NVCA & Policy Pros To Push For More Startup Visas In ‘12
It remains to be seen how successful they will with a preoccupied Congress and a presidential election year, but the NVCA and policy pros say they will continue to fight next year to get foreign entrepreneurs greater access to U.S. visas.
More foreign technology and engineering executives populate senior roles at IPO bound companies, and they complain of difficulties with government procedures and regulations.
Alex Mehr, now co-CEO of Zoosk, is one example. He came to the United State after completing an undergraduate program in Iran and earned his graduate degree at the University of Maryland. He then worked with colleagues to launch a startup.
However, “we could not sponsor ourselves” to maintain employment status and in-country visas. So he and his team were forced to disband and instead pursue opportunities for jobs at major corporations, banks and chase advanced degrees.
While there are various bills looking to expand visas to more foreign entrepreneurs, Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, said the legislation needs to be altered to better benefit foreign entrepreneurs. And 2012—with an election that could unseat many lawmakers and potentially usher in a new president—poses a distraction to the cause.
However, there is a simple and powerful political theme that accompanies the foreign entrepreneurs’ message. “This goes directly to job creation,” Heesen said.
Thanks to Zoosk (an online dating network), Mehr should have no trouble sticking around the United States. Other entrepreneurs, students and young professionals have failed to achieve visa status and chosen degrees and jobs in Canada and the United Kingdom.
International entrepreneurs and engineers have played a vital role in the development of some of the country’s biggest startups, said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the Virginia-based National Foundation for American Policy. Anderson and the foundation conducted a study of 50 leading venture-backed companies and concluded that nearly half of them had an immigrant founder.
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