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ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

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Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#51

Post by ahoyhere »

ahmedaly wrote: post #10
donohoe wrote: post #7

First, as someone who is not originally an American, it is tough to get into America legally regardless of your religion or country of origin. The USCIS, formerly called the BSCIS, formally called the INS is tough to go through for everyone. You need to understand that this is not becuase of your religion or whatever - its becuase you are not American like the rest of the world (be it Irish, French, SOuth African, Eg…

Sorry for making a comment off-topic..but you are wrong! Just for your information, all Europeans can enter U.S. without a visa, through the visa waiver program... which is not available option for Arab Muslims. I am talking about entering America, regardless the purpose of travel!

It's also not available to Arab Christians, or people from China, Russia, or a lot of other places. Only 36 countries are in the Visa Waiver program, and you'll notice that the representation of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia is very, very bad.

I personally hate the way US immigration policy works, and I'm American! I live in the EU and my husband is an EU citizen, and we get hassled every time.

But to me, it sounds like you're making excuses - and you're making them personal. That's no problem to me, but it will be a problem to you, because if you're in the habit of excuse-making, you will fail at business no matter what you do.

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#52

Post by ahoyhere »

semanticist wrote: post #43
Towle_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Get visa, go to U.S. 2. Start U.S. company 3. Find U.S. investors, notify them you won't be staying in the country for more than a few months 4. ?????? 5. Profit

You don't need to go to the US to start the company. It's just a paperwork exercise so you've got a company in a convenient form to sell or raise investment later. What's staying in the US got to do with building a website? If you build a business that makes money, then it doesn't really matter where your arse is in the world. How is any of this fundamentally different to the Tim Ferris-style of running your business…

If you are building a company that can only survive with capital funding, the funders will care very much where your arse is.

The TF model is much much smarter, but it also requires the guts to create a valuable product that you can charge for directly -- not the dream of creating a delicious startup snack to be gobbled up by Google.

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#53

Post by ahoyhere »

c00p3r wrote: post #27

World is much bigger than America. Of course, there are established economic clusters, like the valley, but it isn't the only destination. Try Bangalore, India or China. Try to find a niche for your startup around your home (which means find a people with a task/problem and money and turn it into your next startup. Usually that is some internet service for an non-IT established business). And it is also possible, but…

Bootstrapping is easy. Shopping yourself around for funding, and then managing your investor's expectations and demands on top of your theoretical customers', is hard.

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#54

Post by ErrantX »

tokenadult wrote: post #42
arst wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine he's referring to the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Registration program, which is pretty blatantly targeted at Muslims (based on a quick glance, the only nation on the list that's not majority Muslim is North Korea). EDIT: See ICE's website for an official source: http://www.ice.gov/pi/specialregistration/index.htm and http://www.ice.gov/pi/specialregistration/archive.htm . The domestic registration…

That's an unsourced article that has been flagged as unsourced for a long time, for something that ought to be easily sourced. The fact remains that young people from Arab countries travel to the United States a lot, and some immigrate each year. P.S. A test case to try out would be to try to travel to all the countries that are said to be on that list with a United States passport that has a visa stamp in it from Is…

I have to have two passports for this reason - one for entering Israel and one for everywhere else. A surprising number of countries get a bit steamy about having an Israel Visa stamp.

Israeli border guards will also stamp a piece of paper stapled to your passport if you ask them (so it can be removed when you leave)

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#55

Post by c00p3r »

ahoyhere wrote: post #53
c00p3r wrote: post #27

World is much bigger than America. Of course, there are established economic clusters, like the valley, but it isn't the only destination. Try Bangalore, India or China. Try to find a niche for your startup around your home (which means find a people with a task/problem and money and turn it into your next startup. Usually that is some internet service for an non-IT established business). And it is also possible, but…

Bootstrapping is easy. Shopping yourself around for funding, and then managing your investor's expectations and demands on top of your theoretical customers', is hard.

It is not so easy if you also need to earn money somehow for living.

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#58

Post by donohoe »

petercooper wrote: post #47
donohoe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, I'm wrong on that one. Business trips are covered, but you cannot actually work.

It's funny though because there are some exceptions even to that, if you start digging :-) Last time I checked "repairmen doing in-warranty repairs" can use B-1/VWP. There are a few other odd exceptions too.

Odd. I imagine its the whole you cannot do anything where money would change hands?

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#59

Post by jacquesm »

Alex3917 wrote: post #57

No, you don't have to be in America to be a success. But a much better question is, "Do you have what it takes to be successful in America?" Because if you do, then you should come here.

If you have what it takes to be successful in America you'll be just fine everywhere else.

No reason to move to the other side of the world.

Re: ASK HN: Do I have to be in America to make success?

#60

Post by idiopathic »

Alex3917 wrote: post #57

No, you don't have to be in America to be a success. But a much better question is, "Do you have what it takes to be successful in America?" Because if you do, then you should come here.

If someone has "what it takes to be a success in America", they should spend their time and talent on being a success at home rather than trying to convince US government officials that 1) they are not taking Americans' jobs, and for us Arab muslims that 2) they are not a terrorist.

Please note that the problems are 1) you have to do this when your competitors do not, and 2) your explanations have to go though a government official, ie you will waste many years and the process has nothing to do with logic or facts.

I say this as someone who left the USA even after my employer and my wife's both offered to convert our H1B visas to greencards. But I decided that 6 years (our H1B time in the USA) was already too long that I delayed my startup, and waiting for the green card again was not worth it.

I think your real problem is not that you are not in the USA, it is that you are in Egypt. Bahrain, my country, has problems, but Egypt is something else.

So I think you should really go to Dubai. (I want to say Bahrain, but Dubia is our Silicon Valley, so go there my friend.)

Also, while in Egypt, or Dubai, or anywhere else in the Arab world... apply to Seedcamp. In my year, Talasim from Jordan won, as did my own company, although I applied from Cambridge, UK. But now I am in the Gulf, pursuing clients, and I can tell you that I have access to some here who are more sophisticated than any I saw in the USA. So use what have, go where you can work quickly, because that is what you need for success, not being in the USA.

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