At the starting of this month, President Donald Trump He sent shock waves through the Silicon Valley with the announcement that the USA Enter a recent one -time fee of $ 100,000 In the case of each recent petition for the H1-B visa, a program that brings tens of hundreds of qualified professionals from abroad to work for American software, technologies and biotechnology firms each 12 months.
While many agree that the H1-B visa program, which for many years has been crucial for the strategy of strategy for many American technological giants, is deeply defective, investors and an immigration lawyer who talked to Crunchbase News, were divided into the influence of changes and what they are going to mean to create recent American starts.
Sophie AlcornFounder and CEO of Palo Alto in California Alcorn immigration lawHe perceives changes as an “immediate crisis” for the startup economy and enterprise and stated that politics is actually “insurmountable with the tax of the founder.”
“We are talking about stopping the next one Eric Yuan With Buzz Or Jensen Huang With Nvidia Before he starts to start – she said. “The statement of administration is to attract the best, but this policy is reversing.”
This view has been repeated Eugene MalobrodskyManaging partner in One way of undertakingwho said that the recent fee principally puts firms against technological giants in the wage war, which is unable to win small startups.
“He likes OpenaiIN AnthropicIN Google Or Microsoft -100,000 $ is what they could spend on soap in their office, “he said in an interview. Although, like many others, he believes that the H-1B program must be updated,” this is not a way to reform, “said Malobrodsky, whose company invests in start-ups at the stage of seeds founded by immigrants.
Still, Manan MehtaFounder’s partner Unstable venturesAnother VC company, which only takes the founders of immigrants coming to the USA, considers a recent policy as “an opportunity to modernize a 35-year-old system for today’s economy.”
The recent rules can focus on alternative paths, corresponding to the O-1 visa and the international rule of entrepreneurs, which in his opinion favor startups focusing on innovation. “Instead of discouraging from startups, I think it creates a strategic opening for them,” said Crunchbase News.
Although the recent Trump administration fee does not apply to the extension of H-1B visas, and in some cases there could also be exclusion of “national interest”, the proposed changes mean a serious change in the program.
As a part of its recent technological immigration policy, Trump also announced an executive order to create a “golden card” path, thanks to which foreigners residents who submit unlimited presents of $ 1 million (by a person) or $ 2 million (corporation) of the US Department of the US, would qualify for the accelerated processing of immigrant visits.
Immigration influence
The H-1B program has been faced with the criticism of some American technology employees and critics of prolonged immigration for years, who claim that they are conducive to lower-paid foreign employees at the expense of qualified Americans.
But supporters of the program say that they introduce to the USA very talented and educated foreigners to fill in talent gaps in American firms, and many of those employees are launching their very own firms in the USA
Indeed, research by Stanford ‘The S Venture Capital initiative said it Almost half of American startups price a billion dollars were founded by people born outside the United States. Analysis of 1078 founders of 500 US unicorns showed that 474 founders – 44% – were born outside the United States. India, also so far the best recipient of the H-1B visa, are the leading fatherland for unicorn entrepreneurs, from 90 from there 90 founders.
Image source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyavcandpe/
Research cited by the American Immigration Council-Non-Profit Think Tank, which is in favor of increased immigration to the USA-suggest that H-1B’s growth is also interdependent In total, higher wages, larger patent applications and a greater increase in employment.
Possibility or crisis?
Alcorn She said that in her legal practice she saw “another wave of startups and frozen on their tracks” as a results of a change in politics, and immigrants founders leaving large jobs to create their firms as a results of a recent fee for 100,000 USD.
But according to Mehta, the traditional H-1B-Z path of the lottery system, time restrictions and “legal complexity, which favored large corporations with dedicated immigration departments”-was already difficult for firms at an early stage.
He said that updates could make more startups to look at the more friendly founders of the path. ” O-1 visa for people with extraordinary abilities, The international principle of the entrepreneurAnd other options based on merits become more attractive, “said Crunchbase News.” These paths perfectly match what startups need: unique solving difficult problems. “
He said that H-1B changes could possibly be a blessing in a disguise. “Instead of discouraging from startups, I think it creates a strategic opening for them,” he said.
Companies that may fight, believes Mehta, are those using H-1BS primarily to arbitrarily cost, and not access to unique talents. “In the case of startups focusing on innovation and creating jobs, it strengthens what we always know: immigration should create opportunities, not use the gaps,” he said.
“Very little visa alternatives”
Few people query that the existing H-1B program is not deeply defective. But whether the proposed changes of Trump administration will eventually profit the American economy is an open query.
Malobrodsky agrees that the current path was not perfect, but the recent one said The solution is also “absurd”. “Do I think the entire H1-B program had to be reformed? Of course,” he said. “But this is not a way to reform.”
Malabrodsky claims that the recent fee proposal gives for large corporations the opportunity to use the program. He said that many startups wouldn’t have the ability to use the program at all, because it will be cost testing, especially in the case of crawling startups that brought minimal capital.
In the Alcorna’s opinion, the fee could also be “simply impossible” for the company at an early stage, in which the key employment is not only a person, but “company oxygen”.
“This policy suffocates our most promising ventures in the cradle,” she said. “There are very few visa alternatives, because most employees at an early stage do not yet qualify for the visa” Einstein “.
In addition, a recent lottery based on remuneration announced last week can force startups, which often compete for vision and justice, “to war with the salary of Big Tech-Wojna, which they are to lose,” said Alcorn.
Mehta Unshacled has more optimistic perspectives. He believes that movements will speed up the trend of talented immigrants who initially enter by large firms, which are increasingly motivated to build their very own ventures.
“The startup ecosystem, which is able to” catch “this talent when they move from employees to the founders, will develop,” he said. “So While increased fees create challenges for a new flow, they also signal important recognition: the talent of immigrants creates great value. The question is not whether this talent should come to America, but how they come and what they build here. “
But Alcorn believes that immediate impact will make it difficult to start in each short and long -term.
“The result is a simple, brutal equation: without access to this talent of the startups will die, move abroad or will never be put on,” she said. “It’s not just a brain outflow; it’s a” brain thrust “. We actively send wonderful minds in our country to the open arms of competitors in China and the Middle East who implement a red carpet. “