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The US just made it much harder for talented foreigners to work in the country. On Friday, September 19th, President Trump signed an executive order to add a $100,000 fee to every new H-1B visa application. This change will fundamentally alter the global competition for talent.
Think of it like a massive game of musical chairs. Top talent is looking for a place to sit and America just removed many of their options. Canada can either watch from the sidelines as skilled workers scramble for the remaining seats, or it can quickly add new chairs for the best players.

Anecdotal story: Once upon a time when Opti was still working actual jobs, a strategy was developed with US+CA HR for an international engineering company to build a competence center where we'd funnel top European engineers to Ontario instead of New England, simply because H-1B has always sucked, in large part because it is used aggressively by consultancy firms (see also #1234323), whereas Canada offered much better perspectives for the employees themselves. The US did offer better visa regime outcomes for management personnel though (L-1).
It's not a hard thing to figure out if you have competent HR, so you don't even have to spend top Bitcoin to hire Opti to advice you... just do it.
that L-1B visa got me curious, so I did a lil’ digging and found this:
The L-1B nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This classification also enables a foreign company that does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one. The employer must file Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker with fee, on behalf of the employee.
that word ‘nonimmigrant’ got me kinda confused. Like, does it mean it’s limited by citizenship?
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They both (H1 and L1) are non-immigrant, so it's like a work permit only.
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Ah ok, like a temporary visa. Thanks!
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Both get 3 years, with the possibility to extend to a maximum of 5.
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Contentious politically but probably cheaper for employers
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They'd have to live in Canada though, which is like purgatory. Do you still get arrested for walking in the woods in some places?
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Let me guess... Former Canadian???
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No sir. Have some family that live there though. Unaffordable. Dystopian hellscape.
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If it's so bad... then why is it so expensive? In my experience at least... the desirable places tend to be expensive. And the less-desirable... less so.
Know what I mean?
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Unless they don't allow much new construction.
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Purgatory isn't too bad a destination coming from hell.
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Compared to North Korea sure. They aren't gathering their own poop yet like it's money as in NK. Canada will be first in the Northern Hemisphere to implement every WEF type control mechanism.
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100 sats \ 0 replies \ @leo 29 Sep
I agree, Canada shouldn't miss this historic opportunity. They might have to legalize housing and healthcare, though!
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as if anybody would prefer Canada to live and work
saluting former ukranian Nazi in their Parliament is just an icing on a cake
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From a strategic standpoint companies and HR departments that rely on high skill international hires should already be reworking their plans. It is not simply about filling headcount. It is about where the intellectual gravity resides. If talented engineers and creators start clustering in Toronto or Vancouver instead of Boston or San Francisco those cities will slowly take the lead in certain sectors...
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