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Comment by Bahamut | Hacker News Reader

I have not seen this in general - there is for sure an effect on some not wanting to come to the US, but from what I see in developer circles and what I have seen in academia, the US is by far the most popular location to move to. The opportunities are still excellent if you can get through that crappy immigration filter.

Truth be told, immigrating to the US has been tricky for decades, if not longer - historically it is a very popular country to immigrate to, but there are filters currently founded on xenophobia/nationalism/racism/etc. These speculated changes aren't really much different in that vein, except that it closes a loophole that is abused. There are more guaranteed ways to get into the US, such as the L-1 visa. There are also ways to get an H-1B visa without going through the lottery.

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  there are filters currently founded on xenophobia/nationalism/racism/etc.

Compare the immigration restrictions of your own country to those of the USA. Aren't they more restrictive than those of the USA? And if so, doesn't that mean your country is more "xenophobic/nationalistic/racist/etc." ?

Yes, my country's immigration restrictions are worse than the US'. So what? I dislike it in my own country and I dislike it in the US. Did you honestly expect people to think "oh no, I can't criticize the US because that would mean I'd have to criticize my own country too!"

There is a difference between living in your own country that's xenophobic and immigrating to a xenophobic country.

A large developed country with 300 million people is going to be a target for relocation, but I've most certainly seen a very substantial change that does not benefit the US.

There's more people doing startups in their home country. More SV companies running satellite offices outside of the US to court talent that is unwilling to move to the US. More countries that are seeing the value of a strong software industry acting accordingly.

Not all of it has to be Valley-style startups funded by venture capital. There's a lot of traditional industries that don't need that funding model that are realizing that most talent doesn't actually live in California.

By now I know of many cases of people who have moved from SF after being courted through visas who moved back home or to offices in the EU, and many PhD candidates who ended up going to France, Switzerland, Germany and Spain to complete their PhDs, where the academic environment lends itself to a better work-life balance and high quality of contributions.

Mind you, this mostly applies to immigrants from Latin America, who have goals that may be different from Asians and Europeans. Still makes it a relevant observation.

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