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YC will hold interviews in Vancouver for founders who can’t get US visas
- mck- 10y agoIt would be awesome if they set up a remote office here in Vancouver :)
- JamilD 10y agoThis is great news for both Canadian and international founders. Is the next step having an additional Canadian office for those that can't get US visas? Canada has a generous startup visa for founders coming from other countries [0]. [0] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/ http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/
- chollida1 10y agoThe Canadian visa might sound appealing at first blush but won't help for ycombinator founders as far as I know. To be eligible you need to have funding from a canadian venture fund, see below. I guess ycombinator could setup a Canadian fund and apply for the funding eligibility, but with the principles being mostly American and living in the US, I'm guessing it would be a very tough sell. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/eligibility/entities.asp http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/eli...
- JamilD 10y agoI'm sure if YC opened up a Canadian branch they could be one of the accepted incubators. The federal government seems keen on trying to make Canada a home for startups, even if it hasn't been a totally successful effort yet.
- Eridrus 10y agoIn the medium term, I'm sure YC can find Canadian funding sources if they wanted to do this.
- uiri 10y agoAs a Canadian, I'm doubtful that this is the case. There is a reason why almost all Canadian startups seek funding South of the border. In Canada, it is easier to get government grants than it is to secure venture capital.
- Eridrus 10y agoI feel like YC, with it's long record would have an easier time attracting capital than an individual startup.
- rdl 10y agoCanadian YC alums alone would be more than sufficient to provide the capital for this, if necessary.
- uiri 10y agoI don't think that it has anything to do with there not being enough capital available in Canada but rather the risk tolerance of most Canadian investors. I wouldn't be surprised if those YC alumni were hesitant to make more bets on the startup roulette wheel. I'm not saying that venture capital/angel investing is gambling per se but most Canadians, even past startup founders, probably see it that way.
- bobosha 10y agoCanadian founder who relocated my startup to US for funding reasons here. It is very hard to secure seed level funding. The mindset is very un-SV unfortunately. But that could change rapidly if we see a few pillar companies emerge, but that's a big if.
- miraj 10y agoactually Canada just announced another visa pilot program for temporary workers i.e. "Global Talent": "Canada to make skilled-worker permits easier to get in wake of U.S. delays" https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-to-make-skilled-worker-permits-easier-to-get-in-wake-of-us-delays/article34246962/ https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/canada-t...
- K0SM0S 10y agoThey're moving damn fast about it. Protests and Moby's posts are one thing, but when an administration/state gets involved, and more importantly when money is put on the table, you can tell things are happening. I don't how far this'll go, but I wouldn't be surprised if some places relatively 'close' to SF/Bay (say from Vancouver to perhaps Mexico) became sort of a surburb for less-demanding offices (think: grade A workers/projects in SF/Bay, everything else remotely to save costs and troubles with US immigration).
- spitfire 10y agoOh please no. Leave the VC reality distortion field south of the border please. We don't need YC ruining Canada with hopped up "startup" bros. If we even need more VC firms (I don't think we do), let indie VC or something like it come up. Edit: This isn't meant to mean people shouldn't start companies here. They should. But they should do it firmly grounded in reality, not based in SV VC world which has very little to do with building solid long term businesses.
- exacube 10y agomaybe you don't mean it, but the way you speak sounds very judgemental and not-in-my-backyardy.
- mediocrejoker 10y agoHaven't pretty much all of the largest tech companies been started with VC funding?
- sdflkd 10y agoI agree! Canada needs to continue giving depressed wages for the same/more work to its talented citizens and then just complain passive aggressively when they move down south.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- dang 10y ago> We don't need YC ruining Canada with hopped up "startup" bros. As a Canadian who once got funded by YC and is no "\"startup\" bro" I wince at this comment, which is beyond inaccurate. So is the bit about solid long-term businesses—I can tell you from plenty of first-hand observation that you're quite wrong in YC's case.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- branchless 10y agoAlright, now if I work like a dog and make a successful company (chances of this are in the low single digit %), after I hand back the YC cut I can get me a small family home in Vancouver that a regular factory worker could afford 30 years back!
- Kluny 10y agoIf you're complaining about the price of Vancouver real estate, it hardly makes sense in this context where San Francisco is the alternative.
- ilugaslifg 10y agoBut a senior engineer in Vancouver makes less than a coffee-fetching intern in SF.
- mck- 10y agoIn a scenario where more YC companies set up shop in Vancouver, and US investors follow to bet on the next Slack up here, then this will naturally change as a function of supply/demand.
- drpgq 10y agoMaybe, although taxes are a lot higher in Canada for anything beyond an average salary.
- Kluny 10y agoYes, but you get healthcare and being non-white isn't illegal, so that helps. Also - not really? The highest federal tax bracket in Canada is 33%. The highest in the states is 39%. The highest provincial rate in BC is 12% and that's about the same as California. I'm sure there's a lot of variation depending on an individual's situation, but you're really deluding yourself if you think American taxes are low, for the shit deal you guys get. [1] California: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-california.aspx http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-california... [2] BC: http://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/bc.htm http://www.taxtips.ca/taxrates/bc.htm [3] US Federal: https://www.irs.com/articles/projected-us-tax-rates-2016 https://www.irs.com/articles/projected-us-tax-rates-2016 [4] Canada Federal: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- drpgq 10y agoGeez, Canada's old problem of being a branch plant economy is back, 2017 edition.
- clamprecht 10y agoWow. We often wonder how the Bay Area would be unseated as startup capital of the world. Maybe it'll be the US's immigration problem.
- alxjsn 10y agoOr an earthquake.
- bgroins 10y agoLiterally unseated.
- muninn_ 10y agoJust because a few people from outside the US are worried about visa issues before applying to an incubator doesn't spell the end of Silicon Valley. The money, talent, and infrastructure to support startups (and large tech companies for that matter) aren't going away anytime soon and likely wouldn't go away even if we completely completely halted green card holders. Not that I would ever advocate something like that.
- JamilD 10y agoI don't think that's necessarily true. The Bay Area's become an international hub for tech, not just a domestic one — many influential founders (including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel) were born outside the United States.
- muninn_ 10y agoI don't disagree. It is the world's premier tech hub. But a fleeting 4 year long ban on immigrants wouldn't turn the city to rubble and leave everybody without jobs as Google and Y Combinator pack up bags and move to Tijuana and Beijing. There are larger forces at play here than that.
- JamilD 10y ago
- startupdiscuss 10y agoPerhaps a startup founder could exploit "ease-of-travel arbitrage" and offer a service: Remote working from several countries that are easy to get to, accept a wide range of passports, and have enormous bandwidth. Canada is a lot more open than the US at this point in time, but it's not all roses for people even to get to Vancouver. What if there were a hub in, say Dubai? And a few other spots around the world? I imagine Ycombinator would be one of many potential clients. Universities whose students have to delay a semester might use it. Other institutions would use it.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 10y agoIt would be great if they held interviews in a couple of places besides Canada, one place in Europe and one place in Asia. Would be a lot of travel for them twice a year though.
- raverbashing 10y agoThey'll still need a visa to go though the YC acceleration period if they get selected though.
- smsm42 10y agoDubai is an excellent idea. UAE is one of the countries, for example, that bans any citizens of Israel and anybody who ever visited Israel from entry. Nice way to solve those visa questions once and for all. Why worry about unclear visa policy if we can choose a country with a clear "no Jews allowed" visa policy?
- startupdiscuss 10y agoThis is just misinformation. There are many jews living and working in Dubai. It is true that Israeli passports are not allowed. But that is the point of multiple sites. Perhaps Cambodia would have been a better choice.
- smsm42 10y ago
- CJKinni 10y agoAs someone who went through quite the arduous process to end up working in the US legally, this is great news. Many friends I've had over the years have been unable to access many great resources due to their inability to lawfully work in a different location. I'm happy to see YC making progress towards offering quality opportunities to exceptional individuals in different locations.
- ganfortran 10y agoWell, it is a very assuring and comforting move for internationals in this tempest. Thanks for doing this.
- davidw 10y ago"Move fast and break things" indeed :-/ https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/839608371686801410 https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/839608371686801410
- dang 10y agoSince there was a big thread about that yesterday I think we're going to mark this subthread as offtopic and invite those of you who are interested to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13824680 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13824680.
- alpha_squared 10y agoWow, that's pretty far out of context. Far enough to imply the opposite of the statement's sentiment. For reference, the full quote by Altman is, > “Trump is the Silicon Valley candidate in every way except that the ideology is flipped,” said Sam Altman, a prominent technology leader, chief executive of Y Combinator and a major Hillary Clinton donor. “He’s an outsider. He took on a system he thought was broken and then disregarded the rules, he got to know his users well and tested his product early and iterated rapidly. That’s the start-up playbook. That’s exactly what we tell our start-ups to do.” Cherry-picking the words in the quote to paint the picture that Altman supports Trump somehow is quite deceitful.
- davidw 10y agoHe's not saying Altman supports Trump. He's saying the idea that he's doing things like a startup would is in error. https://twitter.com/tqbf https://twitter.com/tqbf I mean, most startups don't have the opportunity to "break things" like this: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/travel-ban-iranian-baby-heart-surgery-trnd/ http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/03/politics/travel-ban-iranian-ba...
- badcede 10y ago> "He's not saying Altman supports Trump" "continues to give every sign of being in fact a quiet supporter of the administration" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13824917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13824917
- IndianAstronaut 10y agoMexico could capitalize on this as well. Guadalajara is a mini tech hub.
- makmanalp 10y agoI visited Guadalajara for a few days and it was great! People were extremely friendly and tolerant of my 100 word spanish vocabulary. Housing and living is very reasonable, food is quite cheap, the weather is mild and the city is lively, if a bit spread out. I didn't feel more unsafe than I did in Istanbul. I didn't get a chance to see the tech stuff but there were a bunch of companies and also a reasonably lively meetup scene too!
- sremani 10y agoMay be this is a dumb question, I will ask it anyway, Tijuana Mexico is about 500 miles from Bay Area, where as Vancouver Canada is 1000 miles. Que Canada?
- MBCook 10y agoMy obvious thought: YCombinator is in English (based on what I've seen, at least as their primary language) and Canada is an English speaking country.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- MichaelGG 10y agoAlso a homicide rate of 2/100k vs 40 might be indicative of other problems one city may have that the other doesn't.
- zardo 10y agoWhat a great opportunity to make the world a better place.
- jey 10y agoHow would hosting it in Tijuana reduce their homicide rate?
- emiliobumachar 10y agoTrickle-down economics.
- emiliobumachar 10y agoAlso, role modeling.
- ttam 10y ago
- jensv 10y agoWhat is the visa situation right now? What exactly has changed?
- fennecfoxen 10y agoYou know H1B visas? You know how there's an expedited program for them which basically every tech company tries to use? Well, not anymore there isn't. First link off Google News: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/06/us-h1b-visa-program-suspended-trump-silicon-valley https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/06/us-h1b-visa-... And, there may be more changes coming in the future, so, yay political risk?
- praneshp 10y ago(I'm on H1b) The lack of an expedited program does not really call for this kind of a move. If you are a new applicant (ie never held h1 before), you have to wait till Oct 1 to start anywy, so the USCIS taking 3 months to process your application does not affect your ability to work. If you are transferring to another company, you can switch after you receive your receipt, which is usually under a couple of weeks (at least the times I've tried). Do YC founders usually come in on a H1b visa? I don't understand how that would work well, given that there is a lottery every year. Also, I wish you had adopted a less snarky tone.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- chuhnk 10y agoWhat if it's because I oppose the muslim ban and refuse to enter the US? That's a serious question. Actually I feel like the response to that will be, "It's your choice" but hey solidarity man!
- discombobulate 10y agoHave all Muslims been banned from the US? I thought it was only a set of countries draw up by Obama. Edit: Words are hard! Edit2: Yes, downvote me & upvote the hyperbole. Welcome to the post-fact world. All Muslims are banned. Trump is Hitler. The stock market's going to crash. Anyone right of Obama is racist scum who should lose their job. Etc.
- vinay427 10y agoI'm still trying to work out why many are so emphatic about the list being drawn up by Obama. It's not as if Trump signed a list without carefully reviewing and collecting evidence on the countries whose citizens' lives he would be directly affecting. I hope that wasn't the case, anyway...
- discombobulate 10y ago> I'm still trying to work out why many are so emphatic about the list being drawn up by Obama. It's probably an attempt to show the delta between Obama & Trump isn't as large as some imagine.
- redditmigrant 10y agoWhats the rationale for banning even one? Were there any actual threats? There were certainly no attacks by immigrants/refugees from those countries. According to you we should wait for things to reach peak bigotry before reacting. Would you have the same "oh no big deal" reaction if a single Christian country was banned mainly for being christian?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- exabrial 10y agoWho is having trouble getting a Visa exactly? Just curious, trying to separate fact from hysteria
- jackweirdy 10y agoMe
- exabrial 10y agoWhat's your story? I'm curious
- Findeton 10y agoFor example, for europeans in general it's quite difficult to get to the USA. Sure, you can try the H1B visa, but I must remark the TRY part, as even though the company might want to hire me, they have to fight the visa process as there is a limited number of visas per year... and it also takes a lot of time. And when you get there, you still are not considered a citizen. For decades.
- matthewmacleod 10y agoNationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, or Yemen that do not currently hold dual nationality with another country, an existing visa, or another document permitting entry. No hysteria there.
- minikites 10y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/business/how-trump-became-the-first-silicon-valley-president.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/business/how-trump-became... > “Trump is the Silicon Valley candidate in every way except that the ideology is flipped,” said Sam Altman, a prominent technology leader, chief executive of Y Combinator. So now that the government has been "disrupted", YC has decided to avoid the issue by fleeing the country? Maybe instead of avoiding the issue, YC could organize Silicon Valley and spend some of it's political power actually addressing the issue (lobbying, funding local candidates, etc). Silicon Valley is home to many fantastically powerful corporations and individuals, it's time they took a stand for justice.
- aasarava 10y agoYes, this is an important comment. While it's a virtue for Silicon Valley organizations like YC to adapt quickly, adapting in this case means clearing the way for the administration to solidify its haphazard immigration policy. Hopefully the YC staff is using its connections to Peter Thiel and others who have the president's attention to lobby hard against a policy that will directly and indirectly hurt many people and businesses in Silicon Valley.
- dvdhnt 10y agoThat's cool. Good for folks in that situation. What about people with families or dependents that can't afford to uproot their life and relocate to SV? Don't get me wrong, this is great, but it would be even better if it expanded to include additional circumstances.
- Clanan 10y agoVery interesting considering the post even discusses participating remotely. Politically incorrect theory: enabling people with families just isn't as sexy as helping immigrant founders.
- sdflkd 10y agoOther theory: having a family is a choice. Being of X nationality is not.
- emiliobumachar 10y agoNote that the two theories are very much compatible, in fact, yours could help explain GP's.
- kps 10y agoVCs don't want people with a life outside work.
- muninn_ 10y agoDubai? So are you not interested in attracting women to startups?
- matthewmacleod 10y agoAnd a few other spots around the world?
- pyronik 10y agoThe irony of choosing Dubai because of America's supposed intolerance.. hope you don't want not only women, gays, non-married couples, or all the other BS a muslim state enforces.
- asadlionpk 10y agoWhat do you mean?
- muninn_ 10y agoAre you familiar with the Middle East?
- startupdiscuss 10y agoAre you? http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150422-which-women-get-ahead-in-dubai http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150422-which-women-get-ah...
- jcranmer 10y agoYou're being a bit broad with your brush strokes there. The United Arab Emirates (of which Dubai is one) has a female labor force participation rate of ~46%. While that is low compared to the ~50-60% you'd see in most OECD countries, it's not that far off places like Poland (48%) and better than, say, Mexico (45%). It's definitely not Iran (15%) or Saudi Arabia (20%).
- muninn_ 10y ago
- raverbashing 10y agoAs much as the tech world wants to "disrupt" they want to stay "cozy" in their California corner with their known business environment and English speaking places and their way of doing things. To which I can assume there is cultural shock even when they go to the East Coast But the world is big and not everything that happens appears on HN (or even on English speaking media).
- anovikov 10y agoWhy not just open a EU branch? Participate remotely - bad idea :(
- GuiA 10y agoThe lead the US has had in science/engineering/technology over the past 70+ years is in no small part due to the massive brain drain from Europe, and the rest of the world, due to fascist regimes. If the US's new shiny fascist regime keeps progressing at this pace, you can bet that things will reverse quickly. Good bye, world leading startups, nobel prizes, top universities, etc. These things can happen faster than one tends to think. The best thing countries like China could do right now is heavily open up to English, and fund things such as foreign PhD students. Everyone is fighting to get into Harvard and MIT right now, but a half decade of Trump policies could have drastic consequences a few decades down the line and give us a very different world. -- Edit: some followup to this comment further below https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13831085 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13831085 People also seem to get stuck on "China" in my comment. If that makes you unhappy, replace that word with Brazil, Japan, Singapore, Estonia, whatever you want... the point is, viewed under the "startup lens", this new administration makes the dominance of the US in STEM/entrepreneurship ripe for disruption by a more nimble, flexible entity.
- refurb 10y agoIf the US's new shiny fascist regime keeps progressing at this pace...the best thing countries like China could do right now is heavily fund things such as foreign PhD students. Wait, so you're saying everyone is leaving fascist USA, but China will be the beneficiary of that?
- throwawaysed 10y agoI like how HN will change any clickbait titles you post but regularly does clickbait titles of its own. This entire article could, and should, be a single sentence title. "YCombinator holding Canada interviews for founders without US Visa".
- dang 10y agoAssume good faith! We changed the title to representative language from the article.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- throwawaysed 10y ago:) Sorry, I always carry my trusty pitchfork when on the internet.
- lhnz 10y agoThis is unfortunately quite common coming from tptacek: inflammatory remark against big powerful organisation, condescending responses to anybody that wants to explain themselves and finally he cuts people off that don't agree with him [0]. [0] https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/839625304175935488 https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/839625304175935488
- dang 10y agoThat's unduly personal. Please don't comment like that here. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13830917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13830917 and marked it off-topic.
- lhnz 10y agoI am sorry to say something personal but it is a toxic style of communicating with people and reoccuring.
- dang 10y agoI appreciate the reply and admit "unduly" is occasionally a fine line, but on HN we have to err on the side of not allowing it because of the compounding effects. To get it right you really have to be scrupulous and the hivemind doesn't do scrupulosity, it does pile-ons.
- no1youknowz 10y agoIf there was an interview day in London, UK. I would actually apply in a heartbeat.
- desireco42 10y agoFor those who thing this will unseat SV, no, quite the contrary, showing this flexibility will just make people want to work more with Ycombinator and here.
- OoTheNigerian 10y agoGreat intent. I'd like to know the reasoning behind choosing Canada as an alternative interview location because from experience, it easier to get a US visitor visa than that of Canada. Nigerians cannot even transit the Canadian airport without a visa which takes upward of 8 weeks to get AFTER approval vs days for the US. Requirements for Canada are more onerous. 2 suggestions. 1. A country of interview per continent. For instance, Dubai will cover Africans + Middle East + Europe 2. Shortlist some countries and let people select 2 options to interview at. On paper, the passport index [1] looks like a good way to do it but doesn't take into account spread of countries that can visit [1] www.passportindex.org/byWelcomingRank.php
- dusing 10y agoI also know several US citizens that have been denied entry into Canada because of a DUI in the United States. AFAIK It's not a hard fast rule, and you won't find out until you get there. Canada doesn't exactly have an open border.
- gregmac 10y agoAs a Canadian, I was surprised someone would be denied entry for a DUI. Since I looked this up I'll summarize: Essentially Canada can prevent people who have committed what would be indictable crimes under Canadian law from entering. DUI is particularly strange because it can be either an indictable (serious) or summary (less serious) offence, and in Canada this depends on the circumstances and the way it's prosecuted. Coupled with the varying laws in different states regarding DUI/DWI/OUI/etc, and presumably to prevent the border guard having to act as a Canadian criminal court (to judge how it would be handled here) they just always treat it as if it was an indictable offence. So even if you're not driving and not intending to drive, the fact it's a potentially indictable criminal offence is what prevents entry -- nothing at all to do with it being a DUI. There appears to be a couple possible ways to be admitted despite a criminal record[1], by getting either a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP) or being granted Criminal Rehabilitation. I'm not sure what's involved with either, or how likely it is to be approved, but they apparently issue around 10,000 TRPs a year. http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/the-inspection-experience/prior-criminal-offenses/resolving-criminal-inadmissibility-to-canada/ http://www.ezbordercrossing.com/the-inspection-experience/pr...
- ddebernardy 10y agoIn light of recent events [0], there's a non-zero chance that some founders out there would rather avoid going to the US at all - if only to protest with their wallet. It might be more sensible to open a second incubator in the EU. Berlin, Amsterdam, Dublin, Barcelona, there are plenty of options. (London is a good choice on paper too but pray tell what'll happen after Brexit.) [0]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/26/u-s-detains-and-nearly-deports-french-jewish-historian/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/02/26...
- rocky1138 10y agoWhy not Waterloo? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/kitchener-waterloo-startup/article25558263/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/kitchener-waterloo...
- grigory 10y agoHaving spent a few years in KW, I have a feeling it might be difficult to convince people to move there.
- mikepurvis 10y agoHow long ago? I've been here 12 years (first school, now work), and it's changed a lot, almost all for the better. There's a decent arts/music scene, a dozen good restaurants, affordable housing, lots of new construction, light rail coming online next year.
- sdflkd 10y agoNot much to do in Waterloo. It's good if you're introverted and just want to game/do projects/self-improvement after work, though. Which isn't that bad thinking about it.
- jpollock 10y agoIn the length of time I spend commuting to work in the morning, people in KW can drive to downtown Toronto to get some fun for the evening. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/University+of+Waterloo,+200+University+Ave+W,+Waterloo,+ON+N2L+3G1,+Canada/University+of+Toronto+-+St.+George+Campus,+27+King's+College+Cir,+Toronto,+ON+M5S,+Canada/data=!4m8!4m7!1m2!1m1!1s0x882bf6ad02edccff:0xdd9df23996268e17!1m2!1m1!1s0x882b34b8f331fd9b:0x8d1d9bb6765a76f7!3e0?sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr26v8ocrSAhUqwlQKHansCmoQox0IJTAA https://www.google.com/maps/dir/University+of+Waterloo,+200+...
- rocky1138 10y agoThis is the business equivalent of a code smell.
- homakov 10y agoWeird choice of country for this purpose. I wonder who needs visa to the US and doesn't need one to Canada, and I'm pretty sure the number is small.
- doh 10y agoAs others pointed out, Canada recently made mandatory their eTA program which is very similar to US ESTA, so the differences are non-existent anymore. Original text: The number is huge. For instance the whole EU doesn't need visa for Canada [0] but it does for US (although it's called a waiver program [1], which guarantees nothing). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Canada#Visa_exemptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Canada#Visa_exe... [1] https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit/visa-waiver-program.html https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/visit/visa-waiver-...
- homakov 10y agoThat's news to me. I thought EU can enter US easily
- ubernostrum 10y agoThe Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows citizens of 38 countries to enter the US for up to 90 days without a visa. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is an online form which asks questions and determines whether someone is covered by the VWP. Using ESTA to determine this in advance is required when arriving in the US by air, but not when crossing a land border from Canada or Mexico. The "doesn't guarantee anything" bit is true but misleading, since ESTA doesn't provide a visa and doesn't provide an absolute guarantee someone will be admitted under the VWP -- the determination of whether to allow someone to enter is always made at the border. Couple things that are good to know: 1. VWP/ESTA is not terribly different from some other systems, like Australia's ETA, in using the "you don't need a visa, but you do need to check your eligibility online in advance" approach. 2. Not all EU citizens are eligible for the VWP. Citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania are not eligible for VWP. Which is something the EU has been consistently angry about, and recently the European Parliament rattled its sabers a bit about revoking visa-free travel to the EU for US citizens unless the US adds those five countries to the VWP.
- homakov 10y agoWeird choice of country for this purpose. I wonder who needs visa to the US and doesn't need one to Canada, and I'm pretty sure the number is small.
- ben0x539 10y agoSubmissions of articles from YC/by YC people always have the least descriptive titles. :( Edit: Thanks!
- shmageggy 10y agoI think it's a signalling thing, like when people sign their emails with a single lowercase initial, i.e. we're too busy and important to spend time on this.
- fuzzythinker 10y agoThe title was "US Visas" for those wondering.
- dmode 10y agoAs someone who is tired of the decades long wait and uncertainty in the US immigration system, it would be amazing if tech companies were to open a Vancouver outpost and offer transfers to people in visas. I would take that in a heartbeat. May be YC can consider another incubator in Vancouver
- 0xcafecafe 10y agoDitto. Will complete a decade in the states shortly but I don't see myself breaking free from the visa chains for another 5 - 10 years at least unless the US immigration system is overhauled. We (me and my spouse) have decided upon a hard deadline (~5 more years) before shutting up shop and moving on if things don't change.
- neptunespear 10y agoVancouver has been a popular place to transfer foreign talent to the U.S. for years. It's a short drive to Seattle, a short flight to San Francisco, and in the same time zone as both cities. Famously, Facebook had an office in Coal Harbour that was just for transferring hires to Menlo Park, they didn't hire any Canadian citizens or permanent residents. Even more famously, Microsoft's recent expansion in Vancouver, the "Excellence Centre" (doubling its workforce from 400 in Yaletown to 800), was mostly going to be for L-1 visa transfers to Redmond HQ. 360 of those positions were planned, with MS only promising 40 positions (5%) for citizens/PRs. The former Conservative government offered winking acknowledgement. However, voters in Canada were furious when the mass abuse of the TFW program came to light, which forced the government's hand. The vast majority of positions at the "Excellence Centre" (which was opened by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and houses ~650 engineers as of now) have gone to locals. Anecdotally, I've heard that ever since the TFW backlash, the most popular cities in which to open visa transfer offices have been London and Zurich. If you want to see the documents proving that MS was mostly going to hire visa transfers in Vancouver, documents obtained by CBC News under the province's access to information laws show what were the draft plans: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1685182-b-c-atip-documents-temporary-foreign-workers.html https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1685182-b-c-atip-doc...
- 10y ago
- a2m 10y agobecause mexico is a shit hole
- mynegation 10y agoMaybe they will take it further and set up shop in Vancouver or Toronto.
- billions 10y agoWhy not Tijuana?
- EduardoBautista 10y agoI have lived in Tijuana and it's one of the worst cities in the country. If you _really_ have to choose a Mexican city, Guadalajara or Mexico City are orders of magnitude better options.
- seppin 10y agoDo..you have a point?
- dang 10y agoPlease post civilly and substantively. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13830841 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13830841 and marked it off-topic.
- elmar 10y agoWhy not do it also in London for European founders?
- chrisper 10y agoI don't know if London would be a good choice due to Brexit. Maybe Amsterdam instead.
- arihant 10y agoIf ease of attracting international founders is a concern, my recommendation would be Dubai. Unbelievable facilities which are turn key in their own business hub, a tax free environment to incorporate in, if it goes there. Foreigners can own property, which just makes sense for a future hub. One of the easiest tourist visas to obtain for vast majority of nationalities, with cheap flights. Near EU, other Asian countries, and Africa. Thailand and Singapore could be other options, but they are far from EU.
- nonane 10y agoWhat about the internet there? Isn't it censored and relatively slow and expensive? VPNs are legally banned (1). Last I checked, FaceTime + WhatsApp audio were completely blocked in Dubai. Skype was blocked when on mobile data (but available on PC-to-PC). 1 - http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/using-vpns-what-uae-residents-need-to-know-1.1872123 http://gulfnews.com/news/uae/crime/using-vpns-what-uae-resid...
- arihant 10y agoThose restrictions do not apply in the business district, AFAIK. There is a lot of encapsulation that Dubai provides international businesses from their local restrictions.
- devoply 10y agoDon't ever want to work in a place where you can be thrown into jail for months for getting pregnant out of wedlock.
- arihant 10y agoBut you do want to work in a place where you get shot based on color of skin? You can see why making blanket statements based on a piece of news you read from another continent is not the right way to judge an entire country. Besides, my recommendation was for conducting YC interviews, not exactly living there. A 2-day YC tour conducting interviews in Dubai would enable founders from 3 continents to participate more heavily.
- h4nkoslo 10y agoGood. The entire premise of the internet is that it allows coordination at low latency over distance. It's also probably not fantastic for the United States to be strip mining the entire >130 IQ population of eg Sudan and packing them into SF/NY/DC to work on ad optimization when they're desperately needed by their own people; setting up infrastructure to work remotely is a great first step to eliminating the brain drain problem period.
- fennecfoxen 10y agoI like the way your world-view treats intelligent people. Instead of having them being independent agents, there's some form of ownership of them... such that if they head off to foreign lands to pursue what they feel is a better life and earn more money, then it's a theft of community property. All Sudanese should be happy with their lot in life and either work to improve it or rot. So how dare these Western companies pay the dark skinned people of Sudan as much money as rich white people could earn!!! (No seriously though, the implications of what you say are disturbing to me.)
- h4nkoslo 10y agoThe disturbance you feel is likely at least partly cognitive dissonance at the idea of open borders amounting to labor colonialism. It's an interesting idea, wouldn't you say? What are the effects of ensuring Sudan or wherever is unable to maintain a functional local elite? Are they good or bad, on balance? If we strip-mine all of their potentially capable administrators, do we have an obligation to administer their state for them, or just airdrop rice every couple years, or what? The idea that states and people have reciprocal obligations beyond Maximum GDP isn't exactly novel.
- jpttsn 10y agoOh good I thought it was novel. I guess individuals have nothing to worry about, as long as the idea is ancient.
- EternalData 10y agoIt's oddly ominous reading about America's rise on the back of textile patents taken from England and Europe, then poaching of German physics talent and scientific talent from across the world. Germany was, by far, the pre-eminent power in theoretical physics at the turn of the 20th century, with Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck & Born about to be at the peak of their powers. Then the country decided to turn on intellectuals, immigrants, and minorities and turned its scientific prowess to war rather than peace. There's an old saying out there that history is merely a set of cycles. I suppose we'll see if that is true in the upcoming years. *one note I would add is that with recent policy uncertainty (i.e healthcare) the advantages of hiring around the world have come into starker relief. That's even more dangerous. Sure, the United States may become less competitive in the war for talent because of walls and tighter borders -- but it'll become less competitive, period, for companies relying on high-skill workers who by definition will be close to or at the peak of their physical and/or mental health.
- pizzetta 10y agoI don' think the situation is as dire as people think. Europe exported many technical people during the war years and one would be hard pressed to say they are backwards because they lost talent. Japan as well is not very friendly to labor migrants and they are at the forefront of science in technology despite their small population size relative to other geographies.
- EternalData 10y agoThe United States is never going to decay to nothingness. However, whether or not it becomes the top place for technologists to congregate and build things will become an open question. That alone, while perhaps not dire to the nation as a whole, will be quite damaging. There, so far, has been an order of magnitude difference between the best technology ecosystem and the second best. Japan is also looking to open up permanent residency rules, and it has suffered through a nearly two decades long spurt of deflation-driven economic stagnation, with incredible debt/GDP, some of it due to demographic concerns and an inverting age pyramid. Just pointing out that might not be the best counter-example.
- 10y ago
- brilliantcode 10y agoI'm not part of YC but if you are in downtown Vancouver around Robson Square, give me a shout (email is in profile) and let's get a coffee! Welcome to Vancouver.
- elchief 10y ago/r/vancouver "Visiting Vancouver" page: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/visiting https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/wiki/visiting
- aarontyree 10y agoThis is just the opportunity Vancouver needs. They have been laying infrastructure to attract startups, and have been working on plans for a highspeed train between Vancouver and Seattle which are only 2.5 hours apart...
- curiousfiddler 10y agoIf you don't provide opportunity and a good civil environment to brilliant/enterprising people, they will find a way elsewhere. And once Vancouver or any other city starts working for them, Silicon Valley will lose its exclusivity. The thing to note here is that this response from YC is not a political one, but a response that came out of market demand; it is pretty significant if it works out.
- kafkaesq 10y agoThe thing to note here is that this response from YC is not a political one, Indeed. It wasn't formulated as political -- but the intrinsically the move does have significant political import (as a form of "voting with one's feet", as it were). Which has the potential to send signals that signs, slogans and marches (alone) cannot.
- caf 10y agoVoice versus Exit.
- TheAdamAndChe 10y agoA large reason many people are pushing back against globalism is _because_ of this thinking -- capitalism is blind to political movements, quality of life for its people, or growing inequality. All that matters is the bottom line. If it's cheaper to do it elsewhere, it will move there. But if this leads to yet continued wealth inequality while the laborers work for less in worse conditions, is it a good thing that it created more wealth in the process? I know that example is an extreme one, but it is an example that is being seen throughout the country. Middle class jobs are being shipped overseas or supplanted by exploited H-1B visa holders. Lower class jobs are being displaced by illegal immigrants willing to do the job for below minimum wage. These are serious issues, and issues that will not be solved in a global economy where the bottom line is king.
- cscurmudgeon 10y agoThe problem is that it is the US that has been forcing this down on other countries for decades if not centuries. And the US society benefited a lot from this. Read up on the Perry expedition.
- puppetmaster5 10y ago"We’ve heard from some founders that they’re nervous about applying to YC because they worry they won’t be able to get visas to attend interviews or the summer program." Lols.
- jaypaulynice 10y agoWhy even go to that length when you can interview on video?
- neptunespear 10y agoCombined with Expa Labs opening an office in Vancouver, it seems that President Trump is the best thing that could ever happen to Vancouver's tech scene. Our anchors historically have been companies like IBM, HSBC, Nokia, and Ericsson, which are all shells of their former selves and have long since closed down their presences in Vancouver. The few existing long-term anchors include MDA and Vision Critical, and SAP's BI division (SAP BusinessObjects and BusinessObjects Cloud, which originated from a local startup called Crystal Decisions which was purchased by SAP in 2008 by way of some Seagate M&As), along with gamedev and film/TV VFX studios which are all feast-or-famine. Just look at the fate of Radical, Roadhouse Interactive, United Front Games, Pixar's office in Vancouver. Sony Imageworks, A Thinking Ape and Animal Logic might go the same way if the loonie increases in value. HootSuite is set to go under eventually as CRM suites integrate social media management; they waited too late to IPO. So this might be the kick in the ass the Vancouver tech scene needs in the eventual post-HootSuite landscape. So, I say, with all sincerity, "thanks, Trump."
- vecinu 10y agoExpa's founder is from BC so I think them opening up an office there is mostly due to an excess of cash they have from Uber's success, not that it necessarily makes sense from a VC perspective. I hope I'm wrong since I would love to see Vancouver / Toronto have the same earning power as SV.
- neptunespear 10y ago> Expa's founder is from BC so I think them opening up an office there is mostly due to an excess of cash they have from Uber's success, not that it necessarily makes sense from a VC perspective. The founder of Slack grew up on Vancouver Island and went to UVic, the co-founders of Tableau is an SFU comp sci alumnus; so is the founder of Buddybuild[1] (the first genuine mobile-first CI provider, raised a series A round from KPCB (!) for $7.6M which is unheard of for a Van company, let alone they managed to find an SV VC firm which was okay with the company keeping the company local). The way I see it, it matters less why they came (whether it makes sense from a VC perspective, the founders are homesick, or as a response to shifting political tides in the United States) and matters more that they're here. [1] Further reading: https://www.sfu.ca/computing/newsandevents/archives/2007/sfu-computing-science-in-windows-vista.html https://www.sfu.ca/computing/newsandevents/archives/2007/sfu... https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2016/sfu-in-the-news-january-12-2016.html https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/stories/2016/sfu-in-the-news-janu...
- joeguilmette 10y agoA friend of mine runs a large, well known webdev agency in India and is attending a conference in Arizona in April. His friend was planning to come as well - he owns a US based business, has a US bank account, pays US taxes, has purchased airfare, hotel, and conference tickets. He was denied a US visa because "attending a conference is not a good enough reason". My friend with the agency who has a visa is concerned he won't get thru immigration. He was planning on expanding to the US, but is has shelved those plans.
- blhack 10y agoWhat's the conference? (Arizona webdev here)
- joeguilmette 10y agoPressNomics
- cperciva 10y agoI'm a couple hours late to this thread, but speaking as a long-time member of the HN community and Vancouverite: Welcome! I'm happy to assist YC and/or founders with anything requiring local experience or a local presence. Send me an email.
- neptunespear 10y agoIf you're Colin Percival, I know you from Reddit. You're /u/perciva, right? SFU Senate member, an /r/simonfraser mod.
- cperciva 10y agoYes. I was originally /u/cperciva on Reddit, but forgot the password for that account a few months in and created /u/perciva. And yes, I'm coming to the end of my fourth 3-year term on the Senate, and about to submit my nomination papers seeking re-election for a fifth term.
- fixxer 10y agoI'm really interested in hearing how many interviews take place in Vancouver for the intended reason (as opposed to, for example, personal protest).
- bukacak 10y agoHopefully they can do it in many countries later on in the future
- hal9000xp 10y agoI'm curious does Canada require bachelor degree for this type of visa or not?
- baristaGeek 10y agoIsn't this going against the recently approved International Entrepreneur Rule? EDIT: It'll work pretty well for people coming from countries which have the Muslim ban.
- mediocrejoker 10y agoWhat happens if you get accepted and still can't get a visa?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- seesomesense 10y agoKudos to ycombinator !
- jtl999 10y agoVancouver is a nice place. Love it here :)
- dadrian 10y agoThank you, sama, for doing this.
- jonny_eh 10y agoWhy not Toronto? It has a much more vibrant tech scene.
- andkon 10y agoI wondered the same thing. If they launched another location for YC, I would hope they wouldn't just do it because it's in the same timezone, because dang would Toronto be way better.
- gamache 10y agoThis is a positive thing for YC. Great. I mean, YC's still onboard with Peter Thiel: YC Partner, one of Trump's most significant individual donors, and founder of Palantir, the analytics services company that's powering the Trump administration's purge of immigrants (http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/07/peter-thiel-palantir-trump-immigrant-crackdown.html http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/07/peter-thiel-palantir-trump-im...). But good for YC. Helping several foreign entrepreneurs break into the Valley scene. Moving the needle.
- nojvek 10y agoI would love to see YC funding Vancouver companies and working with them.
- rebootthesystem 10y agoThere are a number of questions that have not been asked: How many applicants does YC have from countries with visa issues? Has any YC applicant been denied entry into the US? If so, what were the circumstances? In looking though YC historical records, how many people, on average, would typically apply from affected regions? How many of those people were accepted into the program? How many of those people succeeded? In the age of Skype, why can't interviews be conducted without the need to travel? Yes, I understand speaking to someone in person delivers a lot more information than possible through online meetings. An initial online meeting could function well as a 1 to 3 pass filter leading up to an in-person meeting, thereby providing a lot more time to deal with visa issues. I am taking a wait-and-see attitude with regards to visa restriction issues. As is the case with any startup or new venture, mistakes are made, non-ideal rules are implemented, some confusion seeps in, etc. So long as the process is one where the right solution is evolved and the ability to pivot is retained things eventually improve. These rules should not behave differently. What gives me hope? Take a look at who sits in Trump's business advisory council (not sure this is a current list): http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-on-trump-business-advisory-council-2017-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-on-trump-business-advi... It would be inconceivable that this topic isn't discussed with frequency in these meetings. If I were to presume to be able to give YC advice it would be this: Use your connections to gain a seat in this council. Being part of the dialog is the best way to affect positive change. That doesn't mean agreeing with all policies, it does mean you'd be heard at the highest levels rather than not. And, if you do gain a seat in this council I would further ask that you work hard to convince the administration to take the SBA and convert it into a YC-style program where, in every city of this country, entrepreneurs can have access to not just funding but a real support infrastructure to chase after their ideas. The SBA has never been of real use to the myriad of startups that have revolutionized the world. If you want to borrow $100K from the SBA you better have $100K in the bank, or more. And the "advisers" they offer-up are often so far behind the times they are only good to help open a doughnut shop or more traditional non-scale-able businesses. Yeah, do that and the immigration thing and you'll change this country. But you have to be on the inside to do it.
- 27hours 10y agoI'm new to the site. Seems you are controlling things around here (moderator to say). Why are my comments only visible when I'm logged in? as soon as I logout and look at the comments on this article as unregistered user, I do not see any of my comments. That gives false sense that everyone is looking at my comments but in reality they are being hidden. That makes me think other users even when they are logged in the website will not see my comments because they are censored Probably as comments are not in line with rhetoric of those in charge of this site, maybe? Is it a way to censor what YC does not agree with? I never knew this existed. Please explain if otherwise.
- dang 10y agoYour comments were killed by anti-abuse software that detects past patterns by trolls. The software looks to me to have gotten it right. You've been posting comments that don't fit the site guidelines and creating multiple accounts to do it. HN moderation is based on https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html, not YC. Political or ideological battle is not what the site is intended for, so we ban accounts that use it primarily for that purpose. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13833091 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13833091 and marked it off-topic.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- svsjc 10y agoWe need technologies which will make location unimportant. With virtual reality, 4k HD conferencing and network bandwidth which can support both. California taxes and real estate prices in SV will make more businesses move to Texas and other states where there is little or no income taxes.
- kieranr 10y agoSorry, are they just conducting interviews in Van or actually running a cohort there?
- rusht 10y agoGreat founders and technologists are an amazing asset to US, we'd be lucky to have them.
- known 10y agoAdministration may unleash FATCA on YC
- unixhero 10y agoHow about Oslo & Berlin?
- sdtsui 10y agoVancouver-based founder here. What's the best way to stay on top of this -- apply through the front door? Would be up for connecting with others looking to apply when YC comes to Vancouver.