The US does offer a program like this, which the author referred to, and is the EB-5 program. It requires you to invest $1MM in the US and create 10 jobs ($500k and 10 jobs in economic development zones). You can go from a visa to a green card within 3-4 years after proving your investment and the creating of 10 jobs.
I just read up on this. It works if you have that much capital at the start but what if you don't? What is the alternative for say people, who are fresh out of school and have a bunch of ideas and might in 3-4 years time create value and jobs worth that number or even twice it.
That's exactly my point. Give everybody a visa, but reward them with GC only when they build a successful business. If they can't - they go home when the visa expires.
But that's one of the big problems. USCIS has almost no ability to "send people home" when their visa expires. The fact is, if you enter the US (legally or not, it's pretty much impossible to make you leave).
That's why you see tourist visas denied for people who are coming from developed countries and are visiting relatives. The immigration official knows that one he lets you in, he has to count on the person's goodwill that they'll leave.
Can you explain a bit more on why it is hard to deport people? The way I understood it the way illegal immigrants live in the country is because they either use fake SSNs or no SSNs, no paper trails of any kind. I would imagine that it would be very hard to live like that unless you are truly desperate.
You are right, it's not an easy life, but keep in mind there are an estimate 12 million illegal immigrants in the US at this point. I would assume most of them are working cash-only jobs or have fake documents that nobody checks.
Could you live in the US illegally and be working at a Fortune 500 company? Probably not. Could you come to the US and work at a mom and pop grocery store? Probably.
And the USCIS has a minuscule enforcement arm. They prioritize criminals for deportation. If you're a law abiding immigrant (excluding the immigration violation), you are very low priority for deportation.
> Could you live in the US illegally and be working at a Fortune 500 company? Probably not. Could you come to the US and work at a mom and pop grocery store? Probably.
I would think that this in itself coupled with the high time investment costs of applying for such a startup visa (business plan, prototype etc) would self-select a section of the population who will either succeed or self deport (instead of screwing up their career and future potential by living illegally).
It would be great to be able to identify the features necessary for successful entrepreneurship. However, defining "tenacity" and "scrappiness" (and other latent variables) in a binary fashion acceptable to a bureaucrat are difficult. In its absence, use something like the YC approach (interview by experts) to determine the success of an idea? If 1 out of every 100 people succeed, you have 1000 jobs for U.S. citizens.
I'm all for opening up the US and allowing more immigrants in. With the author's solution, who determines what is and what is not a start up? If I start a restaurant, am I not a start up? What if I start a cleaning service, a landscaping company, etc?
I am confused: Is there a reason why those _shouldn't_ be startups? If there is a reasonably baseline of jobs, $J being created in a certain reasonably timeframe, $T, with a certain amount of equity, $D being generated. Why should the U.S. government have an issue with how cool or fancy your startup is?
They should be. The problem is that there are very little barriers to entry to these start ups and as such, pretty much anyone can start one and have a visa.
The problem with setting benchmarks are where do you set them? There is already a program know as the EB-5 program that requires you to invest $1MM ($500k in economic development zones) and create 10 jobs and after 3-4 years you can get a green card.
I don't have a say in this matter but wouldn't this be a possible solution to the illegal immigrant issue? If they are in the process of creating jobs for U.S. citizens or allege that they can, give them a visa or "legalize them". If at any time they become a public charge or it turns out that they have not achieved their objectives within the reasonable time frame given, revoke the visa? Presumably this can be a one time thing only.
The author still does not understand how a P&L or balance sheet works. If you are selling a business and you can show the buyer you have a $175k contract that is profitable pending, it will only add value to the business. Showing guaranteed revenue and income to a potential buyer would only make a buyer more confident in buying the business and more willing to pay more, not less.
What it seems like happened is the customer paid all or a portion of the contract in advance. As such, the business recorded an increase in cash and had a corresponding liability recorded for unearned revenue. What likely happened was this cash was used to pay expenses and/or pulled out of the business and all that was left was a liability. Thus, it wasn't the fact that he had a future $175k contract that made the business worth less, but the fact that he used the funds he had been paid with for something other than the event. Thus, the author had less cash than he should have, which the buyer deducted from the sales price.
