> Post 2016 the messaging from most commonwealth countries (UK, Canada, Australia) seemed to be that they were going to be the ones benefiting from a brain drai

> Post 2016 the messaging from most commonwealth countries (UK, Canada, Australia) seemed to be that they were going to be the ones benefiting from a brain drain of Americans leaving the country. I can't find the article now, but the well-publicized crash of Canadian immigration's website on US election day 2016 was actually because of maintenance, not because hordes of Americans hoping to flee north overwhelmed the site. >Canada was supposed to become an "AI Superpower" This was repeated so often that it became a punchline in /r/canada. >Some companies leverage this and have floors of international devs they park in Canada for a fraction of their US counterpart through a subsidiary. My understanding is that this is the norm for FAANG offices in Canada: Mostly non-North American people who are either waiting for a US visa or (as you said) can't get one, plus the odd Canadian who wants to stay home for family or personal reasons.