
Department of Homeland Security moves to rescind International Entrepreneur Rule - mark-ruwt
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/28/department-of-homeland-security-moves-to-finally-rescind-the-international-entrepreneur-rule/
======
pavlov
This International Entrepreneur Rule is the so-called "startup visa" that was
introduced in 2016. It was practically tailormade for founders of YC
companies.

Founders would qualify for a period of several years simply based on
investment raised and amount of ownership in the company. Traditional visas
are more oriented towards big corporations' needs and are not so easy to bend
to fit startups (or so I hear -- I'm no sort of lawyer).

Sad to see it killed off, even though the writing was on the wall ever since
November 2016.

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ghufran_syed
US government 101: immigration laws are _passed_ by Congress Immigration laws
should be _implemented_ by the executive (the president and federal agencies)
using federal _policies_

This rule was an attempt to make a new law just by implementing a policy, so
the new administration can easily rescind it. Whereas say, Obamacare was a
law, so can only be overturned by another successful vote in Congress, which
is a lot harder.

I support the idea of this policy to encourage skilled immigration, but it
should actually be passed by Congress.

~~~
jdoliner
It's also particularly weird that Obama enacted it 2 days before he left
office. Presumably it didn't take 8 years for him to decide it was a good
idea, maybe he was holding out hope on passing it through Congress the real
way, but he wasn't shy about setting policy via EO before, i.e. DACA. The only
real motivation I can see for doing something 2 days before you leave office
that's easily undone by the next guy is that it forces the next guy to
actually undo it, which might make him look bad.

~~~
pavlov
The rule was announced in August 2016 with an initial comment period and no
apparent rush. They were probably expecting that a Clinton administration
would implement it at their own pace during 2017.

After the election the rule was seemingly fast-tracked, perhaps in the hope
that the Trump administration would have bigger fish to fry.

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amingilani
I love the startup eco-system of the US, and as someone fluent in English, and
entrepreneurial, I would love to emigrate to the US with my startup -- but
goddamit is it getting harder every single day.

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maerF0x0
The main thing that strikes me is that the assumption if we do not allow these
so called "entrepreneurs" in then we would have lost out on the "half" of >$1B
companies founded by them. Sometimes opportunities are ripe and if one
entrepreneur doesnt pick it, another will. That entrepreneur could be current
legal resident of the US, rather than a foreign one.

I personally prefer more open borders, but the fallacy in the article also
bothers me.

~~~
jdoliner
Another thing the article doesn't mention at all: if it is true that by not
letting these entrepreneurs in we're missing out on half of >$1B companies
then we should expect some of the countries these entrepreneurs are leaving to
be the sites of these companies instead. I suspect we'll see a mix of both,
some companies will be founded by a different founder with a different visa
status, some will be founded by the same founder, but in a different place.
Neither of these is necessarily a bad thing, granted the US might be missing
out on some good founders, and thus some good jobs and some tax revenue. So
from a purely "America First" we're missing out... but our government does
many ostensibly benevolent things to help other countries, many of them, it's
very dubious whether or not they actually help. But not brain draining
everyone's entrepreneurs might actually be some effective benevolence. It's
ironic that it comes from an administration whose slogan is "America First."

~~~
Bucephalus355
I’ve thought this as well.

Pro-immigration policies are essentially _stealing_ the best and brightest
from all corners of the world and moving them here.

Why? In many cases they would be dramatically more effective in their country
of origin. Take IIT in India, which is India’s version of Harvard. Over 50% of
those students go abroad a year after graduating. How can that be good for
India?

~~~
credit_guy
Maybe it’s not good for India, but most likely it’s good for those graduates.
I doubt any of them is kidnapped, most certainly they emmigrate on their own
volition. Pursuit of happiness is a thing ...

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HillaryBriss
the article seems to assume that there is no possible alternative for
fostering entrepreneurialism and new company formation in the US, that once
this source of entrepreneurs is taken away from the overall pool, there can be
no other way to augment it

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spamizbad
Absolutely no idea why Stephen Miller and others in the Trump Whitehouse are
preoccupied with stifling all forms of immigration into the United States.

If your main argument is that immigration is bringing crime (it isn't) and
flooding the market with low skill labor (which... is consistent with our
history) I don't see how you can go after a niche like this, which is both low
volume and high skill and actually creates middle-class jobs for Americans.

Is there a sentiment that native-born entrepreneurs are losing out on VC cash
due to immigration?

~~~
moultano
They're racists in the most literal sense.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bannon-
flattered...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bannon-flattered-
and-coaxed-trump-on-policies-key-to-the-alt-
right/2016/11/15/53c66362-ab69-11e6-a31b-4b6397e625d0_story.html?utm_term=.718f0968b170)
“When two-thirds or three-quarters of the CEOs in Silicon Valley are from
South Asia or from Asia, I think . . . ” Bannon said, not finishing the
sentence. “A country is more than an economy. We’re a civic society.”

~~~
Karishma1234
That quote pretty much sums it up. Under Obama democrats abandoned their
stance on individual freedom and instead turned to extreme leftism.
Conservatives as a response abandoned their fiscal and economic conservatism
and instead turned to identity politics of old white people. American society
is deeply divided at the moment and Indians and Chinese immigrants and the
collateral damage.

~~~
pavlov
_> Under Obama democrats abandoned their stance on individual freedom and
instead turned to extreme leftism_

If the United States in 2016 represented extreme leftism, what do you call
e.g. Mao's China in 1968?

~~~
blunte
Given the attitudes of the current GOP, George W. Bush would not have even
made the ticket and Reagan would be considered a Hollywood elite leftist.

Fortunately this cancer is so exceptionally aggressive that it will kill the
host very quickly.

~~~
stevenwoo
I agree with your first sentence and think your second sentence is incredibly
optimistic. There are extremely few GOP candidates running in 2018 midterms
who have explicitly run away from Trump - the incumbents that were outspoken
against Trump decided not to run again or cannot run again.

~~~
blunte
When the oldest two generations die off, the center-left will become the
right, and the left will become the moderate-left.

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Karishma1234
As an Indian person on H1B I welcome this move. This was a loophole for rich
and corrupt in India used to buy their way into American citizenship. Around
500K Indians are waiting for decades to get their green card. It would be much
better to flush the queue and offer them green-cards so they could start their
business in USA.

~~~
zeusk
You're probably thinking of the EB-5 greencard which is completely different
from this.

[1] EB-5: [https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-
worker...](https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-
workers/employment-based-immigration-fifth-preference-eb-5/about-eb-5-visa-
classification)

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crb002
Rich entrepreneurs hire fancy immigration attorneys and go to the front of the
line well before 5 years. Impact to well funded entrepreneurs will be minimal
and those it does effect will take up residence in
Toronto/Vancoover/MexicoCity.

