Indian entrepreneurs' dreams shattered by temporary work visas
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 30 March 2011, 19:14 IST   |    4 Comments
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Indian entrepreneurs' dreams shattered by temporary work visas
San Francisco: Ever wondered why are Indian Entrepreneurs coming back home? India seems to be very happy on the return of some of the real talents back home. They backed their reason for happiness as the uprising in the booming economy of India. But the real truth lies somewhere deep beneath. These Indian Entrepreneurs has no intention to reap the advantage of the booming economy. They are home as the temporary visa system has not given them much option and they have failed to pursue their entrepreneurship dreams in U.S. Indian Entrepreneurs in U.S. are trapped in temporary work visas. This temporary visa does not approve them to start a venture of their own or even change jobs. Around half a million educated and accomplished immigrants are caught up with the temporary work visa. Finally these highly skilled immigrants are left with no choice but to pack their bags and return to India. Around 1995 and 2005, 25% of Silicon Valley's start ups which had at least one immigrant founder employed almost 4, 50,000 people. The companies generated $52 billion in revenue in 2006. H1B visas are the most sought after visas in U.S. Every year people from various occupations apply for H 1B visas. In such scenario where the number of application exceeds the number of visas available, U.S. immigration department follows the system of lottery without any logical justification. This bizarre method of selection for H 1B visas has upset most of the Indian Entrepreneurs who has a baggage full of ideas for the U.S. market. These highly educated graduates from Wharton, Yale are people with innovative thoughts and talents. They have the zeal to make it big for them and for the U.S. market. There dreams are crushed by the strange process of selection adopted by the U.S. authorities. This has come up on account of the fear that they are taking away American jobs. Finally these highly skilled immigrants get trapped in temporary visas and with no choice left but to pack their bags and return to India. Hardeep Singh fate was sealed by the temporary H1B visas when he quit his high profile job in San Francisco to start Costnomics with his partner Nilesh Patel. Costnomics is a software service promotes which IT financial transparency. He could invest in the company but not take money from it. Like wise Prakash Mishra a temporary H 1B holder invested in a start-up in the Bay Area but could not harvest the monetary benefits out of it. But after struggle for years when Mishra went to become an entrepreneur the company was acquired and he got nothing out of it. Former Amazon employee Sachin Garg says visa issues prohibited him from pursuing the two business ideas he had built exclusively for the American market. His online book store upRack.com will employ just 10 people right now because he just started it a few months ago. By as close as 2016, he claims the company will grow in revenue to $1billion and employ over 4,000 people. This will ultimately create jobs for the U.S. people as contrast to popular belief. U.S. economy is favorable to new ideas unlike India. India is susceptible for such innovations. Hence only U.S. provides the desired platform to these budding talents of India. The Indian Entrepreneurs who has spent dollars of money to obtain their degree and pursue their dream are left with no roads to go in U.S.

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