Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
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Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
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Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#2This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families.
Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US jobs and is cash-flow-positive, if you don't raise $1MM in capital or make $1MM in revenue, you're out.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#3This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
By "overt ability to terminate the residency status..." you mean that they can opt to not further invest, right?
I couldn't see anything that gave them the ability to otherwise control the status of the visa holders; but it's possible that I missed some nuance in the bill.
I think the goal is to prevent abuse of loopholes as much as possible - stopping corporations from becoming "investors" in order to circumvent the H1-B hiring caps.
I agree with you about the requirements for continuation being overly lofty though.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#4This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
> This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families.
False.
"To make visas available, we would amend immigration law to create a new EB-6 category for immigrant entrepreneurs. We would draw from existing visas under the EB-5 category. The EB-5 permits foreign nationals who invest at $1 million in the U.S., and thereby creates 10 jobs, to obtain a green card. In areas where unemployment is high, foreign nationals only need to invest $500,000 to obtain residency. Though roughly 10,000 visas are annually allocated for the EB-5 category, less than half were used in FY 2009, so the addition of immigrant entrepreneurs should not present an unreasonable burden."
Green card is permanent residency - once they've got it, they've got it. This looks pretty awesome.
http://startupvisa.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/dc-startup-vi...
It was a pdf and I coudln't figure out how to highlight so I retyped it myself - apologies if there's a minor grammar/spelling error.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#5This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
By "overt ability to terminate the residency status..." you mean that they can opt to not further invest, right? I couldn't see anything that gave them the ability to otherwise control the status of the visa holders; but it's possible that I missed some nuance in the bill. I think the goal is to prevent abuse of loopholes as much as possible - stopping corporations from becoming "investors" in order to circumvent the…
Yes. If you start a company that employs 5 Americans and generates $900,000 in revenue, any VC you negotiate with gets to factor "deportation" into their terms.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#6This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
This new visa sounds good in theory, but the requirement is too steep... 1 million in either VC or revenue?
I'm looking into emigrating, but I guess the US still has too-steep requirements for it to be a country to immigrate to.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#7This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
So, in your estimation, would that be "better" or "worse" than "you cannot get a visa to come to the US and start a company at all, ever" (the status quo)
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#8This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
> This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. False. "To make visas available, we would amend immigration law to create a new EB-6 category for immigrant entrepreneurs. We would draw from existing visas under the EB-5 category. The EB-5 permits foreign nationals who invest at $1 million in the U.S., and thereby creates…
Here's the text of the proposed bill:
‘‘(3) SPONSORED ENTREPRENEURS.—The Sec- retary of Homeland Security shall terminate the per- manent resident status of a sponsored entrepreneur and the alien spouse and children of such entre- preneur if the Secretary determines, not later than 3 years after the date on which such permanent resi- dent status was conferred, that—
‘‘(A) the qualified venture capitalist or qualified super angel investor who sponsored the entrepreneur failed to meet the investment requirements under section 203(b)(6)(A)(i); or
‘‘(B) the entrepreneur failed to meet the job creation, capital investment, or revenue gen- eration requirements under section 203(b)(6)(A)(ii).’’;
The job creation, capital investment, and revenue generation requirements (by the way, this language is ambiguous, with the "or" being more restrictive here and less restrictive earlier in the bill) are:
‘‘(I) create not fewer than 5 new full-time jobs in the United States employing people other than the im- migrant’s spouse, sons, or daughters;
‘‘(II) raise not less than $1,000,000 in capital investment in furtherance of a commercial entity based in the United States; or
‘‘(III) generate not less than $1,000,000 in revenue.
You know more about immigration law than I do. All I can do is read. Tell me what I'm misinterpreting.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#9This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
This new visa sounds good in theory, but the requirement is too steep... 1 million in either VC or revenue? I'm looking into emigrating, but I guess the US still has too-steep requirements for it to be a country to immigrate to.
Sorry -- in between the "dey took our jawbs" crowd and the blatant nativist crowd, any common sense approach to visas in the US is fighting an uphill battle.
But we're trying.
Re: Senators Kerry & Lugar Introduce the Startup Visa Act
#10This is a bill that proposes to give US venture capitalists the overt ability to terminate the residency status of founders and their families. Not only do you have to get sponsored by an effectively arbitrary class of financiers (it is possible that Warren Buffet wouldn't qualify under these terms, depending on whether he has personally made 2 equity investments last year), but even if your company creates 10 US job…
So, in your estimation, would that be "better" or "worse" than "you cannot get a visa to come to the US and start a company at all, ever" (the status quo)
Worse. I think it will be somewhat unfair to visa aspirants and that it will distort the market.