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Trump Plans To Dismantle Obama-Era 'Startup Visa' (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A regulation from the Obama administration that would have allowed foreign-born entrepreneurs who raise investor cash to build their startups in the U.S. won't be allowed to go into effect. The Department of Homeland Security will file an official notice to delay the International Entrepreneur Rule for eight months. The intention is to eliminate the rule entirely, according to sources briefed on the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. The decision isn't final, and a DHS spokesperson told the WSJ that the department "cannot speculate" on the outcome of the review. The International Entrepreneur Rule, signed by former President Obama days before he left office in January, doesn't offer a visa but rather a type of "parole" that would allow immigrants to stay in the U.S. temporarily as long as they meet certain requirements. In order to qualify, a foreign entrepreneur has to raise at least $250,000 from well-known U.S. investors. The rule grants a stay in the U.S. of 30 months, which can be extended for an additional 30 months. Founders can't apply for a green card during that time. DHS has estimated about 3,000 entrepreneurs would qualify under the rule.

3 of 320 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No justification that is at all reasonable by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Informative

    More importantly, this isn't the EB-5 investor visa that Jared Kushner's sister was busy hawking in China. That's the one which allows someone to essentially buy a visa for $500,000. Theoretically that was money to invest in a business, but in practice they can simply 'invest' in, let's say, someone's real estate development (such as the Kushner family's), which amounts mostly just to giving cash to whoever runs that development.

    Instead, this startup visa (would have) required someone to have an idea for a business that's good enough to attract investors. Maybe some of them fail, but maybe some of them are the next (insert cool/successful tech startup), and we'd rather they be in the US than in the other countries trying to attract them.

    Of course, the startup visa was drawn from the number of visas otherwise available for EB-5 buyers. Gee, I wonder why Trump and Kushner would want to cut startup visas, but keep the EB-5 around.

  2. Re:Appalled by the bigotry here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    assume that, because I'm from India, that my computer science degree is inferior and my skills are deficient.

    they are, that's why your working long hours for hardly any money

  3. Re:A good first step by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Informative

    It all reduces USA citizen jobs and pay.

    Why do you assume that?

    He assumes that because, like many economic illiterates, he believes the job market is zero-sum. If there are N jobs, and an immigrant takes one of them, then there are N-1 jobs left for real Americans. Of course this is total nonsense. Real economies don't work that way.

    an immigrant decides to go to Canada instead and start a company there

    Many other countries are far more enlightened about immigration. Immigration, especially of educated people, tends to create net jobs, and create better jobs. Instead of keeping them out, we should be trying to promote more immigration by marketing America as a destination for entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, etc.