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For Some Lucky Immigrants, America’s Loss is Canada’s Gain
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jan 10, 2020
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courtesy Yuan He
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Jan 10, 2020
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Andre Ferreira is a Portuguese national who lived in Bushwick until September, when his renewal application for an H-1B visa was denied. The rejection was disappointing, as the software engineer had built up a circle of friends and come to appreciate his life in the city since moving here in 2016.
But now, thanks to an enterprising initiative backed by the Canadian government, Ferreira lives in Calgary and continues to work with the same colleagues at Betterment, an investment firm in Manhattan. His office, he said, has a view of the Canadian Rockies.
Ferreira said he recently went snow-shoeing, and is “constantly going on hikes and trying to get into snowboarding again.”
His story exemplifies parallel trends: the growing challenge for tech professionals to stay in the U.S. and the Canadian hunger for global talent.
According to the Census Bureau, international migration to the U.S. added just 595,000 people to the U.S. population in 2019, the lowest level in a decade. Meanwhile, Canada drew 437,000 immigrants although its population is about one-ninth that of the U.S. A small but growing number of these are immigrants who were turned away by the United States.
One Canadian company that is capitalizing on the uncertainty of U.S. immigration policy is MobSquad. The company frequently hosts mixers in the U.S. where it sells American startups on the idea of ‘nearshoring’ foreign-born workers, like Ferreira, and relocating them just across the border.
At one such event, held at the Canadian consulate in Midtown, attendees helped themselves to craft beer and hors d'oeuvres.
“If you're a foreign national on an H-1B, coming up to renewal, where you're not certain it's going to get renewed—should you buy a house, should you have a family here? Or are you getting kicked out?” asked MobSquad CEO Irfhan Rawji.
Rawji said MobSquad hires these tech workers, just as their visas are expiring, and moves them to Canada. Then MobSquad contracts them back to the client company. So far, Rawji said, around 20 engineers have made the move.
For workers like Yuan He, the model works. Until last summer, He commuted from New Jersey to the office of Petal Card, in Soho. Although he’d obtained a graduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and had proven himself to his employer, he failed to obtain an H-1B visa and figured he'd have to return to China. To him, it felt like a personal rejection by the United States.
“I can contribute to the country,” he said.
But then, he and his employer connected with MobSquad. And within weeks, he, his wife and their baby had a brand new life in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He said his salary is now about two-thirds of what it was in the U.S. The difference will go to Mobsquad. When Yuan gets his permanent residency card, a process that can take anywhere from six to fourteen months, he can leave Mobsquad. But Yuan's cost of living is a lot less in Halifax than it was in New Jersey. And he said his quality of life is the same.
One of MobSquad's corporate clients is Cloud9, a 5-year-old financial technology firm in Manhattan. Brian Hunt, the company's chief administrative officer said it's gotten much harder in the Trump era to recruit people with the right tech skills. The idea that an American startup can hold on to talented foreign-born workers by moving them just across the border has changed how his company approached its hiring process.
“It's opened up this enormous labor pool of really talented global labor that's come to the U.S., has been frustrated with the policy, and is now looking at Canada as a better alternative,” said Hunt. Especially as the Trump administration continues to restrict immigration.
Rawji of Mobsquad said Canada's political leadership is dedicated to luring the brightest minds from all over the world, and making them feel at home.
“When it comes from the very top, it does send a signal and it does make people feel much more comfortable.”
And those tech professionals who now work in Halifax and Calgary have a much shorter path to Canadian citizenship than they ever would've had here in the U.S.
“I feel like the life is similar between New Jersey and here,” Yuan said. “I certainly do not miss the traffic in New York City though.”
Arun Venugopal is a reporter at WNYC, where he covers immigration and race.
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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