Last week, New Dem Vice-Chair Rep. Jared Polis joined FWD.us for a town hall on the International Entrepreneur Rule which will allow the world’s most talented entrepreneurs to start and scale the next generation of innovative companies in the United States.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed the new rule, which would allow certain international entrepreneurs to be granted temporary permission to stay in the U.S. to start or scale their businesses here in the United States. The rule is similar to some aspects of a startup visa and is geared to create jobs, build businesses, and ensure America remains at the forefront of innovation. It would allow foreign born entrepreneurs to stay in the U.S. if they meet certain requirements, and allow others with startups to eventually earn a green card.
International entrepreneurship is vast in the U.S. Immigrant-owned business employ one in 10 American workers, and immigrants have founded roughly 25 percent of small businesses in America. According to the National Foundation for American Policy, “immigrants have started more than half (44 of 87) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion dollars or more and are key members of management or product development teams in over 70 percent (62 of 87) of these companies. The research finds that among the billion dollar startup companies, immigrant founders have created an average of approximately 760 jobs per company in the United States.” In fact, international entrepreneurs have long helped build and strengthen America’s economy.
The New Democrat Coalition has long advocated and helped lead the effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Two years ago, New Dem Members led a letter with others from the House Democratic Caucus to President Barack Obama calling on him to use his pre-existing, legal authority to foster the ability of high-skilled immigrants, workers, and entrepreneurs to contribute to our economy and to improve the immigration system to benefit our country’s competitiveness and economic growth.
Today is the last day the administration is accepting feedback on the rule. To learn more about the rule, check out The White House blog post and to submit comments, follow this link. Once this rule is finalized, it will provide a clearer path for foreign-born entrepreneurs who have demonstrated substantial potential for starting companies that will grow rapidly and create U.S. jobs.