however still balanced with white and blue collar working types. Yes, there are Chinese immigrants who have to much money but this is not the majority of the city by any description.