| I'm glad the author mentioned the disparity between work visas and immigration and visas for the "arts" (fashion models, actors, etc), which seem to be trivial to get. I don't understand that at all. I will say that the last thing a startup visa program needs is discretionary government oversight. That has disaster written all over it. My opinion is this: you should be able to come to the US and "pay your way". By this I mean demonstrate that a) you can support yourself and b) you are paying for things like health insurance. There probably needs to be a package for (b) such that, from the perspective of the government, you aren't "freeloading". It should be up to each state to determine what that means. If you reside in NYC perhaps you need $30,000 to support yourself. In Iowa? Maybe $10,000 will do. While residing in the US on such a visa you can't take a job (you need a visa for that) but you can start a business. This is where it gets tricky because you don't necessarily want to open the floodgates for people who are in de facto employment through a small business. The packaged health (and other) costs and keeping sufficient funds to support yourself should ameliorate that possibility. As long as people are willing to pay to reside in the US and work on their big idea, why not let them? At some point if your company gets funded or you have sufficient revenue and/or employees, you can convert to the appropriate immigration status. |