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Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

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Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#91

Post by davidw »

Kenji wrote: post #8

According to the study, Mr. Bansal couldn’t leave his job to start a new company because it was unclear if he’d be able to keep his H-1B status. For 7 years. What a lock-in. And during that time, your employer can probably abuse you and freeze your salary, knowing exactly that your stay depends on that visa and you have a hard time leaving. Another point on immigrants. The US does it right: It causes brain-drain in o…

> I can guarantee you that the kind of mass immigration central Europe is experiencing right now won't lead to an array of startups.

Perhaps not, but it may mean those people are not blown to a million little pieces by bombs, or tortured to death, or starve to death, or simply decapitated by one of the various actors in the Syrian conflict.

That's "probably" still a win.

And they'll still likely be a net economic positive after a few years when they've adjusted and started working.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#92

Post by ori_b »

klipt wrote: post #84
ori_b wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same with many top professors, researchers and tech execs like Nadella, Gundotra, Pichai etc.And many people on this list too like the inventor of USB etc. Some of them might have, but the H1B is an awful avenue for this. You are not allowed any side businesses while you are employed on an H1B visa (and you can't be self employed using it). If you are Indian, you are looking at what is currently an 11 year processi…

> If you want to expand immigration, a simpler, faster path to permanent residency is essential. Comprehensive immigration reform was supposed to do that, adopting a more streamlined points system like Canada and Australia, but of course the bill ended up covering amnesty for undocumented immigrants too and the whole thing got shot down. Unfortunately for most people an H1-B is the best path to a green card, and only…

Yes, as a Canadian working in the USA on an H1B, I am painfully aware of this fact.

The point remains: Increasing the number of H1Bs will not have a great impact on the number of founders, especially not in the short term, because the vast majority of them will end up shackled to an employer for years.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#93

Post by chrisper »

GuiA wrote: post #15
ra1n85 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure H1B visas are relevant here? I would imagine EB-5 (investment) visas would be the more common route for upper class immigrant entrepreneurs coming to the US.

Not quite so sure. I was a startup cofounder (never made it to billion dollar though :), and came to the US via grad school on an F1 visa, which then morphed into an H1B, and am now in the process of getting a green card. I know this is a very common path. Regarding the class thing: my grandparents were blue collar workers who never went to high school, my parents were engineers.

IANAL, but you cannot legally work on your own startup if you are on H1B

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#94

Post by BadassFractal »

pandaman wrote: post #7

The article is advocating for increasing H1-B caps. I wonder what does H1-B (a non-immigrant visa, which does not allow running your own business) has to do with immigrants founding billion dollar startups other than them using it to acquire cheap labor?

Also an H1-B doesn't exactly let you quit your sponsor and start your own company.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#95

Post by kelukelugames »

_ea1k wrote: post #81
bardworx wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Immigrants are a self-selecting group I find this offensive, as an immigrant. Also, my mother (and sister) worked in a sweat shop (they needle thread tags on imported/fake clothes underneath a laundromat) to put food on the table while going to school. My mother didn't "sacrifice" everything for us, she worked hard; became a programmer; and didn't allow my sibling and I to work less then her. > There's a joke in my…

>> Immigrants are a self-selecting group > I find this offensive, as an immigrant. I am baffled as to what part of that is offensive. That immigrants choose to immigrate and put in the hard work to make that work out? Or are you objecting to the ideas that there are high barriers to immigration? Maybe I am just misreading something, but I am confused.

People don't like to be lumped together and stereotyped regardless of how "positive" it is.

Also a lot of immigrants are war refugees or US allies that had to be rescued.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_people#U.S._and_Laotian_...

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#96

Post by hibikir »

shas3 wrote: post #19
Kenji wrote: post #8

According to the study, Mr. Bansal couldn’t leave his job to start a new company because it was unclear if he’d be able to keep his H-1B status. For 7 years. What a lock-in. And during that time, your employer can probably abuse you and freeze your salary, knowing exactly that your stay depends on that visa and you have a hard time leaving. Another point on immigrants. The US does it right: It causes brain-drain in o…

Funnily, due to country quotas that 7-9 yr wait on employment-based green cards is almost exclusively Indian problem.

Today, sure. 5 years ago, the EB2 and EB3 quotas for all other countries were almost as long, but this changes over time. For instance, in 2007, the line was 5 years after labor certification, so, in practice, about 6 years for everyone.

Nowadays that to get an H1B you need to go through a lottery, the big Indian outsources are increasing their percentage of H1Bs, making the problem both harder for India, and easier for the rest of the world. Instead of waiting 5 or 6 years like I did, now you probably can't stay in the US, but if you can, the green card is easier.

It's a downright bizarre situation.

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#97

Post by aviwl »

agmohit01 wrote: post #33
pandaman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The three people you listed are not known for founding billion dollar startups. They are known as employees of Google and Microsoft (unless you meant somebody else with the same last names as Google and Microsoft CEO and Google's former VP of engineering).

Alright. Let me list down some immigrants who came here on H1B visa. 1. Jyoti Bansal - Founder of AppDynamics The guy in the above mentioned article was on H1B. 2. Kevin Systrom - Cofounder of Instagram was on H1B visa. 3. Jay Scaler - Founder of ZScaler an unicorn, was on H1B visa 4. Vinod Khosla - Founder of Sun Microsystems and well known VC was on H1B visa initially Will list down some more in some time.

By "Jay Scaler" do you mean Jay Chaudhry?

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#98

Post by abiox »

nativedude wrote: post #59

We're talking theses United States right?! So unless you're talking 'bout Native Americans then 99%+ of all companies since 1776 have been created by Immigrants. Think about folks!

native americans immigrated over the landbridge, all those year ago, no? ostensibly they're just the first immigrants. :-)

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#99

Post by aviwl »

Dr_tldr wrote: post #9

It's no secret that the continuing economic dominance of the US is not due to a post-WW2 windfall or the unique capabilities of Americans, but more to the ability of the US to attract and retain the very best, and then subsequently give them unique opportunities. Few nativists are opposed to the best and the brightest (and the already-wealthy) coming to the US in very, very small numbers, but what they don't realize…

What factors do you think contribute to the ability of the US to attract the best?

Re: Study: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

#100

Post by chrisper »

bruceb wrote: post #69
Kenji wrote: post #8

According to the study, Mr. Bansal couldn’t leave his job to start a new company because it was unclear if he’d be able to keep his H-1B status. For 7 years. What a lock-in. And during that time, your employer can probably abuse you and freeze your salary, knowing exactly that your stay depends on that visa and you have a hard time leaving. Another point on immigrants. The US does it right: It causes brain-drain in o…

H1-B visa holders can switch jobs.

Yes, but it takes a lot of paperwork to do it. But H1-B holders can also be fired (thanks to work at free will) and would have to leave the country within 30 days if he/she could not find a new job. How can you even build a future in a new country like that?
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