Verge article: Immigrants / visa and game industry

rollin

I think this is a really good read. As this topic pops up here from time to time in some form or another.

https://www.theverge.com/22382473/game-industry-layoffs-immigrant-developers-visa-deportation

Also to shed some light on the not-from-the-right-country factor that I think is important to understand. Especially for aspairing artists from countrys without a (strong) game industry.
I think it's overall worth to raise some awareness to see how much more then "just" a good portfolio is somtimes necessary to get and stay in this industry ( - and others  - to be fair).

fdfxd2

I kinda just doomer posted about this on another thread so I wont repeat that here.

On the bright side, the industry is becoming more global, lots of outsourcing studios though that kind of has it's own set of problems I hear and small indie studios opening up everywhere. This and remote work becoming more common might be a ray of hope to people in places with no game industry, like the MENA and south east asian regions.

thomasp

As far as I'm concerned dealing with the US visa process was painful and time consuming under GW Bush already and probably before him too but I guess their article needed the right sprinkle of buzzwords.

Is it even a topic these days though? Last time I checked you could not even fly to the US unless you were at least a green card holder. Looks to me that hiring from abroad is on hold for the time being.

Eric Chadwick

It is not on hold actually, we just hired someone from outside the US. It took a bit if effort, and they have a lot of work experience already (not an entry level role).

thomasp

Eric Chadwick said:

It is not on hold actually, we just hired someone from outside the US. It took a bit if effort, and they have a lot of work experience already (not an entry level role).

And - if I may ask - is this about them coming over now to work on-site or is your hire working remote for the time being with the intent to immigrate?

I just checked and at least the US embassy over here states that they currently are not processing typical work visa.

Eric Chadwick

I'll have to check, it's in another department, we're a big company.