Thoughts on The Startup Visa
There has been a lot of talk recently about why Silicon Valley immigrant entrepreneurs are returning home.
Currently, if you are a foreign entrepreneur who wants to start a company here in the U.S., the process of getting a visa is in incredibly difficult. As a result, many of the smartest and brightest immigrants are returning home to countries such as China and India to start their companies. And entrepreneurship is booming in those countries instead of here in the U.S.
However, there is some good news.
Earlier this week Senators Kerry (D-MA), Lugar (R-IN) and Udall (D-CO) unveiled the Startup Visa Act of 2011. This is an updated version of the Startup Visa bill from last year.
As Fred Wilson summarizes:
"The premise of the startup visa is simple. If an entrepreneur can get funding to start a business in this country, he or she should be able to get a visa. Creating companies and jobs is a patriotic act and should be rewarded by legal status. The logic behind these ideas is irrefutable."
The new Startup Visa legislation provides visas to the following groups under certain conditions:
1. Entrepreneurs living outside the U.S. qualify if an American investor agrees to fund their entrepreneurial ventures with a minimum investment of $100,000. Two years later, the startup must have created five new American jobs and either have raised more than $500,000 in financing or be generating more than $500,000 in yearly revenue.
2. Workers on H-1B visas, or graduates from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science, are eligible if they have an annual income of at least $30,000 or assets of at least $60,000 and have had a American investor commit investment of at least $20,000 in their ventures. After two years, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised more than $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
3. Foreign entrepreneurs whose business has generated at least $100,000 in sales from the U.S. After two years, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised more than $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
The consensus is that this version of the bill is leagues better than the last. One of the harshest critics of the initial startup visa bill, Vivek Wadhwa, has stated that this new version of the bill is even better than he had hoped for. ln his Businessweek article on how Startup Visas will boost U.S. entrepreneurship and create American jobs, Wadhwa concludes:
"This legislation offers all of them a chance to stay if they take the entrepreneurial path. It will likely open the floodgates to immigrant entrepreneurship. I expect to see thousands of new startups, a handful of which may become a Google or an Apple. The really good news: Unlike the billion-dollar bailouts and government subsidies we are used to, this program will cost taxpayers nothing."
This last part of this is key. This program will cost nothing. With all the talk of boosting economic growth in a low cost way, supporting the Startup Visa is a no-brainer.
If you are a supporter of this idea, you can go to the Startup Visa web site and help by sending a message to your elected officials now.
