Amid challenges over getting enough foreign programmers admitted into the US, Microsoft plans this autumn to open a development centre in Canada.
The new software development centre will open somewhere in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area and will be "home to software developers from around the world", Microsoft said in a statement on Thursday.
"The Vancouver area is a global gateway, with a diverse population, is close to Microsoft's corporate offices in Redmond, and allows the company to recruit and retain highly skilled people affected by immigration issues in the US," Microsoft said.
The announcement of Microsoft's Canadian plans follows the failure of an immigration bill that would have expanded the number of foreign hi-tech workers that could have come to the country each year under so-called "H-1B" visas.
Hi-tech companies have been pushing hard to get Congress to increase the number of visas they are allotted. In separate Capitol Hill appearances, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates made a strong plea for unlimited H-1B visas, while a Google executive credited the company's success to foreigners and called for expanded ability to hire them.
But, so far, a broader feud has killed two attempts by the US Senate to overhaul the immigration system, including a bump in the H-1B quota from a base level of 60,000 to at least 115,000. Silicon Valley wasn't pleased with all of the bill, but it was also counting on passage of amendments that would provide greater assurances that green cards for permanent residency come through and create new exemptions for foreigners with advanced degrees.
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Now companies are left to hope that their congressional allies will pass stand-alone bills, severed from the larger immigration debate, to accomplish those tasks. Although a number of senators have indicated support for the tech industry's goals, others have taken an arguably more measured approach, proposing bills aimed at curbing H-1B abuse while upping the quota.
Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said that, while the immigration issue was a factor, the company would be opening the centre in Vancouver even if it were not for the immigration challenges. That said, Vancouver is particularly attractive since it is a short drive from Redmond, Washington, but not bound by US immigration policies.
"It does help us address that challenge we have in the US of hiring very qualified people, many of whom are graduating from schools in the US, but who cannot acquire the necessary documentation to work in the US," Gellos said.
Microsoft plans to start with a couple of hundred workers, but is looking for a spot "with room to grow", Gellos said. "We haven't finalised the actual facility or the site yet," he said. "Once we get an indication of where we can do the centre, that will help us to clarify the numbers."
The software maker currently has just over 900 workers in Canada, most of whom are based in Toronto, where Microsoft has its local subsidiary, as well as sales, marketing and some development staff. There is also a sales office in Vancouver.
Microsoft's move is hardly its first venture offshore. While the bulk of its workers are in the greater Seattle area, Microsoft has expanded its development efforts in recent years, adding efforts in Denmark, Israel, India, China and the UK, among other locales. Microsoft recently announced plans to expand operations in Bellevue, Washington, near its Redmond campus, and in Fargo, North Dakota. The company also has development efforts in North Carolina and Silicon Valley.
Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen said his unit had long pushed Canada as a great place for the software maker to do development work.
"We have burgeoning hi-tech and software industries and a globally envied quality of life, and our cities represent exactly the kind of environment that leading information workers want to live in," he said in a statement. "This centre will help Microsoft remain globally competitive while providing strong economic benefits to British Columbia and Canada."
