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International Entrepreneur Rule

federalregister.gov

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Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#51

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

#52

Post by FallujahJane »

beagle3 wrote: post #31

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…

Holders of F and J visas do pay taxes in the US, though they may also be liable for taxes in their home countries. (Depending on treaties with their home countries, they may or may not be better off than a regular US taxpayer.)

You may be thinking of the rule requiring American citizens to pay taxes over their worldwide income, not only their US income. That rule applies to American citizens as well as permanent residents ("green-card holders"), but generally not to anyone in the US on a temporary visa. That means that someone in the US on a temporary visa will generally be paying US taxes over any income from a job or business they have in the US, but if they have, e.g., income from renting out real estate in another country, that income may be taxed in that other country, but not in the US. Only US citizens and permanent residents are required to report any such foreign income in the US and pay taxes over it, even when they move abroad (with some exemptions).

FATCA is not as onerous as you describe for most regular people. As a US taxpayer (whether a citizen or permanent or temporary resident), you have to report foreign bank accounts that at any point during the year contain more than the equivalent of something like $10,000. That's it. There is no requirement (as far as I'm aware) to report "every single foreign transaction."

You're right that retirement planning can be complicated for immigrants and temporary visitors. Many countries have rules like the US, where you have to pay into the system for a certain number of years before you become eligible for social-security payments in old age. So for many immigrants retirement becomes a patchwork of sources (a bit of social security, a bit of foreign social security, and otherwise savings in whatever accounts are available in the US and abroad.)

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#54

Post by uiri »

goodcjw2 wrote: post #23
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…

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

especially when compared the the new H1B threshold at 100K

What on Earth are you talking about? That $100K threshold is designed to target body shops.

There are a class of employers which are H-1B dependent; generally, those with at least 15% of their employees on the visa. Currently, H-1Bs with a salary of at least $60K are not counted toward that 15%. The bill will change this to $100K salary.

It is possible to hire a H-1B for $50k under the current laws if that is market rate for the relevant position.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#55

Post by hkmurakami »

parsnipsumthing wrote: post #7
forgottenacc57 wrote: post #4

This will be gamed hard by rich people to get into the U.S. Essentially a red carpet side door if you have a slab of cash.

I doubt it. There are already 2 programs that allow rich people to immigrate by investing their own money: the EB-5 and the E-2 visa [1]. However, these visas require that people invest their own money. This visa is different because it allows investment with other people's money. It's a big change. [1] https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-through-job/gree...

E2 is explicitly a non immigration visa. In fact you need to demonstrate your intent to NOT immigrate during your interview process.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#56

Post by hkmurakami »

nikon wrote: post #42

Should you not be offered some sort of permanent residency in return for "growth and job creation that they would provide a significant public benefit to the United States", especially after the first 30 months? So you get 60 months and then have to leave the country? How is that attractive?

People usually convert themselves to H1B at some point in the process.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#57

Post by sprite »

beagle3 wrote: post #31

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…

Wouldn't substantial presence test determine tax payer status? I've been paying US income tax the past few years without even being there on a visa, simply by meeting substantial presence test while on visa waiver and not claiming a closer relation to any other country. [I travel a lot and spend more time in the US than anywhere else [roughly 5 months out of the year], but don't technically live anywhere]

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#58

Post by lend000 »

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?

Same with hedge funds. Government 'protects' the average investor by only letting qualified rich people invest in hedge funds (and get richer). I love how the government asserts that it knows what's best for me and protects me from myself. Such a free nation we live in.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#59

Post by PaulRobinson »

Nevermark wrote: post #25
imagist wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course we would want that, but that's not what we get. The rich pay few taxes and the international rich pay even less, given they already have offshore tax havens by the nature of being from another country. Given a green card allows establishment of US companies which are exempt from some tariffs which are imposed on foreign companies, there's no reason to believe that giving the rich green cards will be a net g…

The rich don't pay fewer taxes in absolute terms. They may pay a lower percentage of taxes on wealth gains than middle class or upper middle class, due to being able to delay income realization, lower capital gains taxes, and other means that are more accessible to the rich than the middle class or the poor. But rich people still tend to pay more taxes than less rich people.

Demonstrably not true in absolute terms in many cases, or as a percentage of income in others.

Spend 15 minutes talking to an accountant on the premise that you don't want to pay any tax. If you've got enough cash, that's not a problem, anywhere in the World.

Re: International Entrepreneur Rule

#60

Post by sprite »

FallujahJane wrote: post #52
beagle3 wrote: post #31

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…

Holders of F and J visas do pay taxes in the US, though they may also be liable for taxes in their home countries. (Depending on treaties with their home countries, they may or may not be better off than a regular US taxpayer.) You may be thinking of the rule requiring American citizens to pay taxes over their worldwide income, not only their US income. That rule applies to American citizens as well as permanent resi…

That seems correct. On my FBAR I have to report every foreign bank account I have and the highest balance each account has had during the year. I've never had to report individual transactions and have not ran into any problems with my banks.
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