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Ask HN: MS in Canada or USA?

2 points by SpacePortKnight ↗ HN
I am a SDE with 4 YOE in India. For a long time, I have been considering emigrating via the computer science masters route.

I have never been to Canada or USA and between them where do you think it would be more sensible to emigrate to?

With the assumption that the quality of education would be mostly similar, here's a gist of the comparison.

- Canada offers an easier path to PR and then Citizenship. I also have friends there.

- USA offers more and high paying SWE jobs and the duration of a MS course can be 1 to 1.5yr which would mean I wouldn't have to take a big education loan.

However, OPT only guarantees 3 years of life in states. H1B is a lottery. Green card is not possible.

6 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 24.9 ms ] thread
theandrewbailey
Is there a reason you're pursuing a CS masters degree? Are you interested more in research and theory, or are you using it to get a better job? If it's for the job, USA might be the better option.
SpacePortKnight
I would like a break from building mostly CRUD applications and study a little more CS theory. However I am not wealthy enough to just enjoy studying, so job market and cost of education is extremely important too.
toast0
A masters degree is very helpful for immigration as well. There's an additional H-1B allotment for applicants with a US Masters degree, for example. In Canada, there are preferences for having studied in Canada as well.

IIRC, you can work under OPT and apply for H-1B, if you get it, great, if not you can stay under OPT (until it expires). If OPT is three years, maybe you get three chances at the lottery?

If the looming recession is like the 2008 recession, there's a good chance the H-1B oversubscription rate goes way down; so you have a better chance, assuming you have a visa sponsor.

999900000999
As an American I want to go to Canada!

America is a very stressful, angry, violent place. Aside from what's heard in the news, violent crime is extremely common.

If you want to know everything wrong with America in one story, look here.

>MADISON, ALA. — A grandfather from India who was slammed to the ground by a police officer in a northern Alabama suburb had been singled out by police after a caller said a "skinny black guy" with a toboggan hat was walking in the neighborhood and peering into garages, recordings show.

The man, Sureshbhai Patel, 57, doesn't speak English and was slammed to the ground face-first by an officer when he didn't respond to commands. But he had committed no crime, the Madison police chief said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/chi-alabama-indi...

Canada has its own legacy of mistreating First Peoples, but it's phenomenally safer. Go to Canada, hang with your friends. And let me know how I can immigrate too

toast0
If you're serious about it, you want to look into Canada's immigration point system and see what you can do to increase your points until you hit the threshold needed.

One of the factors is age, and after 30, you lose points as you age, so don't take too long. But getting a degree in canada would give you additional education points and give you points for education in Canada, and give you time in Canada to consider if it's what you hoped for. Probably a decent place to take French language lessons, you get points for that, if you can pass language tests at various levels.

999900000999
I have a degree, French I might be able to pass an A1 test if I study.

Of course I'd have to do more research here, but I'm not staying in America