9 ms·

I'm an Australian citizen who has lived in the US for over 20 years, gotten degrees from Yale and Berkeley. I've worked as a software engineer for over 10 years

I'm an Australian citizen who has lived in the US for over 20 years, gotten degrees from Yale and Berkeley. I've worked as a software engineer for over 10 years and am currently a cofounder. I'm so put off by the immigration process in the US that I have decided to leave the US permanently. Don't worry - i still work for the same US based company remotely from a more cost effective nation. I just don't pay your taxes anymore.

psychlops 3y ago
You should try the Australian immigration process.
- aiisahik 3y ago
  Australian immigration process is a breeze! I'm am Immigrant to Australia too.
- BeetleB 3y ago
  Unless things changed recently, Australian immigration is much easier for a person of his profile.
  - psychlops 3y ago
    Fair, that fit his profile.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
rayiner 3y ago
That seems like a win-win. Hopefully remote work will reduce the need for immigration.
- aiisahik 3y ago
  I hire a ton of engineers in LATAM who have no interest in migrating to US. They get paid well in USD, they live in kings and queens in their respective low cost countries. In fact, looking at their live inspired me to make the decision to leave.
  - rayiner 3y ago
    It sounds like a good deal for them. Plus, they don’t have to leave their families and social networks behind.
    - tptacek 3y ago
      It's a great deal for them. It's not the best deal for us, though, since they're not part of our tax base, nor are they growing families and social networks here for us to benefit from. It's a great outcome morally (Latam, African, and Asian countries deserve greater participation in global industries), but the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America.
      - dctoedt 3y ago
        > the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America. Short-term: Perhaps. Long-term: A more-stable LATAM (and world) economy is in America's interest.
      - Always_Anon 3y ago
        >It's not the best deal for us, though, since they're not part of our tax base, nor are they growing families and social networks here for us to benefit from. It's a fantastic deal for us because they're not immigrating here and therefore driving prices of housing, social services, etc. to the unsustainable levels we're seeing now. Outsourcing over the past decades has been a huge boon for the US. They're generating value for US companies and we're able to take advantage of that. The US needs to grow its own families and social networks organically. Every country should. >but the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America. Generating wealth for US companies and providing stability to their home countries is a win/win. This is optimal for US interests.
- pavlov 3y ago
  How is it a win for the United States if American companies are employing less people in the country, and instead are paying remote workers who pay taxes elsewhere?
  - aiisahik 3y ago
    It's not. It's just a WIN WIN for the company and the individual. But this is what the US is encouraging with its immigration policy so you reap what you sow.
    - geodel 3y ago
      Another thing could be that you come collecting US degrees is a WIN for US. Maybe degrees in Australia or your birth country weren't good enough for you (or you weren't good enough for them). Either way that US was able to have you for education and jobs for many years after that is win in my book.
      - Dopameaner 3y ago
        I dont completely agree with you. Honestly, appears like an excuse to never change the USCIS, I have come peace with it, that it never will.
        geodel 3y ago
        By all means they should change but I hope not to the interest of very vocal tech minority, who are already elite in their own counties, and to the detriment of other deserving groups.
      - aiisahik 3y ago
        Imagine the US parents paying $$ to get their kids into an elite kindergarten in the hopes of some day sending their kid to an Ivy League.... Only to have their spot taken by some shmuck from Australia who has never previously set foot in the US get a free ride for a $200k education.... you're going to convince them that its a WIN for America!
- Always_Anon 3y ago
  You're getting down voted for this heterodox opinion. Flooding the West with foreigners is orthodoxy to the left. Any other opinion is heresy.
  - aiisahik 3y ago
    I think it's more nuanced than this. The left believes in immigration based on the amount of hardship / suffering endured by the immigrant. The more the suffering, the more deserving they are of being let in. The right believes in either no immigration or immigration based on an impossibly high bar with caps preventing immigration from undesirable origins. My view is that in the long run immigration policy simply does not matter because we will have figured out how to educate, recruit, train, and exploit the high quality remote labor from any country. The most talented folks around the world will find a way to reap the rewards of the American economy either by residing within the US or doing it from afar. The after tax wage spread is margin that can be exploited.
ChumpGPT 3y ago
[flagged]
- tock 3y ago
  Because its good money?
  - ChumpGPT 3y ago
    [flagged]
- aiisahik 3y ago
  Oh the US has been amazing to me! I love the US! It gave me degrees (funded by American donors), it gave me work experience, it provided me with capital markets to raise $$ and build companies. I love it all. However, since the US doesn't really want me to be physically IN the US, I will simply continue loving the US from afar. I will maintain equity in US companies, I will take US capital and I will sell to US customers, and continue making US great! I just will do it without paying US taxes because I'm not located in the US. I love Australia too but that's for my health and retirement plan.
  - aiisahik 3y ago
    I'm no different from the many dozens of contractors we already pay who are located in other countries. The IRS does not require tax contributions from company or the contractor if the contractor's domicile is outside the US and does not meet the substantial presence test. Don't worry I've done my research and consulted tax lawyers. It's all very much legal.
  - ChumpGPT 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - tock 3y ago
      What are you talking about lol. Plenty of people work remotely for American companies and get paid over wire transfer.
BeetleB 3y ago
For those confused: Unfortunately, the US focuses on your origin (where you were born) rather than your nationality. alisahik is an Australian citizen, but was not born there. My guess is he was born in India, which has an absurdly long queue in the US immigration process. Really sucks.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  Or China. But yea. That is what probably happened.
  - BeetleB 3y ago
    China's wait times are nowhere near as long as the OPs.
    - alephnerd 3y ago
      Wow. I didn't realize China's backlog fell to 2 years. Then again, I guess it makes sense. Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. That is not great if we are in a talent Cold War with a near peer.
      - mkii 3y ago
        > Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. Which policies do you think create this? It could be entirely probable the Chinese just don't find it attractive to live and work in the US after getting their college degrees here.
        alephnerd 3y ago
        On the US side, we're still enforcing EO 10043 [0] which prevents Chinese nationals who studied at any Chinese university part of the Chinese Civil-Military Fusion strategy from getting F- and J- visas, and requires enhanced background checks on other visa categories. Turns out, just about every Chinese STEM program will get a military grant, the same way just about every American STEM program will get a DoD grant. On the Chinese side, they put a cap of $50,000 on money or assets you can bring outside of China each year [1]. Tuition is included in that cap. That means most American universities are out of reach for Chinese students, and immigrating from China to the US with your entire family is a pain (you need some money to land on your feet). Also, during 2019-2022 there was this small policy called Zero COVID that severely restricted ingress and egress. Also, US Consulates and Embassies paused visa processing for almost 2 years during the pandemic. [0] - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/04/2020-12217/suspension-of-entry-as-nonimmigrants-of-certain-students-and-researchers-from-the-peoples-republic https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/04/2020-12... [1] - https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1391.html https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1391.html

psychlops 3y ago

You should try the Australian immigration process.

aiisahik 3y ago
Australian immigration process is a breeze! I'm am Immigrant to Australia too.
BeetleB 3y ago
Unless things changed recently, Australian immigration is much easier for a person of his profile.
- psychlops 3y ago
  Fair, that fit his profile.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

rayiner 3y ago

That seems like a win-win. Hopefully remote work will reduce the need for immigration.

aiisahik 3y ago
I hire a ton of engineers in LATAM who have no interest in migrating to US. They get paid well in USD, they live in kings and queens in their respective low cost countries. In fact, looking at their live inspired me to make the decision to leave.
- rayiner 3y ago
  It sounds like a good deal for them. Plus, they don’t have to leave their families and social networks behind.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    It's a great deal for them. It's not the best deal for us, though, since they're not part of our tax base, nor are they growing families and social networks here for us to benefit from. It's a great outcome morally (Latam, African, and Asian countries deserve greater participation in global industries), but the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America.
    - dctoedt 3y ago
      > the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America. Short-term: Perhaps. Long-term: A more-stable LATAM (and world) economy is in America's interest.
    - Always_Anon 3y ago
      >It's not the best deal for us, though, since they're not part of our tax base, nor are they growing families and social networks here for us to benefit from. It's a fantastic deal for us because they're not immigrating here and therefore driving prices of housing, social services, etc. to the unsustainable levels we're seeing now. Outsourcing over the past decades has been a huge boon for the US. They're generating value for US companies and we're able to take advantage of that. The US needs to grow its own families and social networks organically. Every country should. >but the one thing it doesn't do is optimize for the interests of America. Generating wealth for US companies and providing stability to their home countries is a win/win. This is optimal for US interests.
pavlov 3y ago
How is it a win for the United States if American companies are employing less people in the country, and instead are paying remote workers who pay taxes elsewhere?
- aiisahik 3y ago
  It's not. It's just a WIN WIN for the company and the individual. But this is what the US is encouraging with its immigration policy so you reap what you sow.
  - geodel 3y ago
    Another thing could be that you come collecting US degrees is a WIN for US. Maybe degrees in Australia or your birth country weren't good enough for you (or you weren't good enough for them). Either way that US was able to have you for education and jobs for many years after that is win in my book.
    - Dopameaner 3y ago
      I dont completely agree with you. Honestly, appears like an excuse to never change the USCIS, I have come peace with it, that it never will.
      - geodel 3y ago
        By all means they should change but I hope not to the interest of very vocal tech minority, who are already elite in their own counties, and to the detriment of other deserving groups.
    - aiisahik 3y ago
      Imagine the US parents paying $$ to get their kids into an elite kindergarten in the hopes of some day sending their kid to an Ivy League.... Only to have their spot taken by some shmuck from Australia who has never previously set foot in the US get a free ride for a $200k education.... you're going to convince them that its a WIN for America!
Always_Anon 3y ago
You're getting down voted for this heterodox opinion. Flooding the West with foreigners is orthodoxy to the left. Any other opinion is heresy.
- aiisahik 3y ago
  I think it's more nuanced than this. The left believes in immigration based on the amount of hardship / suffering endured by the immigrant. The more the suffering, the more deserving they are of being let in. The right believes in either no immigration or immigration based on an impossibly high bar with caps preventing immigration from undesirable origins. My view is that in the long run immigration policy simply does not matter because we will have figured out how to educate, recruit, train, and exploit the high quality remote labor from any country. The most talented folks around the world will find a way to reap the rewards of the American economy either by residing within the US or doing it from afar. The after tax wage spread is margin that can be exploited.

ChumpGPT 3y ago

[flagged]

tock 3y ago
Because its good money?
- ChumpGPT 3y ago
  [flagged]
aiisahik 3y ago
Oh the US has been amazing to me! I love the US! It gave me degrees (funded by American donors), it gave me work experience, it provided me with capital markets to raise $$ and build companies. I love it all. However, since the US doesn't really want me to be physically IN the US, I will simply continue loving the US from afar. I will maintain equity in US companies, I will take US capital and I will sell to US customers, and continue making US great! I just will do it without paying US taxes because I'm not located in the US. I love Australia too but that's for my health and retirement plan.
- aiisahik 3y ago
  I'm no different from the many dozens of contractors we already pay who are located in other countries. The IRS does not require tax contributions from company or the contractor if the contractor's domicile is outside the US and does not meet the substantial presence test. Don't worry I've done my research and consulted tax lawyers. It's all very much legal.
- ChumpGPT 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - tock 3y ago
    What are you talking about lol. Plenty of people work remotely for American companies and get paid over wire transfer.

BeetleB 3y ago

For those confused: Unfortunately, the US focuses on your origin (where you were born) rather than your nationality. alisahik is an Australian citizen, but was not born there. My guess is he was born in India, which has an absurdly long queue in the US immigration process. Really sucks.

alephnerd 3y ago
Or China. But yea. That is what probably happened.
- BeetleB 3y ago
  China's wait times are nowhere near as long as the OPs.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    Wow. I didn't realize China's backlog fell to 2 years. Then again, I guess it makes sense. Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. That is not great if we are in a talent Cold War with a near peer.
    - mkii 3y ago
      > Both the US and China have made it much harder to leave China and enter the US now. Which policies do you think create this? It could be entirely probable the Chinese just don't find it attractive to live and work in the US after getting their college degrees here.
      - alephnerd 3y ago
        On the US side, we're still enforcing EO 10043 [0] which prevents Chinese nationals who studied at any Chinese university part of the Chinese Civil-Military Fusion strategy from getting F- and J- visas, and requires enhanced background checks on other visa categories. Turns out, just about every Chinese STEM program will get a military grant, the same way just about every American STEM program will get a DoD grant. On the Chinese side, they put a cap of $50,000 on money or assets you can bring outside of China each year [1]. Tuition is included in that cap. That means most American universities are out of reach for Chinese students, and immigrating from China to the US with your entire family is a pain (you need some money to land on your feet). Also, during 2019-2022 there was this small policy called Zero COVID that severely restricted ingress and egress. Also, US Consulates and Embassies paused visa processing for almost 2 years during the pandemic. [0] - https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/04/2020-12217/suspension-of-entry-as-nonimmigrants-of-certain-students-and-researchers-from-the-peoples-republic https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/06/04/2020-12... [1] - https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1391.html https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2017/1230/1391.html