
Why Silicon Valley Immigrant Entrepreneurs Are Returning Home - tomh-
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/06/why-silicon-valley-immigrant-entrepreneurs-are-returning-home/
======
tokenadult
Yet another Vivek Wadhwa story with his same pet theme. Here is my question:
is there any Vivek Wadhwa story on this issue in which he shows detailed
figures for NET immigration flows into and out of the United States in
comparison to countries like China and India? Or does he consistently do as I
have seen him do here and in other stories, relating individual anecdotes and
asserting the existence of a problem (too few high-skill immigrants to the
United States from India or from China) that may not actually exist? What do
other authors have to say about this subject?

And, by the way, what countries offer better opportunities for immigration to
found start-up businesses for young people from India and China than the
United States offers? What are those countries' rules about immigration? Do
young people from African countries also find it easy to emigrate to those
other countries? Can anyone from anywhere in the world settle in any European
Union country to found a start-up high-tech business? Is it possible for
foreigners to settle in China or in India to found start-up businesses? What
visa rules apply to cases like that?

~~~
tptacek
It is difficult for foreigners to start companies in the EU, even modulo the
fact that it's somewhat difficult for residents to start companies in parts of
the EU.

I don't know anything about Asian immigration, but I know a very little bit
about EU policies, and I don't think they're a competitive threat to us here.

~~~
wheels
Huh? This sounds totally wrong to me.

The UK and Germany, the two strongest EU startup countries, both already have
founders visas and there's nothing special about a foreigner owning shares in
a Ltd or GmbH, the respective equivalents of a US incorporation.

Also, in my experience, founding a UK Ltd is even _easier_ than doing a US Inc
if for no other reason than that you don't have to deal with both federal and
state institutions as in the US. The stuff that the Companies House sends you
is super straight-forward (impressively so, other countries should take note),
and can be done mostly online. Germany is (surprise!) more bureaucratic and
things take a bit longer, but it's still not rocket surgery.

On the whole immigration and getting permanent residence is much easier in
both countries. The UK has a point system for highly skilled immigrants, and
you can get permanent residence in both in 5 years without having had to stick
around at a single employer.

~~~
tptacek
I have several degreed acquaintances who were ejected from the UK and EU. I'm
married to someone who immigrated to Switzerland for work. The impression from
people I know is that it's not particularly easy to move to Europe from the
US.

I'm not sure what you mean by state / fed institutions, unless you mean that
you have to pay both state and federal income tax (... but so does everyone,
whether or not they own a company). When we set up Matasano, the only thing I
remember us having to do with fedgov was getting an EIN.

~~~
arvinjoar
Switzerland has a very restrictive immigration policy compared to other
European countries.

~~~
tptacek
Erin wasn't ejected from Switzerland; the most recent ejection instance
happened to an acquaintance living in London.

------
ajays
I have stopped reading what Vivek writes. It almost feels like he's writing
inflammatory articles just to keep his name in print.

I came to this country (US) more than 20 years ago. The I.N.S. (Immigration
and Naturalization Service) were as big dicks then as they are now. Nothing
has changed. It's just plain old government bureaucracy; but in this instance,
their clients can't vote either, so there's no fear of a backlash.

And yet, despite the INS's dickitude, the country churns out startups like
crazy.

Why did the founder of Chatroulette move here, instead of China or India? I'll
give you why: pound for pound, it is _way_ easier to come to America, register
your startup and get rolling than in any other country, bar none. (Aside: do
read DeSoto's "The Mystery of Capital" if you get a chance).

Heck, why is Vivek Wadhwa in this country? Why isn't he in India, if things
are so great there? I'll tell you why: because when all is said and done,
there is NO country on earth as welcoming and safe for immigrants as the USA,
bar none.

I have friends who've gone back to India. Most of them went for a variety of
reasons; chiefly among them being family.

And I also know some who went back because their H1B visas expired; but you
know what? It is good to see that. Just like seeds from a flower spread far
and wide with the wind, I hope the seeds of entrepreneurship spread far and
wide; the world needs more entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley has more than enough.

~~~
recoiledsnake
>I came to this country (US) more than 20 years ago. The I.N.S. (Immigration
and Naturalization Service) were as big dicks then as they are now.

Okay... so...? Did you wait 10 years for a Green Card while in immigration
limbo? Do you even know the difference between then and now?

>And yet, despite the INS's dickitude, the country churns out startups like
crazy.

So enough is enough? Will more hurt, esp with 10% unemployment? Maybe we
should shutdown some VCs as well, since there are enough startups.

AFAIK the Chatroulette founder was on a temp visa and was exploring options
for a longer term visa. Can you reference how he 'moved' here?

>And I also know some who went back because their H1B visas expired; but you
know what? It is good to see that. Just like seeds from a flower spread far
and wide with the wind, I hope the seeds of entrepreneurship spread far and
wide; the worlds needs more entrepreneurs. Silicon Valley has more than
enough.

Your argument doesn't make sense. According to you the US/Silicon Valley is
the best place to breed startups.. but you want the potential founders to go
elsewhere where they might not have the best chances. Does not compute.

~~~
ajays
> Okay... so...? Did you wait 10 years for a Green Card while in immigration
> limbo? Do you even know the difference between then and now?

I waited 11 years, if it makes you feel better. And yes, I do know the
difference between then and now. And you know why it's worse now? Because the
demand is much higher! So, despite the INS's dickitude and the so-called
"broken" immigration policies, _MORE_ people are wanting to come here.

> So enough is enough? Will more hurt, esp with 10% unemployment? Maybe we
> should shutdown some VCs as well, since there are enough startups.

You need to comprehend before responding. The immigration system was as broken
20 years ago as it is today. During boom times it's broken; during bust times
it is broken. During the dot-com boom, it was broken, and yet the dot-com boom
still happened. It is a constant; you just route around it.

> Your argument doesn't make sense. According to you the US/Silicon Valley is
> the best place to breed startups.. but you want the potential founders to go
> elsewhere where they might not have the best chances. Does not compute.

It "does not compute" because you're not reading, just responding. I'm not
saying that the founders should "go somewhere else". I'm saying that if they
do choose to "go somewhere else", then that is not a bad thing; in fact, it
has a lot of positive aspects to it. SV will be just fine.

~~~
cooldeal
>I waited 11 years, if it makes you feel better. And yes, I do know the
difference between then and now. And you know why it's worse now? Because the
demand is much higher! So, despite the INS's dickitude and the so-called
"broken" immigration policies, MORE people are wanting to come here.

Are you saying that just because people faced hardship earlier, it shouldn't
be made easier now? If anything, the numbers show that MORE people are getting
affected by the policies and MORE potential startups are getting nipped in the
bud.

>You need to comprehend before responding. The immigration system was as
broken 20 years ago as it is today. During boom times it's broken; during bust
times it is broken. During the dot-com boom, it was broken, and yet the dot-
com boom still happened. It is a constant; you just route around it.

I don't see any reason given for not fixing the system except handwaving here.
Let me quote the article here:

>Unlike a lot of problems facing our country, this one is easy to fix. We just
need to increase the numbers of permanent-resident visas available for those
trapped in “immigration limbo”. And we should create a Startup Visa that is
more inclusive than the VC/Super Angel bill that is being proposed. This may
give the economy a significant boost at no cost to taxpayers.

What are your arguments against that paragraph?

It is like someone in the 1920s arguing against women's suffrage. 'Hey, we
never had the right to vote, but we always still influenced politics by
working around it. There are some positive aspects to not having the right to
vote. Lets not support it.'

~~~
ajays
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.

~~~
kmfrk
cooldeal's criticism is that your world view is binary; there is no "better"
or "worse", only "broken" and "just dandy".

The problem argued is that the system prevents people from starting a business
in the U.S. - something a "rational" person who is able to "comprehend"
wouldn't conflate with _everyone_ being prevented from starting a business.

The system could be better. That's hardly a controversial statement.

One of the biggest problem in this environment is the survivorship bias.

~~~
nir
His worldview isn't binary. He's merely providing some perspective by pointing
out the system has been similarly broken for a while and apparently startups
have still been starting up all the while.

As a non-American without Green Card, I still think the startup visa is
dubious. People who _really_ want to do software startups in the US have been
doing it for a while (typical example:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Kahn> ). I strongly doubt the US
government (or board of VCs etc) will be able to predict success when deciding
who should get the startup visas and the employment argument isn't convincing.
Reddit, YC's most successful company, employs about 4 people I think?

------
shiven
This is true not just for SV but also the biotech/pharma R&D sector. I
personally know people who have already moved out of the US to places like
Singapore and India, and are doing way better in terms of peace-of-mind,
moving ahead with their lives, having kids, putting down roots etc. On the
other hand, I know a few others who are much like nomads within the US, moving
from job to job just to keep their H1-B visa status valid. The biggest threat
for them has not been joblessness but the threat of deportation if they do not
land a new job within the ridiculously low time span exceeding which would put
their legal status in jeopardy.

<cynical>It appears that the US citizens and their government just do not give
a damn about any of this.</cynical> It is only in the last 12-18 months that
some murmurs are being heard in the MSM in this regard.

I have to wonder: the US taxpayers financed this advanced education, almost
entirely in case of Bio/Pharma PhD programs, and then to throw out (literally)
all that investment out the door makes absolutely no sense whatsoever!

My time is coming soon... I am very apprehensive as to what the future and
this country has in store for me. :-/ :-)

~~~
tokenadult
_I personally know people who have already moved out of the US to places like
Singapore and India_

May I ask some follow-up questions to make sure I understand your point of
view on this issue? Are you referring to people who are originally from
Singapore or India, or to people from third countries who settle in Singapore
or India rather than settling in the United States? How does the number of
those persons compare to the number of persons who stay in the United States
after completing higher education? Aren't there official statistics about
this?

It appears from your post that you too come from another country and have
studied in the United States. Why did you think originally that it was a good
idea to study in the United States rather than in your country of citizenship?

After edit: I have lived abroad myself, for two three-year stays in different
decades in a country across an ocean from the United States. So I am always
curious, as an American who left his country of birth, why people leave their
country of birth and take on the challenge of living with new laws, perhaps a
new language, noncitizen status at least at first, and perhaps new climate,
food, and social customs too. What countries these days are best succeeding in
attracting immigrants from all over the world? What example can those
countries provide to countries that are less attractive to immigrants?

~~~
edelweiss
Why I left my country (USA)to become an immigrant in Vienna Austria.

Indeed, why would anyone leave their home for new laws, different language,
different foods, different social customs.

The very same reason both my great grandfathers left Ireland to come to
America, opportunity, and a better way of life!

Our family are all US born citizens. I am a registered republican, highly
educated, and have founded 2 successful companies in Silicon Valley, and now a
third in Vienna, Austria. Our family left the United States 9 years ago. We
will not return until the US is once again a land of opportunity.

I am a proud American. I am proud of my country,and it's citizens. I am not
proud of the kleptocracy that the State and Federal governments have become. I
saw the financial industry collapse and "great recession" as inevitable back
in 2002 when we left.

Yes the immigration system in Austria is highly dysfunctional and just as self
defeating to entrepreneurs as in America.

Attractions:

Austria has a highly effective social welfare system, social health insurance
system, career training, apprenticeships, and no cost higher educational
system. As a direct result, Viennese society is one of the safest on the face
of the earth. Kindergarten children take the subway and streetcars to school
by themselves.

The European Union actively funds "open source development", and requires much
of its research to be made open source. Software patents in Europe, which
exist, are unenforceable. The US government sells its research to the highest
bidder, depriving its citizens of its use. Europe believes in returning its
research to its citizens use.

Austria, Germany Switzerland, and France are growing rapidly, and have record
low unemployment rates. Austria is currently at 4.6 percent.

Vienna has been the top Mercer world city for 2 years in a row. A very
trusting society, papers are placed in plastic satchels, with a coin box
attached. The subway and train systems have no entry / exit barriers or gates.
A simple ticket stamping machine sits on a post. In a highly trusting society,
there is no need for steel newspaper boxes or oppressive barriers.

Austrian's are protected by law from overwork, and as a result, are very
healthy, utilizing far less heathcare services than the typical American.

Austria, Germany, and France are the best countries for an American to
emigrate to.

Vivek Wadhwa fails to realize that immigrant founders actually deprive
Americans of key jobs. Founders jobs. Immigrants are the only people desperate
enough to accept the immoral yet legal terms offered by many Vulture
Capitalists. A legal form of slavery. Nothing else explains the high
percentage of immigrant founders adequately. I was witness to several
immigrants having lost control of their own companies just as they became
profitable.

The US must actively recruit each and every foreign born entrepreneur,
engineer and scientist they can find, in order to grow the economy to at least
7 percent a year, or it will be bankrupt before 2025.

By throwing wide the doors to foreign immigration, the Vulture Capitalists
would be unable to exploit foreign immigrants. The playing field for both
immigrant and US citizen would be equal. The US would, within a few years,
drastically reverse its trade deficit to a significant surplus. Just as
Austria, Germany, and France currently enjoy.

I don't see that happening, and so the US government will be deprived of vital
tax revenue from the next great technological advance. US corporations have
parked 2 trillion dollars of profits overseas, to avoid paying US taxes.

I highly recommend US citizens act with haste to emigrate to a new home in
either Europe or Asia before the Hobsian society arrives in force, resulting
in an exodus tidal wave of Americans.

~~~
nir
I can understand Americans who move to places like Brazil or India in search
of opportunity, but it's surprising to see central Europe as a destination.
(I'm not American nor European, but live in NYC and worked in the EU).

I doubt Germany, Austria and France are churning out more scientists &
engineers than the US. They most definitely are not churning out more
entrepreneurs. In fact they're barely producing a next generation - these are
aging demographics, and their advanced social benefits (which in general I
support) will be especially hard to sustain when there aren't enough working
age tax payers around.

Pretty much every criticism of American government & big business easily
applies to these nations, and in addition they are also now tethered to
corrupt governments like Greece and malfunctioning economies like Spain and
Ireland.

Visit NYC and Silicon Valley, and you'll find EU expats who come there to
fulfill their entrepreneurial ambitions. TThat's part of the reason a "startup
visa" is even an issue in the US.* You don't hear much talk of startup visas
in Europe - not because it's easier to migrate there, simply because there
aren't thousands of people who want to move there and start companies.

There isn't a single place in Europe that's even close to Silicon Valley or
even Boston in terms of startup environment. America has a lot of problems,
but the EU is at least in as bad a shape.

~~~
edelweiss
Clearly, starting a business in Europe is far more costly and time consuming
than in the US. It took 3 months to get approval by the Handelsgericht
(commercial court) to obtain approval of the incorporation papers. In Austria,
you must have a minimum 35000 euros of "startup capital" invested "on deposit"
to form a company. In the US, it can be done in an afternoon.

Regulations and oversight in Europe is far greater, and intrusive, than in the
US, which can be frustrating to me as an American, however I understand the
reasons, and clearly can see the benefits of this in the stability of the
financial and business industries. With kurzarbeit, there was minor economic
damage to either Germany or Austria.

The key economic drivers of European growth, Germany, France, Austria, Norway,
Finland, Switzerland tend not to have boom / bust cycles like the US.

The Euro definitely has issues in the absence of an "economic union", however
if any country goes into default, it does not bring the entire union down.

Europeans tend to focus on R&D of "long term sustainable" "tangable
technology" rather than the modern silicon valley focus on "short term fluff"
of facebook, zynga, iPhones, iPads etc.

Airbus kicks Boeing's ass in Aerospace (not to mention business efficiency
(787 outsourcing debacle) European research is superior in almost every
category, and is at par with the best that the US has to offer. Europeans do
not turn over their core R&D in order to do business in China, or India.

NASA manned spaceflight (the 11 billion dollar boondoggle of the canceled ARES
/ CONSTELLATION)(and the new heavy launcher designed by politicians) is a huge
embarrassment for US expats like myself. For Europeans, this is clear
undeniable evidence of the US having lost its technical superiority, and
Europe's rise to supremacy.

Europeans tend not to do business arrangements with dictators as often as the
US. And I think that it is immoral to exploit citizens in another country
which tolerates slums (Brazil favelas), and does not work actively to lift its
people out of poverty (China/India). Check out the favela tourism
(predominantly patronized by US citizens) next time you're in Rio.

Yes, Europe in general is not as astute in funding of high tech startups, and
culturally are more risk averse to funding the silicon valley fluff.

Greece Spain Ireland: Unlike in America, if California or Illinois, or Ohio
declares bankruptcy, its fatal to the entire country. In Europe, it would cut
Greece loose from both the Political and Monetary unions in a snap.

Not so easy to kick states out of the United States union.

As far as EU expats, I've personally met many Germans and Austrians who have
returned from the US, and vow never to live there again (violent crime /
fascism / kleptocracy). Most would like to visit again, because of the
friendly people and the beautiful landscapes. These folks in particular "get
why I am here", and the advantages of Europe over the US. There is a weekly
television show in Germany and Austria called "Goodbye Deutschland", which
chronicles such expat adventures primarily to the US. The vast majority return
home with a newfound respect for their home country, and wiser about the world
in general.

[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Deutschland!_Die_Auswan...](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Deutschland!_Die_Auswanderer)

Really, everybody with the opportunity should leave their "country of birth"
for a few years as an adult. It helps to truly put your country in perspective
with the rest of the world.

The US is a beautiful country with a majority of wonderful caring and friendly
decent people. It however pretends to be a democracy and operates as a
kleptocracy / fascist republic. Yes there is corruption in Europe as well,
however here, people go into the streets and demand justice, whenever the
politicians fail to act in the best interests of its citizens!

Wisconsin is the "first shot heard around the world" for the next US
revolution. With people equally divided on critical issues, and politicians
unwilling to negotiate and compromise (kleptocracy), the next 15 years are
going to be witness to the next US civil war.

Europeans has survived fascism, and will never allow its return. America is in
the throes of fascism, and it will be Europe and the rest of the world paying
to rebuild the USA.

------
melling
As an American I see this as a problem for America. However, there is a big
upside to this. The rest of the world gets some of its talent back, which will
help it develop faster. There are over 1 billion people in India, for example.
They deserve to be more than a call center or a place to outsource for the US.

~~~
Aegean
I disagree. The rest of the world gets talent back at the cost of those
talented individuals. You are one individual starting a startup and the
government, the people, everybody is against you. You must own a strong
corporation with R&D centers to be able to swim against that tide. It's not
for individual entrepreneurs. I think this way because I have been through it
and now closing down in my home country, moving to the U.S.

How would you fix it? The leaders in those countries should fix it.

~~~
queensnake
They should be honored to be pioneers, bringing their country up to speed.

------
trotsky
While the tax and jobs benefits are there, I'm not sure it's that big a deal.
IT companies create less jobs per revenue dollar than traditional industries,
do their manufacturing in asia and shift significant operations to overseas
tax havens when they get big. It's not that I'm saying the US doesn't benefit
from high tech startups, just that the effect is somewhat muted.

On the other hand, with such a majority of the world's service providers
concentrated in just a few west coast cities I think there are some risks for
the global Internet. What if someday we all found out that facebook, twitter
and google were all collaborating with the government in a massive warrantless
wiretap program ala AT&T et al. Wouldn't you be happier knowing there were
some viable competitors out there based in .au .tw .ch .in etc? Is it possible
that would have prevented it from happening to begin with? I'm not saying
that's likely, but clearly there could be some benefits to a more politically
and physically distributed infrastructure. What happens to the world if the US
triggers their Internet kill switch? A lot more than when .ly did presumably.
What if the world misses out on the next big thing because of the tight knit
group think that exists in the bay area capital scene? Mother of all
earthquakes? State government collapses? Dirty bomb?

I'm not saying I'd bet on any of those happening, or that SV isn't a good
place to start a tech firm, or that anyone should pack up and leave. Just that
I wouldn't shed many tears if I saw more of <http://thenextsocialhotness.eu/>

Monocultures can be pretty fragile when exposed to a brand new threat.

~~~
PakG1
The biggest impact that tech companies provide to the economy is increasing
productivity and creating new industries.

IBM, Microsoft, and Apple's contributions to creating the first personal
computers when they started up created an entirely new segment of the IT
industry that hadn't even been conceptualized before. As time passed, there
were millions of people getting jobs as technicians, programmers, system
administrators, and service providers.

Cisco, Sun Microsystems, and Netscape enabled the Internet to be a viable
platform and communication medium. You had even more jobs created: more
programmers, web developers, web designers, and service providers.

Google did their thing and revolutionized how people could monetize things on
the Internet, and how people could get their websites, products, and services
discovered. It`s pretty much because of them that many websites became viable
businesses, to say nothing of how SEO also became an industry in its own
right.

Now see Facebook, Twitter, Android (acquired by Google in 2005; if you want,
you can throw Apple's iPhone group in there too, though by this time, they can
no longer be counted as a startup). They've created social media ad agencies,
app developer economic microcosms, and so on.

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The benefit that tech companies create is not
from direct employment. It`s from overall worldwide productivity gains and
creation of new industries. And if it happens in your home nation first, you
get a head start to ride the wave before the wave really takes hold in other
nations.

------
lyudmil
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.

------
ireadzalot
People with marketable skills and talents will eventually move to destinations
that will favor them best. In the past and up to now, it has been the US.
Tomorrow it could be Brazil, India, China etc. One of the best things about
working in hi-tech sector is borders do not necessarily limit your potential
to implement your ideas. Governments have the option to decide how welcoming
they want to be.

------
hello_moto
I feel bad for criticizing this article because while I agree with the author,
I feel that he needs to write something else at the same time. It's the same
old thing he's been talking for ages.

~~~
jmm
He had what could be considered a rough week with one of his other pet
ideas... why Silicon Valley reigns supreme:
[http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2011/03/wh...](http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2011/03/whats_the_point_of_boston_vs_s.html)

------
robot
I am about to move to mountain view to create an american presence for my
startup. This is simply because the rest of the world is way behind in
adoption of new technology and helping entrepreneurs. But the visa issue is an
exception to this forward thinking attitude.

Still, I will do my best to keep up a US presence because it is quite worth
it.

------
queensnake
Enh, his motives may not be what they seem:

"I was one of the first to outsource software development to Russia in the
early '90s. I was one of the first to use H-1B visas to bring workers to the
U.S.A.," Wadhwa says. "Why did I do that? Because it was cheaper."

from here:

[http://www.cio.co.uk/article/527/the-next-wave-of-
globalisat...](http://www.cio.co.uk/article/527/the-next-wave-of-
globalisation-offshoring-rd-to-india-and-china)

------
tangentile
15-year US resident here. Got my Green Card after 7 years. Was transferred to
London and came back to US as Multi-National Manager. Got my GC within 6
months of application (i.e applied after 6.5 years) .

One thing I want to share is that, if you wanted to start a company on H1 /
L1, it is fine and there are very few restrictions. You might have to do it
part time and declare it to your employer and INS, and you cannot sponsor your
own GC etc.

And how many H1 / L1 holders _really_ want to start a company on their own? I
doubt if the numbers are sizeable.

Even if you are raving to start a company tomorrow on a H1 / L1, what is the
problem with tying up with a local GC or Citizen and register a company?

I am not being cheeky, just trying to understand where the pain points are.

------
jmm
The article is a basically a video re-cap, without much added insight. If
you're gonna get to the bottom of the article and watch the videos anyway,
just skip right to it and watch the videos from the git-go.

------
moblivu
The problem is how difficult it is to start a startup somewhere else. Only the
US has the investor power and mentality about it. Try finding an investor here
in Canada or even a VC or Angel that knows the potential of the web..... of
course there are, but the USA, especially Silicon Valley, is THE place to be!

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metageek
> _They mistakenly believe that skilled immigrants take American jobs away.
> The opposite is true: skilled immigrants start the majority of Silicon
> Valley startups; they create jobs._

This is relevant only if you assume that no native would have started a
competing startup.

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csomar
Heck, I always wonder if the USA immigration system is broken (past and now)
how the hell is 50% of Silicon Valleys big companies are founded by
immigrants. And if they are so, and it's a good thing, then why change it? It
already proved that it works.

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georgieporgie
Having looked into emigration _from_ the US, I am under the impression that,
by comparison to other developed nations, we have wonderful immigration
policies.

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gcb
US cons:

\- imigration

US pros:

\- open a company with one phone call to IRS

\- get funding is feasible

\- most companies will deal with you (e.g. app store)

non-US pros:

\- easy to get visa

\- health care :)

non-US cons:

\- a full month of bureaucracy to open a company.

\- some three months to close it. more if you ever had any employee

\- funding? hahahaha

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marze
America has a lot of cute women. (hint)

