Mexico tech sector gains from US anti-immigration stance

Amazon, Facebook and other US tech companies are expanding operations south of the border as Mexico works to capitalise on the Trump administration’s anti-immigration stance.

Since the beginning of the year, Amazon.com has opened a new engineering office in Mexico City, while Facebook has partnered with local groups to develop technical talent in the region.

Oracle plans to expand its offices in the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, local officials said, possibly bringing hundreds of jobs.

In Guadalajara, Jalisco’s capital, a new group devoted to recruiting start-ups expects to have 10 new companies in the region by year-end, with another 60 in the pipeline. And the landlord of choice for many start-ups, the shared-office juggernaut WeWork, said it has opened five locations and now serves 6,000 workers after debuting in Mexico City last September.

US President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce immigration to the United States, including new constraints on H1B visas for skilled workers — which many tech companies rely on for attracting foreign talent — have prompted countries ranging from China to Canada to step up recruiting tech workers and startup companies that might once have found a home in the United States.

For Mexico, there is an added urgency: More than 600,000 immigrants of Mexican origin are currently covered by the US Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which offers protection from deportation for illegal immigrants brought to the United States as children.

Those individuals, known as “Dreamers,” may soon have to look for work abroad as a result of the Trump administration’s September decision to let DACA expire.

“This may be a good soft landing for people who are incredibly well prepared and may be able to take advantage of building their American Dream back in Mexico,” said Bismarck Lepe, chief executive of Wizeline, a San Francisco tech firm with 260 employees in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

Wizeline has invited Dreamers, who could now face deportation, to apply for jobs that would allow them to work in Mexico for a year before obtaining the necessary visa to return to the United States. Wizeline plans to use the L1 and TN visas, the latter of which is a visa covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement that allows citizens of Canada and Mexico to work in the United States for business purposes.

To be sure, it is not yet clear if the benefit to Mexico’s tech industry will be deep or long-lasting. The fate of the Dreamers remains uncertain as Congress could still pass legislation continuing the program.

Mexican government statistics have not so far shown an uptick in temporary residence cards granted to foreign workers, suggesting that most prospective US H1B visa applicants are not yet looking south.

Nonetheless, Mexico’s tech sector has been adding jobs at a healthy rate in recent years, and all signs point to continued strength.

Software job growth this year in Mexico’s three largest metropolitan areas — Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey — hit 8.8 per cent, 7 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, according to data compiled by LinkedIn.

That is up from respective annual growth of 6.8 per cent, 4.6 per cent and 6.8 per cent in 2016, LinkedIn told Reuters.

“Where there is a strong engineering presence and opportunity, at some point it makes more sense to go to the market itself and establish an office there,” said Steve McPherson, senior manager of software development for Amazon.com. The company has not disclosed the size of its technical team in Mexico, but McPherson said it is hiring aggressively.

Facebook, meanwhile, has launched three programmes this year in the Mexican capital, including a partnership with Dev.F, a local coding academy. These programmes are the groundwork for a potential tech expansion into Mexico by the world’s largest social media network, said Dev.F co-founder Manuel “Eme” Morato.

TECH FIRMS’ NEW FAVOURITE

• Amazon.com has opened a new engineering office in Mexico City
• Oracle plans to expand its offices in the Pacific coast state of Jalisco, possibly bringing hundreds of jobs
• Facebook has launched 3 programmes this year in the Mexican capital, including a partnership with Dev.F, a local coding academy
• In Guadalajara, a new group devoted to recruiting start-ups expects to have 10 new companies in the region by year-end, with another 60 in the pipeline