Startup Visa conditions simplified



    When a year ago, US senators introduced the Startup Visa project , the news provoked a mixed reaction. On the one hand, a special visa for startup founders from other countries is certainly good. Now it will be much easier for them to move to America and get venture financing. On the other hand, the minimum required amount of venture capital investments of $ 250,000 made this visa inaccessible to the vast majority of Russian founders of Internet startups.

    It's nice to know that the developers of the bill listened to criticism of the Internet community and agreed to make changes . The most pleasant news is that now it has become easy to get a visa for foreign students who are finishing their studies in the USA.

    New conditions for obtaining a visa are:
    1. For entrepreneurs outside the United States: the minimum investment by the American investor is reduced to $ 100,000. In accordance with the business plan, in two years, the startup is obliged to create at least five new jobs in the United States and either attract another $ 500,000 of funding or reach the level of $ 500 000 annual income.

    2. For H-1B visa workers or graduates of US universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science, if they have a current salary of at least $ 30,000 a year or savings of $ 60,000, then they just need to find an American investor worth $ 20,000 Two years later, the startup is committed to creating at least three new jobs in the United States and either attracting another $ 100,000 in funding or reaching $ 100,000 in annual revenue.

    3. For foreign entrepreneurs, whose business has already received at least $ 100,000 in sales for US consumers, there is no requirement for an initial investment. They can get a visa simply by promising that in two years the startup will create at least three new jobs in the USA and either attract another $ 100,000 in funding or reach the level of $ 100,000 in annual revenue.
    By “American investor” is meant a venture capital fund, a state agency, or “angel” —a US citizen who has made at least two investments of $ 50,000 each of the previous three years. The

    troubled moment in the new bill is that you promise to create a successful business which will generate large incomes and create jobs. As you know, a startup is a risky business, so you can’t give any guarantees here. But if the business goes bad, then after two years the unsuccessful startup will be asked to leave America. This is rather cruel, but such is the proportion of entrepreneurs.

    In addition, the holder of this visa does not have the right to work in any company other than his own. This is a prerequisite to squeeze the lobby of Republicans, who are always tough on immigrants and will probably try to block this bill under the pretext that these bastards are depriving us of work, immigrants occupy jobs, increasing unemployment among the American population. The clause on the impossibility of working in another company deprives the Republicans of their trump card.

    According to experts, if the bill without bureaucratic obstacles passes through both houses of parliament, it can cause a noticeable influx of educated entrepreneurs in the United States.

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