Conquer a new land, send thousands of people, nearly exterminate the native population, put up walls so nobody else can get in.
Sounds legit.
The Founder Visa (again)
161–170 of 198 posts
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
The EB visas are basically identical to the O visas, except for two differences: 1) the requirements are slightly more stringent, and 2) they are considered immigrant visas, as opposed to non-immigrant. ie., they are green cards. That said, I agree with you that the O1 was not a perfect fit for my situation, though I did end up receiving it, while being denied the EB-1. But I would challenge you to name another visa…
In some cases it might make sense to do H-1b -> EB2 to get things done faster. You don't even need a visa to get your employment based green card actually, so you can start both processes at the same time. Of course each case is unique, I hope your lawyer made the right choice given the circumstances.
Sorry, but H1b is so broken and horrible that many people won't even consider it. It puts you in a very bad and stressful situation to practically put your destiny in the hands of one employer/person for a couple of years.
If H1B is the only realistic option for you, then just forget about USA and go to any European country with sane immigration system.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#163My proposal would instead be a pair of visas:
A proper "Entrepreneur Visa," that is similar to the existing EB-category ones that require your company to have received a certain threshold of funding. However, I think this funding should be tuned by industry, and typically, any level of funding is good, so this should be low. If necessary, a clause stipulating maximum percentage of non-US hires (or additional taxes/fees if otherwise) should be ok.
More importantly, an "Entrepreneur Trial" visa should be in place. This should be a 1-year visa, which should just require a few letters of recommendation, qualification in the field (academic degree or equivalent work experience from any country), and function like an OPT. The earlier mentioned visa (the Entrepreneur visa) should be made trivially obtainable (quick filing of paperwork) by an applicant who is on the Trial visa if he fulfills the minimum funding requirement. Preferably the trial visa has a system to petition for an extension of 6-12 months.
This is still very much limiting the options for an immigrant founder, but of course, we can't assume they will ever have as much freedom as a US person when trying to bend the rules of life. It would still be nice to have some options that don't involve trying to bend over backwards and lick someone else's rearside to be allowed to contribute to the economy.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
In some cases it might make sense to do H-1b -> EB2 to get things done faster. You don't even need a visa to get your employment based green card actually, so you can start both processes at the same time. Of course each case is unique, I hope your lawyer made the right choice given the circumstances.
Sorry, but H1b is so broken and horrible that many people won't even consider it. It puts you in a very bad and stressful situation to practically put your destiny in the hands of one employer/person for a couple of years. If H1B is the only realistic option for you, then just forget about USA and go to any European country with sane immigration system.
Are you sure about that? I got my H1B in 2012, it was almost completely painless. I was straight out of university, we applied in October '11, and I received my visa in January. It's fairly straightforward to move to a new employer on a H1B, it just has to be the same level of job. You can start working for your new employer on the date you file, and it takes 4-8 weeks to complete.
I'm now close to an EB2 GC which, when complete, will have taken a total of about 18 months from me saying to my employer "I'd like a green card", to me and my wife having one. I'm an engineer at a There are aspects of the immigration system that I have found pretty backwards; mostly that a H1B spouse (H4) cannot work. But in general, it's treated me pretty well.
I've read plenty of H1B border horror stories online. But having flown from Europe to the US over 20 times in the past 3 years, I haven't had more than a polite 90 second conversation with a CBP officer on the way in.
This is all speaking from someone who came from the UK. I know there are separate queueing systems for some visas for residents of certain countries, so I can't speak for that.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Deliberately? I generally ascribe to the camp that says: when the majority or a large portion of the audience misinterprets what is being said, the problem lies not with with readers but with the author. Perhaps it is you who mis-wrote not us who mis-read. What you wrote came off as incredibly arrogant. Especially with your recent promotion.
Incredibly arrogant? Really? Sorry, but you're definitely mis-reading that one and you've clearly never met Sam.
~99% of the people reading this or the original article have never met Sam. Parts of the original article, as written and without knowing the author, came off as very arrogant. If the words require a personal relationship with the author to be interpreted correctly, then there's probably a more clear way to express them.
I'm sure Sam is a great guy in person, and I've enjoyed all of his articles I've read to date. Parts of this one came off as arrogant -- which isnt me saying or thinking that it was intended to, or that Sam actually is.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#166"Startups are what the US is the best in the world at. We figure out new businesses faster than anyone else. It would be disastrous if that stopped being the case."
"Exploiting cheap labour is what is the best in the world at. We figure out how to exploit our economy and people faster than anyone else. It would be disastrous if that stopped being the case"
Maybe US is best about startups - but I believe that in the long run its toxic to everyone, including people involved in the process. Just because something seems like a disaster doesn't mean that it has to be one.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#167This is a terrible idea. VCs have proposed the same solution in Canada; the government canned the old investor visa and allowed founders to get a startup when they receive investment from some of our VCs. (There were many more investor visa than VCs can even process. We'll end up with less total job creation. You have to be careful what you lobby for, and how it will be implemented!) What was once a process over whic…
I have an experience with that.
I was applying to the Canadian entrepreneurship program since 2010, so 4 years now. I was aware the processing time was long, so I was just waiting to be my turn to be processed. 3 weeks ago I've heard that the entrepreneurship program has been canceled in profit of the startup visa one. I mean that seems to be on whim and that's not really nice to wait 4 years for nothing but that's life I guess. I have started to contact the people on the accredited list, they seem to be overflow by the applications following the program. The big winners seem to be the organization on the accredited list, everyone else has been fucked.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
The EB visas are basically identical to the O visas, except for two differences: 1) the requirements are slightly more stringent, and 2) they are considered immigrant visas, as opposed to non-immigrant. ie., they are green cards. That said, I agree with you that the O1 was not a perfect fit for my situation, though I did end up receiving it, while being denied the EB-1. But I would challenge you to name another visa…
Don't go for EB-1, go for EB-2. It's a lot easier in terms of the documented requirements. Also, unless you are from China/India/Philippines there is no difference in wait time between the two.
There is also the National Interest Waiver for entrepreneurship for the EB-2 to further make the process easier: http://www.uscis.gov/news/public-releases-topic/business-imm...
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#169A founder's visa should be opened up to a class of people. In this beta testing case, it would be open to a class of people who get selected with YC or are interested in YC. That's a very limited view from a governance perspective. The only ones who should have such power are USCIS and Consulate Officers. USCIS should work with incubators for the judging criteria. There should be another criteria for start ups who want to go without a sponsoring incubator as well.
In addition, not sure what the visa status will be during the three month funding cycles. That alone limits a lot of options. A F-1 student or a H1B employee cannot create a start up and apply to YC even though they are in US because they can't leave their status for 3 months.
Re: The Founder Visa (again)
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually ran the idea by a few other firms and they didn't seem quite as interested in international founders as we are. We're willing to do the work on this. If others are, that'd be fine with us too. We just don't want to wait 5 more years for anything to happen.
I suspect davemcclure/500 Startups would be totally on board with this; they're almost MORE international focused than YC is.
Almost more international == just a little less international