Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Quickie: Startup Visa in the Senate

Erick Schonfeld of TechCruch reported on Feb 24, 2010 about a new bill introduced in the Senate by Democrat John Kerry and Republican Richard Lugar proposing a new type of visa for immigrants who create startupshttp://i.ixnp.com/images/v6.21/t.gifand jobs in the U.S.   


Quick excerpt: The Startup Visa has been controversial and will no doubt draw fire from anti-immigrant forces and xenophobes. But if we are going to be giving away visas, giving them to people who will help build the U.S. economy and create jobs is hard to argue against.

The Startup Visa Act of 2010 would create a two year visa for immigrant entrepreneurs who are able to raise a minimum of $250,000, with $100,000 coming from a qualified U.S. angel or venture investor. After two years, if the immigrant entrepreneur is able to create five or more jobs (not including their children or spouse), attract an additional $1 million in investment, or produce $1 million in revenues, he or she will become a legal resident.

The bill would carve out a new “EB-6″ class of visas from the existing “EB-5″ class of visas which has a higher threshold for becoming a legal resident. So it’s not really that radical. The EB-5 requires immigrants to invest at least $1 million in the U.S. and employ ten people.

Read the whole thing here. Check out the Startup Visa website here.






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