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International Entrepreneur Rule

federalregister.gov

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Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#31

Post by beagle3 »

Ok, that's the immigration side. What is the tax status of people admitted under this rule? IIRC, only F and J visas are exempt from becoming American taxpayers

Being an American taxpayer is fine and dandy if you never plan to live outside the us again; but if you aren't, it's a very expensive and labour intensive deal; your home country bank will fire you as a customer because of FATCA, the reporting requirements to the us are insane (FBAR and every single foreign transaction needs to be reported), and your e.g. Pension savings and other holdings likely become a losing proposition because they are PFICs.

Most people ignore these issues, but almost everyone is liable under the us tax code, and especially with the just announced sharing of NSA data with the IRS, it will all be legally documented for the IRS to pursue.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#32

Post by cperciva »

stale2002 wrote: post #30
goodcjw2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The threshold feels low, especially when compared the the new H1B threshold at 100K. As mentioned earlier, this could be easily gamed.

I know right! Company "invests" 250k into a "startup" who's only job is to "consult" with the parent investor company. BAM! You've just hired 3 engineers right there, who have completely skipped the greencard line.

I'd assume this is why they have qualification requirements on the investors.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#33

Post by mnglkhn2 »

Finbarr wrote: post #2

Reading through it. The gist is you can get 30 months of parole from USCIS if you are a startup entrepreneur that has raised investment. Seems like the threshold is $250k and it can support up to 3 founders. You must own at least 10% to be considered a founder. Looks like you can also get an additional 30 months by raising a further $500k, or having at least $500k ARR with 20% annual growth, or employing 5 US persons…

Who's going to stop an investor from pushing you out from a central role in operations and hence kick you out of the country? All this after 2.5yrs put in the company, working your best for those years.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#34

Post by Finbarr »

mnglkhn2 wrote: post #33
Finbarr wrote: post #2

Reading through it. The gist is you can get 30 months of parole from USCIS if you are a startup entrepreneur that has raised investment. Seems like the threshold is $250k and it can support up to 3 founders. You must own at least 10% to be considered a founder. Looks like you can also get an additional 30 months by raising a further $500k, or having at least $500k ARR with 20% annual growth, or employing 5 US persons…

Who's going to stop an investor from pushing you out from a central role in operations and hence kick you out of the country? All this after 2.5yrs put in the company, working your best for those years.

Given the amounts we're talking about, it's likely the founders would still have complete control of the board.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#37

Post by [deleted] »

cma wrote: post #26
Finbarr wrote: post #2

Reading through it. The gist is you can get 30 months of parole from USCIS if you are a startup entrepreneur that has raised investment. Seems like the threshold is $250k and it can support up to 3 founders. You must own at least 10% to be considered a founder. Looks like you can also get an additional 30 months by raising a further $500k, or having at least $500k ARR with 20% annual growth, or employing 5 US persons…

One thing that will let you in is if you are invested in from > investors with established records of successful investments The rich get richer. Established investors get cheap labor, while upstart competitive investors get buried behind an artificial government wall. I wonder if any established investment firms lobbied for that?

[deleted]

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#38

Post by parsnipsumthing »

chrisper wrote: post #19
addicted wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would also be a stupid thing to game this rule when there already exists a separate system that allows you to write a 500k check and get a green card.

It is not as easy as that. You need to have plans, lots of paperwork, and lots of time (about 2 years). https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/realestate/want-a-green-c...

Nope. You mean you need a consultation firm that does all of this for you for a fee, of which there are many.

The EB-5 is a huge site for immigration fraud and in many cases it functions as a green card-for-cash exchange. In fact, the poor foreign investors who didn't understand this are now suing state governments and associated companies because they received no returns from their investment.[1]

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellensheng/2016/08/01/foreign-in...

Google "EB-5 fraud" for many many more cases but note that, unlike in most immigration cases, the fraud here is being perpetrated against the visa applicants, not the immigration service. There is no suggestion that they do not have the capital or that they have not received a visa, just that there are no returns.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#39

Post by trvlngsalesmn »

xenadu02 wrote: post #27
tingletech wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it is a regulatory action, so it was never "passed" per se. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulemaking it is post-dated next tuesday, I didn't know could post-date a rule

Because it isn't legally "published" until the next business day and Monday is a federal holiday. Federal law says rulemaking isn't valid until 180 days have passed so it kicks in July 17. All of these rules are to keep federal agencies from changing the rules out from under people, and to give Congress/Courts time to act.

Interesting. Thanks for the background and links. So this is how federal agencies that report to the executive branch legislate. I had always wondered what the actual process was.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#40

Post by fapjacks »

gigatexal wrote: post #21
Finbarr wrote: post #2

Reading through it. The gist is you can get 30 months of parole from USCIS if you are a startup entrepreneur that has raised investment. Seems like the threshold is $250k and it can support up to 3 founders. You must own at least 10% to be considered a founder. Looks like you can also get an additional 30 months by raising a further $500k, or having at least $500k ARR with 20% annual growth, or employing 5 US persons…

A similar scheme works for Canadian immigration.

But... Does it work?
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