Senator Udall Co-Sponsors Startup Visa Bill

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2010-07-20 18:43:00 UTC
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America has flourished throughout the centuries in large part because it has been a beacon for attracting people from around the world whose lands of origin have simply not allowed them to use their natural talent and abilities to their full potential. The Startup Visa movement is trying to extend that tradition, and has a major new ally in Senator Mark Udall from Colorado.

The Startup Visa Bill is an attempt to create a specific class of visas for foreign-born entrepreneurs to build their companies in America. The bill would basically approve temporary migrant status for company founders who had raised at least $250,000 in equity investment, with at least $100,000 of that coming from a sponsoring US investment entity. If, after 2 years, the company had created $1,000,000 in revenue (or $500,000 if the startup was located in an economically targeted area), receive at least $1m more in venture investment, or created 10 jobs, the founder would be approved for a resident Visa.

The current proposed legislation would carve the new Visa class out of an existing visa class that is currently reserved for foreign investors who are putting venture capital into American companies. The allotment for those EB-5 visas is currently under utilized, meaning that the new Startup Visa's wouldn't actually create, in pure terms, any new visa allotments initially.

The Startup Visa Bill has attracted lots of support already, including not only the better part of the venture capital community but politicians like Colorado Congressman Jared Polis (who has written the Startup Visa into his proposed updates to the EB-5 visa) and Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, who introduced the Startup Visa act in the Senate earlier this year.

Yesterday, Colorado VC Brad Feld announced on his blog that the state's senior Senator Mark Udall had joined in co-sponsoring the bill. Its an exciting update for an extremely important project. Score a big win for Colorado when it comes to understanding the connection between immigration and keeping America's leading edge in innovation.

To read more, check out the Startup Visa page, and please sign the petition below.

Photo credit: Jeffrey Beall

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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