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Startup Visa End of Year Update
As we finish up the year, I’m really pleased with the progress the Startup Visa gang is making. I started thinking about, writing, and working on this on 9/10/09 when I wrote the post The Founders Visa Movement. One quarter later, we’ve:
- Put together a core group of entrepreneurs, angels, and VCs who are working on this.
- Received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from entrepreneurs and investors who have struggled with this issue.
- Verified that this is a real issue, there is no current solution under the existing visa system, and even though there are plenty of immigration lawyers who say “no problem, I can get around this”, there aren’t clean solutions.
- Engaged with a number of Congressmen in both the house and the senate.
- Found a member of the house who is sponsoring a bill addressing the issue.
- Talking to several folks on the senate side to find a sponsor.
- Codified a first clean draft of language around this.
- Build lots of grassroots support and enthusiasm.
- Gotten plenty of discussion going in the blogosphere and mainstream media.
Shortly after I started talking to people in Congress about this it became clear that this wouldn’t be a 2009 legislative issue given the massive financial and health care reform issues being worked on in Congress. So – we decided to use Q409 to “figure this out” with a goal of launching aggressively in Q110 with the goal of having this be part of whatever immigration reform activity happens next year, especially in the context of a renewed push for job creation activity in the US.
In addition to the Startup Visa OpEd that Paul Kedrosky and I wrote and published in the Wall Street Journal, several other high profile thinkers have written great essays on this issue.
The Startup Visa And Why The Xenophobes Need To Go Back Into Their Caves: Vivek Wadhwa (Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University) wrote a great piece in TechCrunch.
Immigrant Scientists Create Jobs and Win Nobels: Susan Hockfield (MIT President) wrote a WSJ OpEd that – while not talking directly about the Startup Visa – clearly supports that overall effort and also reinforces my belief that any graduate with an advanced degree from a US college or university should get a green card stapled to his diploma.
While there are plenty of other articles in the mainstream media swirling around, ones in CNN Money such as Want to create jobs? Import entrepreneurs does a good job of laying it all out.
Many of you have asked how you can get involved. Look for a variety of easy ways to do this in Q1. And – a huge thank you for everyone out there that has helped in any way so far. In the mean time, feel free to add to the Wikipedia page of American Startups with Immigrant Founders.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by prblogs, DealHorizon.com. DealHorizon.com said: #Venture Blogs: Brad Feld published Startup Visa End of Year Update @ http://bit.ly/7iFfwl [...]
It will be interesting to add another web page to the wiki: startups founded by 1st (and 2nd) inmigrant generation citizens. It's not part of the Founders Visa Movement but gives more insight on the inmigration benefits.
Great suggestion.
Brad, the Wikipedia page is a great idea. I suggest you have the TiE Global group send their members a message about this also.
Great suggestion – on it.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by vivek wadhwa. vivek wadhwa said: RT @bfeld Startup Visa End of Year Update http://fndry.gr/1194r The WIkipedia page Brad is creating is a great idea. [...]
No professional lobbyists?
Nope – no lobbyists.
[...] Visa: This idea has picked up steam. I am an opponent of illegal immigration but believe we need a coherent policy to address legal [...]
It will be interesting to add another web page to the wiki: startups founded by 1st (and 2nd) inmigrant generation citizens. It's not part of the Founders Visa Movement but gives more insight on the inmigration benefits.
Great suggestion.
Keep up the great work, Brad! You're right on! Your decision not to use lobbyists is the right one also, given the extent to which lobbyists are used for the regular H1B program. This Startup Visa argument can win on its own simple, straightforward logic! Bravo!
i thank google to bring me here and very thanks to you for the great article
its very helpful to me
happy new year
Brad: awesome work, and kudos for your leadership & efforts on this… glad to be part of helping make it happen!
Kudos to you for all your leadership and effort also!
That is great work. As a temporary guest here (who just filed his 3rd patent application..) , yet more importantly has the fortune of having a miracle for a wife who fought to get her own visa and working in VC backed company herself, please please petition to include the the spouse in the Founders Visa so that they get work authorization as well. I believe its key for attracting talent here.
Brad–New here and to thread, but have you thought about looping in large Co's to help pitch the cause or lend support. I work for Experian (UK HQ, but large US presence) and seems a cause many large co's would support.
Support from large companies is great. We’ve thought about it a little but haven’t mobilized anything yet.
[...] “Shortly after I started talking to people in Congress about this it became clear that this wouldn’t be a 2009 legislative issue given the massive financial and healthcare reform issues being worked on in Congress,” he wrote recently. [...]
I really do not know how all this legislative process works , but can't these articles and reasoning be bundled together and sent to President Obama's office? Isnt there any process to write to the POTUS if citizens believe in a particular reform? The white house website has a contact information, but not sure if it would reach the president. But Brad, Dave, Paul et al..you guys are just incredible. Keep up the great work and thank you.
Just fyi..
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/organizations
We’ve had direct contact with the White House via several venues. They’ve been very receptive.
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