
Show HN: H1-B problems? Check your eligibility to move to Canada - Blake_Emigro
http://www.emigro.ca/en-ca/expressEntryAssessment
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Blake_Emigro
A couple of years ago I had a tool built to assess foreign skilled workers for
their eligibility to immigrate to Canada. The tool can be accessed with the
link. (Heroku may have to wake up, so give it a few moments.)

Due to a dispute with the devs I lost the access to the tool, but now I'm
trying to bring it back to life. It seems especially critical in this moment
with the H1-B turmoil down south of Canada.

Please let me know what you think of it.

Also, if you want to talk about your chances of moving to Canada, let me know
privately what the doughnut chart in the top right corner says after you
complete the assessment with your own details.

I'm not looking to charge you anything, I just want to help my peers and also
get my tech back up and running to have another shot at my startup.

Thanks so much Blake, Founder of Emigro Startup Studio

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zhorzh_alex
First question i see is: "Welcome to the Express Entry Assessment. Could you
give your full name please?" Why do you need real name? It's not official
calculator, right?

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Blake_Emigro
Good question, this is something that I'm going to change in the process flow.
The original idea was that everything we had to offer after the assessment
would need the name. We have a PDF summary, an email list, and a portal with
additional features, (paid). Also we needed something to be able to uniquely
identify the session to save it briefly. But over time I came to see how it
would be a deterrent and I'll come up a better way. Thanks!

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andreyazimov
Hey, what is the difference of calculator like this
[http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-
tool.asp](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/crs-tool.asp) ?

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Blake_Emigro
The link you gave is the official CDN government calculator for this purpose.
However, that calculator doesn't tell you if you're eligible for any program
or not - they have another tool for that, but that tool doesn't give you your
ranking score. This leads to many people thinking they are eligible when
they're not and can be very discouraging.

It's a little convoluted because the Express Entry system was introduced in
2015 on top of the three existing skilled worker programs and the CDN
government just hasn't caught the tech up to where it should be.

I made this tool as the best available for merging these program calculators,
and also making it so that I can optionally assess people for provincial
programs, work permits etc.

Thanks!

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flipchart
Really need a back button for this. I don't so much want to know if I qualify,
but what do I need to do to qualify which means some of my answers change

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Blake_Emigro
When people first inquire about immigrating to Canada, most are not eligible.
So the next step for this that I'm creating is the "pathway builder" which
will allow you to have multiple assessments side-by-side, and the ability to
tweak the variables and see the affect on the score and eligibility.

Thanks!

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qwerty456127
I would rather check Canada first. Canada is better (although colder). That's
a pity Canada doesn't conduct diversity visa lotteries.

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theflyinghorse
Define better.

Our housing is spiraling out of control, we have no unity between provinces
(Alberta vs BC, Alberta vs East), we get screwed on just about ANY service (we
pay insane amounts for flights and telecom for instance) and we get paid a
bunch less (as in x times less) than our counterparts in the US. Our dollar is
far lower than USD making most products far more expansive. Best jobs in
Canada are public sector.

Healthcare is better than the US - I am not going to be bankrupted by a broken
wrist. But I do have to wait many months before I can see a specialist (I had
to wait 1+ years for a surgery for instance).

Better? I'm not so sure. For a tech worker US is a far better place IMO.

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mothsonasloth
It asks me if I have an English proficiency certificate but I am a natural
English speaker. What option do you select then?

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Blake_Emigro
For skilled worker immigration to Canada, every applicant has to take an
English test, regardless of country of origin or native language. It doesn't
seem right, but it gets really complicated trying to say what countries would
have the level of native English that the CDN government wants for their
skilled immigrants.

So in this case you would put NO, and then go on and give your approximate
level in the next question.

Thanks!

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urbanslug
Will you sell the data I enter here or what do you do with it?

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Blake_Emigro
I will never sell anyone's data, or use it for any purpose that the user
doesn't want and explicitly agree to.

For this assessment, nothing is being stored unless you submit your email
address, it's all front-end JavaScript. Even then, I will just be deleting
anything that comes in.

The future intent is to offer the assessment as a gateway to a SaaS product,
and also have a marketplace of immigration lawyers that you could pick one to
share the info with if you wanted to engage their service. But right now none
of that is in place.

Thanks!

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urbanslug
Thank you for your response. Sorry for seeing it so late.

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ffab00
No back button to correct the wrong answer

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Blake_Emigro
You can scroll back up and click the rewind button on the right to re-answer
the question.

Thanks!

