Immigrant entrepreneurs are no longer looking for the U.S. as a top choice to start their company. In fact, many successful immigrant entrepreneurs have had to pack up their businesses and move back to their native countries because of our unwelcoming and jumbled immigration system.
Our immigration system is pushing people away
According to author and entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, the number of Silicon Valley start-ups founded by immigrants has declined since 2005. Mainly, he believes it is “because we won’t’ give the foreign people who are already here visas to start companies.” Anand and Shikha Chhatpar are two Indian engineers who were educated in the U.S. and eventually started their own company building Facebook apps.
However, despite their company thriving, the immigration system is in such a mess that the two could not obtain permanent residency through the visa process. “So now they’re living in India, paying Indian taxes employing Indian workers,” Wadhwa tells NPR. “It’s a big loss for America. This is the stupidity of our immigration system.”
Other Countries will get U.S. educated entrepreneurs
Statistics prove that immigrants have a strong tie to launching their own businesses in the U.S., but our immigration system is driving them away. Entrepreneurs who graduate from U.S. colleges have to leave the country once their student visas expire and they develop their companies in countries all over the world except for the U.S. Economists call this “a loss for this country.”
Many supporters of immigration and the new reform bill Congress is trying to pass talk of the important drivers of our economy and the contributions immigrants have. Unfortunately, by the time Congress makes up its mind about implementing a new immigration system, thousands of potential businesses will already be thriving somewhere else bringing that country jobs and revenue.
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