Microsoft opened a major development centre in Vancouver to hire skilled foreign workers blocked by US H-1B restrictions
Microsoft announced the opening of a new development centre in Richmond, British Columbia — explicitly citing the US H-1B visa system's failure to allow the company to hire the talent it needed. In 2007, US immigration services had received 150,000 H-1B applications in a single day — more than double the annual quota of 65,000. The Vancouver facility, planned for 700–1,000 employees, allowed foreign workers to establish residency in Canada and then qualify for an intracompany transfer to the United States, bypassing the H-1B lottery. CEO Steve Ballmer said plainly: 'We opened a lab because we were having trouble getting visas for the best and the brightest.'
Source: https://workpermit.com/news/microsoft-opens-canada-center-response-us-immigration-problems-20070710
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