In the midst of economic turmoil and millions of people still out of work, Congress has been deliberating how to help create more jobs in the US. The well-known stimulus and jobs bills are great means to those ends and should certainly help to create jobs in the US.
But what you may not know is that there is another bill being considered in Congress that would also help create American jobs. What's more, it wouldn't really cost anything and could help America's competitive advantage when it comes to innovation.
Have I gotten your attention?
I'm an engineer in the Silicon Valley and have worked for a couple of the big tech companies, but I've also worked for a handful of startups, some of which have been really innovative and profitable. The successful startups have hired more well-paying jobs as they've grown, and have resulted in more tax revenue for the US.
A couple of these startups were founded by people born in America; a couple of them were founded by people who were not. It didn't matter where they were born, the result was still the same -- growing companies that were good for workers and good for the country.
It's with that rationale in mind that Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican Senator Richard Lugar introduced the Startup Visa Act last week.
The bill can be very easily summed up like this: "create jobs, get a green card."
Or more specifically:
The Startup Visa Act of 2010 would create a two year visa for immigrant entrepreneurs who are able to raise a minimum of $250,000, with $100,000 coming from a qualified U.S. angel or venture investor. After two years, if the immigrant entrepreneur is able to create five or more jobs (not including their children or spouse), attract an additional $1 million in investment, or produce $1 million in revenues, he or she will become a legal resident.
That seems to be a win-win proposition. As this bill is both "pro-business" and "pro-worker," it has support from both Republicans and Democrats.
There are opponents to this measure, of course, and they range from people who aren't fans of immigrants to begin with to a people who are just constantly leery about the kind of effect this could have on American jobs. But honestly I see it like this: startup founders could stay in their home country, where they could probably find cheaper labor, benefiting that country's revenue and competitive advantage, or they could come to the US, and get a legitimate chance to form a business on American soil, bringing to America jobs, revenue, and technological expertise.
Seems like a pretty easy choice to me.
Around 20 supporters of this measure are going to speak to government officials about this legislation tomorrow, and the way to show your support is by calling your representative, writing letters to the editor to bring this rather unknown bill some attention, and to tweet 2gov, which you can do here: http://startupvisa.2gov.org/.... This group will collect tweets in favor of the legislation and show them to the government officials with whom they're meeting tomorrow. (Thurs, March 4)