On Feb. 24, 2010, Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced legislation into Congress known as the StartUp Visa Act of 2010. This Act was created to drive job creation and increase America’s global competiveness by assisting foreign national entrepreneurs secure visas to enter the United States, and eventually obtain permanent residency status. The Act will allow a foreign national to receive a two year visa (temporarily called the EB-6 visa) if they can show a qualified US investor is willing to invest $250,000 in their startup business. If after two years the foreign national can show that he or she has generated five full time jobs in the US and either attracted $1 million in additional investment capital or achieved $1 million in revenue, then he or she will receive permanent legal resident status.
“Global competition for talent and investment grows more intense daily and the United States must step up or be left behind,” comments Senator Kerry, “[e]verywhere Dick Lugar and I travel for the Foreign Relations Committee, we see firsthand the entrepreneurial spirit driving the economies of our competitors. Creating a new magnet for innovations and innovators to come to the United States and create jobs here will offer our economy a double shot in the arm- robust creation at home and reaffirmation that we’re the world’s best place to do business.”
Already more than 160 venture capitalists from around the national have endorsed the senator’s proposal. If passed, this Act will offer entrepreneurial immigrants an opportunity to bring business to the US, create jobs, and obtain permanent legal residency status- a win-win situation for all involved.
For the text of the Act see: http://startupvisa.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/startup-visa-act_-final-final-1.pdf
