Founder visa bill proposed
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Founder visa bill proposed
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Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#2Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases.
I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my investment an awful loan instead of a real investment). Now we've invented a way for foreigners with $20K to buy a visa.
The proposed program would make more visas available to
entrepreneurs who have at least $250,000 in funding from a
U.S.-based venture capital firm, or $100,000 in angel funding.Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#3Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases. I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my inve…
Interesting idea, but won't this allow wealthy foreigners to buy their way into the States?
how is that different from:
The current system grants 10,000 visas each year primarily to investors that have financed over $1 million with plans to create at least 10 full-time positions.
except it would allow for more relaxed terms?
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#4Small discussion on this bill last night at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1024137.
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#5Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases. I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my inve…
You probably could - and one could make the argument that someone that industrious is exactly the kind of person you'd want.
However, the visa status is contingent on the company following through with its business plan to create X job and/or take in $1M of revenue. If the company isn't doing that (or if "the investment in the commercial enterprise was intended solely as a means of evading the immigration laws of the United States" - which seems like it would cover what you're describing), the visa gets pulled and the deportation process begins.
One can also imagine that INS would keep a very tight leash on the program in its first few years to make sure this isn't happening.
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#6Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases. I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my inve…
Interesting idea, but won't this allow wealthy foreigners to buy their way into the States? how is that different from: The current system grants 10,000 visas each year primarily to investors that have financed over $1 million with plans to create at least 10 full-time positions. except it would allow for more relaxed terms?
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Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#7Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases. I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my inve…
Wealthy foreigners already do buy their way into the States through the EB-5 visa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-5_visa
The startup visa seeks to change the EB-5 visa to include people who aren't wealthy, but would also create jobs in the US by starting viable companies.
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#8Personally, I think the more wealth and brains we have in the country the better, but $100K seems cheap enough to invite lots of shady cases. I could start the "Visa Arbitrage Angel Fund" that only makes $100K investments into startups with $20K+ in the bank, then require the startup buy me out one week after closing for $120K (or make monthly payments of $10K for a year, or some other wacky clause that makes my inve…
Wealthy foreigners already do buy their way into the States through the EB-5 visa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB-5_visa The startup visa seeks to change the EB-5 visa to include people who aren't wealthy, but would also create jobs in the US by starting viable companies.
This is an interesting link. I always wondered how much money I would need to buy my way into permanent residency in any country in the world. (I am assuming that the USA is among the most difficult -- those with expertise, please correct me if I'm wrong.) It's one of those useful benchmarks for how rich "rich" is.
The price is high, but not astoundingly high, if I'm reading this right. You need $500k in capital that you're willing to invest in "certain qualified investments or regional centers with high unemployment rates". You don't even necessarily have to lose the $500k, or even lose anything. You just need the capital.
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#9The funny thing is that not that many people that would be able to afford this would actually do it.
The USA is a nice country but there are many parameters that go in to the decision of choosing a place to live and it scores low on plenty of those.
The US is the destination country of choice for people without money. Those with money are just as likely to go elsewhere.
Re: Founder visa bill proposed
#10The funny thing is that not that many people that would be able to afford this would actually do it. The USA is a nice country but there are many parameters that go in to the decision of choosing a place to live and it scores low on plenty of those. The US is the destination country of choice for people without money. Those with money are just as likely to go elsewhere.
I have to disagree, at least anecdotally. I know several people, whom I'm pretty sure don't have to work if they don't want to. Yet they moved to the US specifically in order to start companies. And even they, rich, educated folk from "good" countries have had ridiculous amounts of trouble getting visas and work permission.