U.S. immigration laws prompt Microsoft to set up shop in Canada

posted by   joseph (309)   17 months ago (www.computerworld.com)

Microsoft Corp. plans to open a software development center in Vancouver, British Columbia, later this year, partly as a way to recruit and retain talented workers who can’t get into or stay in the U.S. because of immigration laws. The software vendor announced the plans Thursday, saying that the new Microsoft Canada Development Centre will open this fall and be staffed by developers “from around the world. Microsoft, along with other high-tech companies, has been a vocal supporter of legislation that would increase the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the U.S. on visas such as the H-1B. Currently, businesses are competing with one another for a total of 65,000 H-1B visas that can be issued during the federal government’s fiscal year, plus another 20,000 visas that are set aside for workers with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. Demand for the visas is far exceeding the supply: In April, on the first — and only — day that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accepted H-1B applications for the fiscal year that starts in October, about 150,000 applications were submitted.