In what is the latest cross-border recruitment effort to respond to U.S. immigration policy and with the message that it’s a great place for high tech, the governor of Mexico’s state of Jalisco is visiting more than 40 U.S. tech companies.

13 large tech companies including Facebook and Google, 30 startups beginning this week in California and California Gov. Jerry Brown, are on the meeting list of Jalisco Gov. Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz. Representatives from Jalisco, birthplace of tequila, synonymous with hot sauce, and sometimes called Mexico’s Silicon Valley for its already thriving tech scene, make such annual visits to the US.

Talking to Brown about a bi-lateral agenda to support Mexican citizens to remain in the U.S is the added purpose of the trip this year.

There can be trouble in hiring of trained workers by U.S. tech firms if the Trump administration passes more restrictions on H-1B visas, as a draft order indicated and hence the capital city of Guadalajara and the rest of Jalisco would be promoted as a friendly environment for skilled workers by Sandoval.

“We want tech companies to know there is a huge opportunity in Jalisco for them to grow,” Sandoval, who has created a cabinet-level Innovation Department, told USA TODAY in a phone interview Tuesday.

“Jalisco has many advantages” — a close time zone to Silicon Valley, talent, strong university system, government support and infrastructure, Sandoval said. The Trump administration’s policies, in particular the possibility of an executive order that could curtail H-1B work visas, also work in Jalisco’s favor, he said.

As large as his much-heralded wall, a threatened 35 per cent tariff from Trump on goods made there is looming large and this has made some tech companies reluctant to expand in Mexico. Costs related to opening operations offshore, Jalisco’s overall tech talent and poor broadband access in some areas are some of the other lingering questions about Jalisco’s overall pitch.

As the U.S. threatens to further limit H-1Bs, which offer a pipeline of talent from abroad and halts entries of immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim nations, U.S.’s northern neighbour Canada is also attempting to recruit tech workers  and Sandoval’s push to raise awareness about Jalisco comes at a time when Canada is making such an effort. Funding, sparkling new work spaces, broadband access and a relatively affordable cost of living are the carrots that the Canadian venture firms and companies are enticing U.S. start-ups with.

Jalisco is putting in a similar pitch. A tech hub worth $21 billion is thriving in the state on the western coast of central Mexico. Among others, Intel, Hewlett Packard and Oracle, have manufacturing, design and research-and-development operations in Guadalajara or coastal Puerto Vallarta.

Technology goods account for 25,000 jobs in the state and represent about 55 percent of Jalisco’s exports. According to a spokesman for Sandoval, nearly a third of Mexico’s tech business comes from Jalisco.

“The Jalisco government is 100 percent focused on technology,” says Bismarck Lepe, CEO of San Francisco-based tech services firm Wizeline. “It’s an ideal region for intellectual property, and not cheap manufacturing.”

Should Trump issue executive orders on a revised travel ban, curtail H-1Bs and revise the NAFTA trade accord, the close proximity of Mexico and Canada could offer concerned American companies — and workers — an option. Canada as a backup is likely to be chosen by job seekers.

(Adapted from CNBC & USA Today)

Categories: Economy & Finance