美国国家公共电台 NPR Canada's Tech Firms Capitalize On Immigration Anxiety In The Age Of Trump

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Countries around the world are trying to entice 1 Americans unhappy with the Trump 2 administration. French President Emmanuel Macron has invited climate scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs to come to France. Now the Canadian government is reaching out to tech professionals. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, Canada is making it easier for highly skilled workers to move north of the border.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE 3: A lot of people talked about moving to Canada after the U.S. election. Kathryn Hume actually did. Earlier this month, Hume packed up her apartment in New York and moved to Toronto.

KATHRYN HUME: It wasn't a, like, going on Facebook and being like, I'm done. I'm moving to Canada. It was a little bit more organic.

ROSE: Hume works in the field of artificial intelligence. She is employee number three at a startup company called Integrate AI, where her title is vice 4 president of product and strategy.

HUME: I had a couple of job offers also in the U.S., and I chose it primarily because it really felt like the right job.

ROSE: Still, Hume says Trump's election was in the back of her mind. She voted for Hillary Clinton.

HUME: You know, I thought, well, if there's a time to move to Canada, it may as well be now.

ROSE: Canadian tech companies are hoping to capitalize on this moment. For years, the industry watched in frustration 5 as Microsoft and Google hired the country's top computer science grads for high-paying jobs in Seattle and Silicon 6 Valley. Now Canada believes it's found a new way to lure 7 international tech workers.

NAVDEEP BAINS: For us to compete globally, we need to be open.

ROSE: Navdeep Bains is Canada's minister of innovation, science and economic development. Starting Monday, Bains says the government will streamline 8 the visa process so that international tech workers can get a work permit in just two weeks, compared to a complicated process in the U.S. that can take months.

BAINS: We do believe it does give us a competitive advantage.

ROSE: Bains insists this was in the works before last year's U.S. election, but the timing 9 is striking. The White House stoked anxiety among international visitors and would-be immigrants with its travel ban. And President Trump has sharply criticized the U.S. visa program for technical workers. His administration could reduce the cap for such visas, which is set at 85,000 per year. The president vowed 10 to reform that program in Wisconsin a few months ago.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They should never, ever be used to replace Americans. No one can compete with American workers when they are given a fair and level playing field.

SALIM TEJA: We feel that Canada has a window of opportunity here to be able to attract the best and the brightest here.

ROSE: Salim Teja is vice president of the MaRS Discovery District, a major incubator for tech companies in Toronto. Teja says there's fierce global competition for talent in the industry, with companies offering escalating 11 salaries and perks 12. And those employers need to know that they can get visas for the people they're hiring.

TEJA: A lot of these technology companies are very international businesses where talent is flowing freely in and out of different countries. And I think that if the U.S. becomes a tough place to do business that way, they may look at Canada as an easy market for them to set up in.

ROSE: Facebook, Google and Uber have recently opened or expanded their offices in Toronto. Microsoft has satellite offices in Vancouver, and smaller Canadian companies say they're getting interest from a pool of American and international job applicants 13 they hadn't heard from before.

Roy Pereira is the founder 14 of Zoom 15.Ai, a startup in Toronto. After Trump's election, Pereira says he saw a 30 percent jump in Americans applying for engineering jobs.

ROY PEREIRA: As Canadians, we're not accustomed to seeing Americans who want to move to Canada. You know, they have a perception that Canada is cold. But there is a certain anxiety around the immigration policies and so forth 16.

ROSE: Pereira and others hope that means a warmer forecast for the Canadian tech industry. Joel Rose, NPR News.

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