It's First Shaughnessy District. Most historic area of Vancouver and has many heritage protections e.g. a. can't demolish houses built before 1940, b. every change in the exterior have to be approved by a First Shaughnessy Design Committee apart the city.
By many metrics, FDS is one of the best places in the world to have a house in, due to following reasons:
1. Big lot size: Average size Half acre (21k+ sqft). No other world class city has such sized lots in walking distance to the downtown (< 30mins walk, <10min drive).
2. Incredibly safe.
3. Right next to the Granville shop area which is even closer than the downtown (< 10 mins walk). Major develpment happening in nearby Broadway area.
4. 15mins drive to Vancouver International airport.
5. Incredibly safe.
6. 10mins drive to beach
7. 30-40mins drive to skiing. While Vanvouer itself gets snowed in maybe 10 days an year.
8. Other benefits which apply to Vancouver due to being centrally located in Vancouver.
The problem with this is that by design, it's a nice place for very few people. Zoning central land for houses on massive lots is effectively a cap on how many people can live there; it's an incredibly regressive policy that benefits a few owners of $10M+ homes at a large cost.
Agreed. Still doesn't take away the other unique features away. I am yet to find any more place with such size houses which are walkable. Which was the charm for me.
Well, if you've made that kind of money, I guess I can't necessarily blame you, but on the other hand it's an absolutely repulsive level of wealth and opulence that would make a lot of people pretty uneasy
Do you know that India is more than in languages, cuisine, culture and history than whole of Western Europe. Just because they have common passport, doesn't mean that they are any less diverse.
If whole of Europe gets a single EU passport, does it suddenly make them any less diverse?
EB1-C is a Green Card category for multinational managers. It is supposed to be used to move job creating foreign nationals to US.
Till 2010, the body shop and consulting companies didn't use it much. However as rule tightened since 2010, these companies started using EB1-C to most low cost labor to US and delaying Green Card for everyone else.
With EB1-C you can get Green Card within an year, cutting in line in front of everyone else from India.
With this ruling, these companies are going to double down on EB1-C.
This isn't criticizing bank robbing. It's just saying that cracking down on the bank robbing, might not make restaurants any safer. Only claim was that restaurants (hitech companies might benefit).
I understand companies like Tata have job-titles like “Account executive” for (relatively) low-level employees which meets the “Executive-level employment” critter and rule for EB-1 classification - even though the term “executive” is clearly overloaded and inappropriate in this context.
USCIS aren't fooled by job title inflation. Applications for these sorts of visas require substantial supporting documentation - typically org charts, detailed descriptions of responsibilities, resumes of people who report to the visa applicant, evidence of compensation commensurate with the claimed responsibilities, etc.
When did your friends move to US. Recently or before 2012. Since 2010, the decline started and since 2012 very few highly qualifies Indians are moving to US. It has been a mix of growth in local startup ecosystem and know how much the immigration situation for Indians sucks in US!
I am not commenting on the quality of the input; I don’t know, in that respect. Just outputs. Those who moved earned more, raised (or failed) faster, exited earlier, et cetera. Granted, very few were H1-Bs.
No, you just need great documentation of your accomplishments and an excellent lawyer who knows how to handle the process. $$ It helps if you have done original work, and if a well known/internationally famous person in your field (or several) vouches for you in the form of a recommendation letter.
GC lottery depends on where you were born and countries with a certain amount of immigration do not get to participate in the lottery. India almost certainly is one of those countries that doesn't get to participate. Others are Mexico, Canada, probably China and Philippines too.
What's the point if you live under a threat of deportation all your life!
Do you know how much paper work has to be done to file a petition. I have around 20 pounds in weight of past paperwork!. Every petition is 100s of pages. Even if you have an approved petition, you have to go for Visa stamping where there is a 8-10 page questionnaire, waiting in line on 2 separate days and answer questions.
It's all really fucked it. You can do it for maybe 1-2 years. Not for decades.
There are many Indians in US, who would be screwed if they lost their jobs in US. They work for the outsourcing companies and if they have to move to to India - their quality of life will take a big dive. There if they make 80k USD, they will make 20-30k USD in India and have a much worse quality of life. These people wouldn't go back unless they are forced to. And they save every penny they can, because they are trying to be ready for the worst case scenario.
However, anyone who is highly skilled - they can get a job anywhere.
Being in US is like being in a decades long dating relationship where you counterpart raises questions on the relationship and threatens to throw you out every few years. However, some people want to get married and settle and it makes sense for them to move on!
<From throwaway account to avoid leaking personal info>
I feel so great for you! Finally, I am moving out. Enough dealing with the immigration crap here!
I waited for 8 years too. Didn't let immigration stall my career. Built a company, sold it to one of the top tech companies in Bay Area. Building another company to solve a really tough problem. But man it has been stressful! USCIS keeps getting hung up on technicality and makes it as difficult as possible to live here.
Meanwhile I have paid millions in taxes in US.
People who are in the lowest part of the value chain, will always find a loophole - there is too much money at stake and they don't have any other choice!
Accomplished people will move out or stop coming! US, keep doing this and eventually H1B will be just be a tool for cheap labor! Best talent from India, doesn't come to US anymore! And most of who are still here will move out!
I applied for EB-1. They need 3 criteria. Accepted 2 criteria (extra ordinary contribution to my field and leading role in organizations). They rejected the media and press criteria because most of the press about my company's acquisition, while mentioned me by name, was about the company and not me. And BTW I was Founder of the company and built it from scratch.
In any other country, one of the criteria that they accepted would have been enough.
If you are talented and from India, don't waste your life in US. Where ever you go, jobs will follow you. Move out as soon as you can!
It’s funny how people are criticizing USCIS here (not that it is not to be blamed for lacking) and not their fellow Indian men for running such consultancies in the first place and exploiting talent backhome and luring them here in hopes for green cards before they realize it’s close to impossible and by that time these consulatancies middle-men would have already milked them enough. Creating awareness among Indian backhome is first step in discouraging consultancies abusing them. US has always been an open market for anyone to come here, take advantage of it and make ones dreams come true. US educated Indians stuck in green card queue is not entirely because of USCIS ineptness but also Indian “consultants” clogging up the queue. It feels there should have been a separate visa category for these “consultants” altogether.
>I applied EB-1. They need 3 criteria. Accepted 2 criteria (extra ordinary contribution to my field and leading role in organizations). They rejected the media and press criteria because most of the press about my company's acquisition, while mentioned me by name, was about the company and not me. And BTW I was Founder of the company and built it from scratch.
That is such BS. I was gonna try (I have some publications and stuff) but that's about it. Now I feel like I am rotting away here.
Lawyer adviced the same. Told me it was almost impossible for me to do EB-1 and it was all about luck. I don't really want to do that. It's just frustrating seeing people I went to school with years ago from other countries become greencard holders so quickly without even doing grad school or STEM.
>>Going for EB-1 has been one of the worst decisions of my life. I wasted 2 years collecting paper work, getting letters, wasting money and waiting!
Also depends on the company and the leverage you have with the manager in the company. Plenty of people from India have gotten GCs in that category in months after arriving to US.
So yeah, Its luck by most means. Life is unfair, if its any consolation, think about this aspect of luck. There are likely more merit people in India who haven't even gotten as far as you. Is it unfair for them and their lives to be compared to you.
> That is such BS. I was gonna try (I have some publications and stuff) but that's about it. Now I feel like I am rotting away here.
Don't get too disparaged by this example. It depends a lot on the individual reviewer. Yes, that sucks, but it also means that in many cases it's not as hard as the in the quoted case.
I'm not nearly as successful as you but have similar frustrations with the US immigration system. I'm a co-founder of a company that has employed a couple dozen Americans for a few years now and decided to leave the US when it became clear there was basically no path for me to get a green card. Oh well.
If you paid millions in taxes personally, then you have sufficient funds to qualify for investor/job creator visa (which in turn leads to a green card as well). I have family that were able to accomplish this with as little as 500K and 2 years, but depending on the scenario it can take as much as a couple million dollars (depending on location and nature of business). I am sure this is stuff your attorney must have explained to you so probably there is context I am missing here.
The process is non-definitive. A few years after you invest the money, you get a provisional green card and if the 10 permanent jobs are created after 2 years from that point, you get a permanent Green Card. Too many ifs and buts.
I thought EB-1 was more definitive and I felt that I was the right fit for it.
Notably, people who do not come from India or China can apply under EB-2 NIW instead of EB-1, so the requirements are lower. The spirit of the Chinese Exclusion Act lives on!
It sounds like you might be in a position where EB-5 is an option. It does take a long time though (I just got my conditional green card and filed my I-526 3 years ago). It sucks that they wouldn't count your media mentions, sounds like you had bad luck with the reviewer.
The comment you're replying to was arguably uncivil on a divisive topic, which breaks the site guidelines. But you replied by crossing into personal attack, which is much worse. We ban accounts that do that, so please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and don't do this again.
What part of my reply seems like a personal attack to you? Pointing out his unbecoming opinion of immigrants who follow the rules, or asking why he felt he needed to come here to begin with?
I tried unbanning you the other day, as we often do with banned accounts that seem like they may have stopped breaking the site guidelines. Usually this works out. In this case, unfortunately, it led straight to the kind of flamewar we precisely don't want here: nasty, brutish, and long. So I've rebanned the account.
If you (or anyone) don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future.
Not making it super difficult for high skilled, shouldn't mean restricting immigration to them. Your first line seems like an useless argument. I am not sure how you arrived at it.
I want to prioritize being in the place, where I can be most effective as a human being and contribute back to the humanity.
As a side effect of this I contribute back to the places, I care about. I donated to a school in my hometown (which as my as I love I can't move back to because it has power cuts for 22 hours a day in 120F summers). Send decent amount of USD to India and advise startup in Indian ecosystem.
If at some point I feel that I can be most effective being in India, I would definitely go back!
Ok so Canada makes it easy for high-skilled while US makes it easy for low skilled. What’s the problem? Should we deport and restrict immigration unless you’re high skilled?
The point is that the US is very forgiving and easy going with respect to immigration and everybody acts like we’re a bunch of Nazis. Newsflash, we have the most liberal immigration policy in the world. Try getting permanent residency in Japan, or Switzerland, or China and let me know how that goes. It’s only difficult because we have too many people that want to move here.
And while I trust that you think you’re “giving back” to India, it’s easy to say you are while enjoying a nice cushy life in Canada.
I don’t mean this to be personal but I’m really sick and tired of hearing people complain that the US is shitty wrt to immigration when we are not. Does any other country have Dreamers? Will Canada allow 11 million undocumented kids to become permanent citizens? Hell no. Would India? Japan? China? Korea? Germany? Brasil? Nope nope nope - you would be deported in a heartbeat. Why does Canada even make you fill out paperwork or have a point-based system if they are so liberal?
I agree US is great with immigration (if you are not from India).
Most people can get a Green Card within a year (even with moderate skills) and citizenship at 5 years without language test.
This is great! But doesn't work for Indians. Which is what Indians in this thread are complaining about!
Many times things have a lagging indicator. West Europeans don't have strong reasons to move to US. Neither do Chinese to a large extent - because of vibrant local opportunities in China now.
Till 2010, best from India wanted to move to US. Not anymore! The problem is self solving. If Hackernews would be around in 10 years, and US immigration stays the same - there wouldn't be Indians complaining here about this - because they wouldn't be in US
You don't need to restrict immigration for low skilled to remove crazy restrictions for high skilled immigrants. I don't know how and where you are making this connection!
> Most people can get a Green Card within a year (even with moderate skills) and citizenship at 5 years without language test.
You are hilariously misinformed. I am 3.5 years and waiting on an EB2 and I am British, I know Caltech professors who took 3 years to get on EB1.
Part of the issue isn't entirely the government but also the cottage industry of legal firms. These firms (at least in my experience) can take _longer_ than some of the government steps.
The system is designed to give a Green Card in around an year.
You can file for an EB1-3 as soon as you move to US.
Process is:
PERM - 3-4 months (EB1 and EB2-NIW don't need it)
I-140 - premium - 14 days
I-485 - can be filed concurrently with I-140 - Takes around 5-6 months
Green Card - 1-2 months within approval of I-485.
Of course this is the best case scenario, which doesn't involve company delaying, bad law firm and RFEs from USCIS. But the system is designed to be done within an year!
I know colleagues who have gotten their Green Cards within an year.
And unfortunately, I know more about the immigration system that I should be knowing :(
You’re implying we should just welcome every Indian to the country. Sorry I’m more concerned with making sure Africans and Hispanics can make it here.
Maybe Canada should do the same? Instead of increasing brain-drain on the rest of the world by providing an easy avenue for immigration to highly skilled people (and increasing their interest in loving) Canada should allow millions of people from Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere without much education to immigrate to Canada? Why not?
Ceteris paribus, no. From a utilitarian perspective, engineers are on average more valuable than non-engineers. Doesn’t matter what ethnicity or continent or culture they come from. Biasing that measure with an arbitrary ethno-socio-geographic filter feels like backing into a rationale over thinking from first principles.
Seriously, I don't know how do you draw such conclusions.
The main point was: It is really difficult for highly skilled people from India to immigrate from India. And because of this many highly skilled Indians want to leave.
First, you insinuated that letting highly skilled Indians in means not letting in low-skilled immigrations. No it doesn't!
Second, you insinuated that this means allowing every Indian. No it doesn't.
Seriously, which part of Highly skilled do you not understand!
The amount of flagging your post has seen, indicates that others agree with me.
Ok so stay in India and build businesses in India. What’s so difficult about this for you? You’re not entitled to move to another country nor am I. If we have too many people from one place how can we build a multicultural society? If you’re truly high-skilled then you should be advocating for the US to restrict immigration like Canada and others do to a points-based system. Do you advocate for this or do you prefer a liberal immigration system like the US now has? You can’t have both.
And if you spent any time in the West you would know that just because a few people (even many) hold a wrong opinion (I.e. downvoting) doesn’t make them right.
And next time instead of making a throwaway and calling people trolls I think you should post under your real username and spend more time discussing the merits of their arguments.
Yes. You can have both! You can have some Green Cards allocated to the points based and some allocated to the current system.
The current system was designed for situations which existed in the past. It wasn't perfect but served the job then. Times have changed and ground realities have changed - so time to tweak it!
As far as where I have to go - it's my prerogative! If US doesn't work, will find what works best for me!
Don't need your suggestions! Apart from not getting the birthplace lottery - am ahead on everything else!
By many metrics, FDS is one of the best places in the world to have a house in, due to following reasons:
1. Big lot size: Average size Half acre (21k+ sqft). No other world class city has such sized lots in walking distance to the downtown (< 30mins walk, <10min drive).
2. Incredibly safe.
3. Right next to the Granville shop area which is even closer than the downtown (< 10 mins walk). Major develpment happening in nearby Broadway area.
4. 15mins drive to Vancouver International airport.
5. Incredibly safe.
6. 10mins drive to beach
7. 30-40mins drive to skiing. While Vanvouer itself gets snowed in maybe 10 days an year.
8. Other benefits which apply to Vancouver due to being centrally located in Vancouver.