Job creators want to come to America, hire Americans, and create jobs right here for Americans that won’t be outsourced or shipped overseas —and we should be helping them come.
At a time when many are wondering whether Democrats and Republicans can come together on anything, there is at least one area where we’re in strong agreement: We believe that America is the best country in the world to do business. And now is the time to reach out to immigrant entrepreneurs — men and women who have come from overseas to study in our universities, and countless others coming up with great ideas abroad — to help drive innovation and job creation here at home.
In recent months we have heard stories of young businesspeople who had innovative ideas, but no way to launch businesses in the United States. The problem? They were not eligible for visas under any of the existing categories, and potential backers were having a hard time justifying investments in people who were going to have to leave the country. As a consequence, those ideas and jobs are now helping to build other nations’ economies.
We’ve been moved by these stories, and not just because we strongly support entrepreneurialism. Simply put, it would be good for America to have these people here creating jobs. It makes no sense to turn away the very sort of people who can help us jump start a new age of growth and innovation.
Our proposal for solving this problem is called the Start-Up Visa Act. It will grant a two year visa to an immigrant entrepreneur who can show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum — at least $250,000 — to his or her startup venture. If after two years the immigrant businessperson can demonstrate that he or she has generated at least five full-time jobs in the United States, attracted $1 million in additional investment capital, or achieved $1 million in revenue, then he or she would receive permanent legal resident status.
To make visas available, we propose to create a new EB-6 category for immigrant entrepreneurs. We would draw from existing visas under the EB-5 category, which is a set-aside of visas for immigrants who invest at least $1 million in the U.S., and thereby create 10 jobs, to obtain a green card.
In areas where unemployment is high, foreign nationals need only invest $500,000 to obtain residency. Many more visas are annually allocated for the EB-5 category than are used, so the addition of immigrant entrepreneurs will not require additional visas.
We should encourage those who can help drive the next generation of innovation to do it here, not someplace else. This plan has the support of investors, immigrants, technology organizations, and everyday citizens. Now we need the support of Congress.
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA) is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. DICK LUGAR (R-IN) is ranking member of the committee. They wrote this article for this newspaper.
