Vancouver (Part 2)
Wow, all of you are keeping me busy! My email is full of questions about Vancouver.
As promised, this is my follow-up post about what happens now in regards to the H1B visa situation and the Vancouver Development Centre. Please understand that this is all happening quickly and I am doing my best to keep up. I will share with you everything I know, but in exchange, I ask for your understanding and patience if some of the details are still evolving over the next few weeks.
Right now, we are all painfully busy planning for Vancouver and we are contacting all of the managers who have impacted employees and asking them, “Do you want to have this person work in Vancouver?”.
If the answer is “yes”, this is what happens next:
We are working behind the scenes to align your office space and project in Canada. We are also figuring out the questions around Canadian visas, relocation packages and travel expectations to-and-from Canada.
We expect to roll out “new” Vancouver offers in late July or early August. You will receive the new letter from your recruiter. These offers will be comparable in compensation/benefits to your last offer. We hope to relocate people to Canada and have them start working as early as September or as late as November, and we suspect these start dates will happen in “waves” depending on the details of each case.
Vancouver will likely be comprised of lots of different people working on lots of different teams that have counterparts in Seattle, although there is talk about permanently housing intact teams in Vancouver in the future.
In addition, let me clear up a rumor: There is space for everyone in Vancouver. While I can’t disclose the exact number of people who had rejected H1Bs, or the office space capacity in Vancouver, I can tell you that I have looked into it and there is plenty of room for all.
On the other hand, if the manager's answer is “no”, this is what happens next:
In addition to asking teams if they want to have their current hires relocate to Vancouver, we are also asking them, “How many new hires would you like to have if extra people become available?”.
Some teams with aggressive hiring goals are pre-slotting new openings in Vancouver now. This means that if your immediate manager does not want you to move, that we will proactively try to find you a new role on another team in Canada.
In this case, you won’t have to interview again and your offer compensation and title won’t change. However, your manager and team would change. We would then roll out an offer to you in the same process noted above.
It all sounds good, right? For the most part it is, although there is one wrinkle. This currently looks very favorable for SDE and SDETs, although it is slightly rougher for PMs, Media specialists or other roles. There is a general opinion that some roles function better remotely than others, so while I suspect I can safely encourage the SDEs and SDETs that everything is going to work out fine, I’m not yet sure about other roles. This remains to be seen.
For those of you wondering when new jobs will be open in Vancouver for new people to apply, the answer is, I don’t know, yet. We will continue to hire people into Vancouver, but we are currently focused on placing the people who have offers now.
I will be off of work next week on vacation, so you can expect my responses to lag until I return on the 23rd.
Where will I be going on vacation? Vancouver! Really! And, it’s not a business trip - it is purely for fun. Vancouver is an awesome city, and for any of you who are looking at a move there, you should be thrilled.
-Jenna
30 Comments
Mariano said:
As one young American would say... awesome! Or, a young Englishman... brilliant!
futurePM said:
great post.. unfortunately I am caught in that little wrinkle - being a PM..
I await further news of what is to happen to us...
anotherPM said:
Another PM candidate here - Does it help that I am willing to travel frequently to seattle (spend 2-3 days a week there)?
and by when can we expect to know? even a ballpark timeframe would be nice...
me said:
thank you so much for this level of transparency ...
I would be so grateful if you maintain this level of openness and look forward to hearing about the fate of the media professionals and the PMs
Irfan Ahmad said:
Suppose if i spend 1 year in Vancouver working for Microsoft. Then after one year, will microsoft be able to arrange L1 visa for me so that i can work in Seattle with my team ?
cheers...
MSIT Hire said:
This is really a wonderful news I have heard so far. Is this an option for MS IT division too?
whatIf said:
i am a pm-hire .. what if I can convince my manager to give the go aheadfor working remotely from vanc .. can i then work at vancouver or are there other factors (and if so what)?
AG said:
Jenna,
You are asking your PMs now if they want to have their new hire moved to Vancouver. What stopped you from doing this before? You had more than 3 months. I mean, what took you so long that you are doing all of this now? Was your HR team constructing the Vancouver campus themselves? This itself entails when you actually decided to have an office in Vancouver. It looks like you and your HR team have just woken up a week ago on this. This is all ridiculous, all other companies are managing it so swiftly and gracefully. I'm just an external person, and I do not have any interest in any job at Microsoft, I'm just watching this ridiculous example of company management.
AG
MSIT Hire said:
AG- Only by July1st week the government returned all the lottery rejections. Without knowing who got rejected in lottery and who got selected, how can HR ask the hiring manager whether they need their new hire in Vancouver or not. I really appreciate HR team for their quick action now. I mean they are talking about giving Vancouver offers by end of July(just within 3 weeks of receiving all final rejections).
Regarding the company management, opening a new facility in a country involves lot of backend processes and might take up to years;only great management like Microsoft can think of doing this in such a short span.
Angel said:
AG, your assumption is not fair. Lottery rejections were not final until a few weeks ago (because USCIS saved some applications, later rejected, in case the selected applications contained mistakes or were incorrect. Microsoft did not have all the lottery rejections until early July. Moreover, opening a new center in just a few months seems to me like a very fast move. You should see how the rest of 'Corporate America' works.
Also, take on account that the rejected will be able to start working with the same economic conditions, pretty much the same area, the seam team, same role, and more importantly: around the same date (perhaps even before than the H1Bs…).
Really, I don’t think you should complain about this. Sure, no company is perfect, but look and see if Google & Friends are doing anything close to this… not to mention the consulting firms creating all this H1B problem… In my opinion this move is plausible for Microsoft and all the affected people should be glad of having this backup plan. Just my two cents. Go Canada!
affected said:
being someone who has been affected by this h1b craziness and waited over 9 months.. I still find AG to be a troll.
This a is a bold step that shows that MS does care about its hires. they could as easily have revoked the offers or said the vanc center willcome up by june next year when the next batch of potential hires graduates.
Im a PM though.. so I wish that wrinkle works itself out soon.
more than anything else i am delighted to see the open communication initiated by jenna.. this blog tells me more about the situation than my recruiter does!
aMicrosoftHire said:
Do I love this blog or what? Not only did I find my job through this blog, I also have the possible solution to my sticky H1B situation posted here.. Rock on Jenna, Rock on jobsblog :)
German said:
Man what a relief. I thought that it will be all over for most of us. I am currently offered SDE, so most probably I can join Microsoft this year. Thank you Microsoft...
A Concerned Hire said:
Jenna -
Are you aware that the legal folk are bringing Microsoft a bad name? Many people don't see the difference between USABAL and Microsoft, and the blame ends up going on Microsoft.
See: <a rel="nofollow" target="_new" href="http://groups.google.ca/group/Microsofties2b/msg/5a34761664cb6b57">http://groups.google.ca/group/Microsofties2b/msg/5a34761664cb6b57</a>
Could I ask that you please look into ensuring the USABAL folk actually do their job? Thank you!
anon said:
Yeah, USABAL ignores all my email as well...
Ali B said:
Good to finally hear some great news after waiting all that time. I just can't wait until I start working at Microsoft!
Thanks Jenna for your efforts!
Hack said:
Hi Jeena,
Any international applicant from middle east and asia can apply in Vancouver?
Thanks and regards
Hack
anotherNewHire said:
I think AG is somewhat right here. Microsoft knew (on April 1) that some of its H1B visa applications will be rejected, it was 50% chance that a visa will be rejected this year. So Microsoft and its staff could have proactively made efforts to reduce the pain and dilemma amongst the new hires. They could've asked the managers if they want to move their new-hire right on the day Vancouver was narrowed in.
I agree that MS has not done better in this regards as compared to other companies...given that MS has offices in 32 countries, there should have been never a problem of this sort. And I also agree that MS is always trying to do a media stunt, like here showing how much they care for their employees by hurriedly opening up a brand new office. Why stop the people who already have OPT and are ready to start? No other company is making fuss of this issue, like Microsoft.
New said:
I think people's comment about OPT is not true, I am now working at Microsoft using OPT , but also in the same situation like most of you here that I didn't get the H1 because of the lottery. I think it depends on the team if they want you to start with your OPT or not, not fair to assume that Microsoft don't let you start working using OPT.
I really appreicate what Microsoft is doing for their employees. I have a few friends gone back to their country because of this H1 issues, and a lot of company refuse to wait for a few months gap between OPT and H1.
Polla said:
To anotherNewHire,
It is not true that no company other than Microsoft does not allow you to start with your OPT. I have lots of friends who have a full year of OPT to work in the US, yet they all got relocated to their company branches in other countries (it's either agree to that or break the contract.) However, I do agree that MS could've given us some clues earlier. My friends already know that they can't use their OPT since beginning of May.
hiredbutnot said:
The thing about OPT hiring is such. MS hired people on OPT before May 26th, 2006 thinking their H1 would go through. However, Since then they have blocked all other people from joining. If someone has joined after May 26th, 2006 on OPT, please let me know.
said:
Is there anybody here who has a Masters degree from USA . But could apply for the H1 b in masters quota because the graduation happens early-mid May, by that time the visa cap got full ( Apr 30 ).
What has Microsoft done with those people ? They have a sure visa next year, are they working on OPT ? what will they do about the gap period ?
aPMSoon said:
Can you give us some idea of by when more information on the fate of PMs will be available?
NewHire said:
Hi Jenna,
I a PM who had my H1b rejected, but my manager approves of me working in Redmond on OPT to get familiarized and moving to Vancouver when it becomes necessary. I have emailed my recruiter and ms onboarding about this but have received no response.
When can we expect to have a new timeline for this (my recruiter never bothers to get back on any communication), and is it possible that the HR organization might veto the option of working in Redmond before moving to Vancouver??
My manager and i both seem to be fine with me working on OPT in Redmond before Vancouver, but I'm really not getting any kind of feedback from the HR folks.
Any tips/advice?
masterscapinfo said:
MG-Centro,
I am not really sure that people who graduated with a masters this year have a sure shot chance next year of H1B. As you may look at historical data, you may find that there is a strong probability that Masters H1B will be a part of the lottery on the first day next year.
Michael K said:
Hi Jenna,
I am a resident of Vancouver. Will their be many job opportunities for Canadian residents who are not already MS Hires, or HI Visa applicants from overseas.
Thanks
Rajesh said:
Hi Jenna,
I tried to find jobs on Microsoft Canada website and could not find which matches my skills. What is the best way to apply for Vancouver jobs?
Thanks
ryan said:
Hi Jenna, I am already a MS employee (SDE) and a citizen of Canada. Will I be able to work in the Vancouver office?
J said:
AG...stop being a jerk. I am also a new grad with OPT who didn't apply for H1B and still haven't heard back from HR what my fate will be. Still, I think your comment is rude. If you're not happy with MS, why are you still lurking around in this blog? I really appreciate Jenna's effort to explain things to us.
AnotherH1B said:
I have four words for you:
I Love This Company.
Jenna for president!