Here's one company that's not stymied by immigration quotas - Microsoft has announced it's planning to open a new software development center in Vancouver, B.C., in what appears to be an attempt to find a new home for Canadian workers turned away from US employment due to immigration laws. The new center, expected to be completed by the end of 2007, will ultimately house 900 employees by 2009.

Why the concentration on hiring foreign Nationals? Because there's a shortage of qualified workers in the US, according to many US businesses. It's also easier for US citizens to acquire working papers in Canada.

Some are happy with the current US immigration quota, stating that jobs are being given to foreigners and US workers are being left out of the mix. Microsoft officials deny that the center is being built strictly to bypass the visa situation and that there were plans to expand to Vancouver in the works for a while. Never mind the fact that the drive from Microsoft headquarters to the new Vancouver site takes only three hours...