
How to Fix the Flawed Startup Visa Act - sammville
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/12/how-to-fix-the-flawed-startup-visa-act/
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pg
The mistake happens in these two sentences:

"The bill makes the wrong assumption that all startups raise angel or venture
capital. As my team’s research has shown, nine out of 10 successful
entrepreneurs don’t."

Entrepreneurs are not identical with startup founders. An entrepreneur is
someone who starts a new business. Only a small fraction of new businesses are
startups; most are unscalable service businesses like barbershops.

As of now, at least, nearly all successful _startups_ have investors.

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ajju
Paul: you are absolutely right. I think it is hard to find a better way to
differentiate the barbershops from the startups short of having smart folks in
the government who subjectively examine each application - and we all know how
likely that is. Also, if we go that route, the startup visa will take years
just like the current green card application which IIRC requires an in person
interview.

Vivek does have a point as well though. Currently, employers who sponsor
"green cards" have the power to get the sponsored employees and their families
kicked out of the country simply by firing them. I don't think you'd want to
replicate this with the startup visa. Using investors as an 'entrance
requirement' may be o.k., but once someone qualifies for a startup visa, the
path to a permanent residency should either be really short (months, not
years) or independent of whether the investor continues to 'support' the
entrepreneur.

I am in favor of strong filtering up front, but anyone who qualifies should
then be treated just like an American citizen or permanent resident.

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kjhgtfbn
The VC investor is, I think, to stop the property loophole that used to apply
here. To get a visa you had to invest $1M in a business, so people registered
a company, bought a $1M house, leased it to themselves, employed all their
family and moved in.

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ajju
I assume you are referring to the way the government is constraining who they
qualify as an 'investor' (someone who has made an investments of at least
$50,000 every year for the past 3 years)? It does make sense to have some
clause like that to avoid the loophole you mentioned.

It is still orthogonal to what I am saying though, which is that once an
entrepreneur has raised the money from a qualified investor for a legitimate
startup, they should essentially get a permanent residency permit.

~~~
kjhgtfbn
Oh definitely agree - I would say that anybody graduating form a US uni with a
science degree should get a green card.

in my own field, we train physics and comp-sci PhDs then throw them out of the
country like itinerant fruit pickers.

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davemc500hats
much of vivek's criticism focuses on how to optimize the Startup Visa bill.
however, left unspoken is how to construct a bill such that opponents will
allow it to pass. we spent over a year consulting a variety of folks on this
issue (including vivek, who at the time offered much less feedback and a lot
more support than recently when he appears to have had a change of heart).

while his feedback may be relevant, unfortunately it's not very helpful AFTER
we have spent so much time getting bipartisan support for the current bill. in
fact his rather late critiques may actually reduce the chance for ANY kind of
bill to pass.

any bill we put together is best constructed with awareness of opponents, and
an eye to compromise on getting SOMETHING done quickly, rather than nothing.
we can always modify & improve, but if we miss the chance to pass a bill,
thousands of startups will again he stuck waiting to create their businesses
and jobs.

again I'm extremely frustrated vivek waited a year to voice his opinions, well
after we asked for his input (and actually got it) and support (which he gave,
and now is withdrawing).

if not for his "fixing", we might already be able to get the bill to the floor
for a vote.

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kjhgtfbn
Why does the bill need fixing - it seems to function perfectly

The purpose is to make two politicians look good, to allow their respective
parties to claim they are doing something while at the same time being able to
reassure their supporters that nothing will change.

That's basically the point of politics since some greek guy stood up in the
market place

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bigwally
The entire US visa system is flawed.

The H1B visa allows an entire family to be kicked out of the country with very
little notice simply because an employer wants it done.

To extend a visitor visa the person needs to leave the country (further than
Canada and Mexico) and return. Great for airlines.

Many companies have employees sitting in Canada who they bring down for
meetings every now and then. They just have to stay away longer than 30 days
at a time.

Many technology companies have complained, Bill Gates and Google included.

Hillary Clinton (immigration head) is not going to allow anything to improve
under her watch. The only real hope is to see what happens with the next
election. Hopefully Hillary will be shown the door.

