Visa Lawyer Blog
When Microsoft made what appeared to be a minor announcement recently that it would expand its Canadian operations with the creation of the Microsoft Canada Development Centre for software development based in the greater Vancouver, British Columbia, I thought what a way to protest on the failed Immigration Reform Bill.
Gates and his team were among the leading supporters of immigration reform and increase in H1B visa numbers. When the Senate failed to pass the Immigration reform Bill or at least give it a chance to proceed, the Sofware giant protested by taking action, moving operations and jobs abroad, to Canada. Make no mistake about it. That programming group Microsoft will set up in Vancouver won’t be staffed with many Canadians … you’ll find that the programmers in that group will be mainly people on work visas, not Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
In a statement announcing the expansion, S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, said the company’s goal is to attract the next generation of leading software developers from all parts of the world. “This center will be a beacon for some of that talent.”
It seems that if immigration laws will not change or imnprove in this country, more and more companies will follow Microsoft’s lead.