Will U.S. 'Startup Visa Act' be able retain Indian entrepreneurs?
By siliconindia   |   Saturday, 21 May 2011, 00:00 IST   |    981 Comments
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Will U.S. 'Startup Visa Act' be able retain Indian entrepreneurs?
Bangalore: Indian entrepreneurs are heading to return to their home. The exploding economic opportunities have motivated a large number of Indians to return back and make full utilization of their resources in the flourishing economic growth. And in order to stop this huge move out, U.S. government has decided to bring some changes by implementing new 'Startup Visa Act.' Over 60 percent of Indians are driven towards home because of changing and escalation cost effective development of the economy. Apart from it, the complex and illogical rules relating of H1 B visa do not excite the entrepreneur. Dhruvil Sanghvi from Carnegie Mellon University with three of these friends has developed a smartphone apps company called Giggle Loop. The apps tend to make mundane daily tasks easier. The prospect of this startup is very high in an apps friendly environment like U.S. However, the chances of their survival are very minimal as the founders are international students who will have to go back to their home countries if they cannot get a visa. This could easily put off some venture capitalists that otherwise might have funded them. Even if they manage to get a visa; they cannot start a U.S. company unless they hold the ever-elusive American green card. But the introduction of startup visa act can change the whole scenario for the entrepreneurs as U.S. has finally recognized the crisis .It has numerous companies which had an immigrant founder and the U.S. Senate seems to have realized that by shutting out immigrant entrepreneurs it is closing out startups and ultimately affecting jobs which recession hit U.S. cannot afford in such a scenario. Startup visa is a desperate attempt by U.S. to retain the entrepreneurs in the country and stop the movement of returning. Senators like Richard Lugar and John Kerry proposed the legislation for the Startup Visa Act in the U.S. Senate in order to target thousands of such international entrepreneurs who are stuck in an immigration limbo. The legislation has to be moved in both the houses of U.S. Congress. However in order to qualify for the category of startup visa the foreign students have to raise at least $20,000 from a U.S. investor. The introduction of startup visa will lead to more and more startups and would see U.S. creating more and more jobs.

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