A planned Canadian software development center near Microsoft's Redmond, WA, headquarters will help the company attract and retain qualified employees who might not be allowed to work in the United States because of immigration laws, as well as local students and residents who don't want to relocate.

Announced in July 2007 and slated to open in fall, the new facility will be located in or near Vancouver, British Columbia, which is about 150 miles (242 km) from Redmond. It will initially house approximately 200 developers, with further expansions likely. According to the company, immigration issues played a part in the decision to open a Canadian facility. In particular, Microsoft was often frustrated when trying to recruit college and university students in the United States who already had student visas, but could not get a work visa until the following year. The Canadian center will help Microsoft attract and hire these recruits. However, Microsoft emphasized that the new facility is also meant to attract residents and students—both Canadian and foreign—who already live or attend school in the area and don't want to move to Redmond. Oddly, Microsoft hasn't nailed down the exact location of the facility, although it is slated to open in mere months.

The company expects the center to contain workers on many product teams, working in conjunction with their counterparts in Redmond and elsewhere, rather than focusing on a few products, as is the case with development centers in Vedbaek, Denmark (Dynamics NA and AX), and Hyderabad, India (search advertising optimization, casual games, and several other products).

The planned Canadian facility joins several other recent expansions. In June 2007, Microsoft leased approximately 136,000 square feet in an office tower in Cambridge, MA, and plans to fill the space with about 200 employees, beginning with about 95 developers working on the SoftGrid application virtualization product. (SoftGrid was gained in the summer 2006 acquisition of Softricity, which is based in the same area.) In Apr. 2007, the company announced plans to lease 1.3 million square feet in Bellevue, WA, near Redmond, which is enough to accommodate 4,000 employees, although some employees will be moved from crowded offices in Redmond.

The company also continues to expand its headquarters: a major renovation project to add 14 new buildings with 3.1 million square feet—enough for 12,000 employees—is expected to be done by 2009, and in July the company bought an additional 28 acres of vacant land from Nintendo of America, which could eventually be used to locate 2,000 more people.