Why Silicon Valley Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Returning Home

I came to the US 20 years ago too and in my experience, the wait-times are nothing like what my employees from Indian and China face. I got a PhD in 6 years, then applied for a GC 2 years into my job and got my GC within 1 year. The total time was 9 years, which while long was nothing compared to the mess today. Fast forward to today. We have PhDs from Stanford and MIT whose application has been stuck since 2005, meaning even if you adjust for the 6+2 = 8 years to apply, the total time to GC will end up being more than 15-16 years at least.

I should point out that the system specifically disadvantages Indians and Chinese relative to say Mexicans, Canadians and everyone else. This coincides with an increasing level of opportunity in these countries relative to 1991 in India. To compare the two is making a fact-free argument, since even in a rational scenario, the relative attractiveness of the US has diminished over time.

I think asking that Vivek return to India is an unnecessary ad-hominem attack. There are many reasons that people choose to stay here including personal ones (wife, kids, etc. don't want to go back) not all of which are driven by relative opportunity.

I think you are either missing the point, or not taking in to the account the fact that the restrictive immigration laws here are preventing or delaying possible entrepreneurs (like me) from startups that could create markets, challenge today's tech titans and create jobs. I am not saying we all end up directly creating hundreds of jobs, but the impact a startup has, or its technology has, and its story reverberates far beyond the startup cease to exist.

I can speak for my own. Because it has taken me 7 years since my initial Green Card filing, I have had to put on hold several times the idea for a startup even though I see the tremendous talent around me who I can lasso together an idea, even if there are no earth shattering ideas at the moment. The right minds do not come together that often, ideas are actually quite cheap. And as I struggle myself with whether to create a startup on an EAD (the Temp Work permit before a GC), and potentially jeopardizing my GC, I see others around me going through the same pattern. And its frustrating to say the least.

Startup Visa should have been a reality long before Immigration became all mired down in the Illegal Immigration debate.

I have been lurking, reading on these forums till now, and I thought I should speak my mind on this topic.

You seem to be arguing two orthogonal points here.

On the one hand, you're saying that America's future will suffer dire consequences if the immigration system is not fixed.

On the other hand, you're saying it is such a hardship that people have to go back when their visas expire, things are tough for immigrants, etc.

Just step back a little and think rationally a little. If things are so bad, then why _are_ people trying so hard to get in? Do you see long lines outside the Chinese embassy? The Indian embassy?

Once again: in the 20 years I've observed the system, it is as broken as ever. And during these 20 years, we've been through the Biotech boom, Internet boom, and are on the verge of another boom.

>On the one hand, you're saying that America's future will suffer dire consequences if the immigration system is not fixed.

Not exactly, but it will definitely help if it is fixed.

>On the other hand, you're saying it is such a hardship that people have to go back when their visas expire, things are tough for immigrants, etc.

>Just step back a little and think rationally a little. If things are so bad, then why _are_ people trying so hard to get in? Do you see long lines outside the Chinese embassy? The Indian embassy?

>Once again: in the 20 years I've observed the system, it is as broken as ever. And during these 20 years, we've been through the Biotech boom, Internet boom, and are on the verge of another boom.

All those immigrants can be easily turned into potential startup founders by increasing the permanent visa numbers. Many of them are highly educated and experienced. More startups = More potential good for the economy. What is your argument against this?

I became an adult in the States - studying than working for a total of six years. I absolutely share the frustration with the visa laws, but I don't think the economic argument holds much water.

Yes, startups create jobs, but just like all other small businesses, they lose a lot of jobs as well because of a high failure rate. You certainly want to give people the opportunity to start companies, but it isn't at all clear that you're actually boosting the economy significantly by making it easier to start a new business.

Additionally, making visas available for foreign entrepreneurs opens up the market for more trade, which would certainly mean downwards pressure for salaries, which would decrease demand. To cancel that out, you'd need to make an argument that you'll make that money up through increased market efficiency - certainly tech products will cost less if the people making them have lower salaries. However, I'm not sure that most households or businesses spend that much on tech. There are certainly less efficient economic sectors (health care topping that list). In fact, most price anomalies in the technology sector are due to copyright and patent laws, so if you really wanted to increase efficiency you'd tackle that instead.

Finally, there's the talent-drain on countries like India and China if such laws were passed. Training an engineer is expensive and you don't want large parts of that investment to just vanish into other markets. I don't claim to have this figured out, but my bet is India, China, and the other growing economies rely heavily on their engineers to sustain their growth. If they begin to stagnate the whole world will suffer economically, and the States in particular given their exposure to these economies.

So, yes, personally I would love the visa laws to change. Would I take advantage? Absolutely. Would it drive the American economy? Probably not.