Land Ahoy!

Hello, dear Indian entrepreneurs. How is it hanging today? Any orders come through? Any got cancelled? Is that licensing still six bribes away? Is that vendor sticking to his deadlines? Has the bank again rejected your application for a loan? Civic authority creating problems again?

You could go on and on about the troubles Indian entrepreneurs face in this country on a daily basis. There are romantics who call this part and parcel of doing dhanda in India, and what makes Indian entrepreneurs a cut above others. But that is all rubbish.

To those who yearn for better infrastructure, better regulations, better funding rules, and better support systems, I present the entrepreneur’s version of the IT worker’s Great American Dream: the Startup Visa. Yes, a visa for entrepreneurs. Still awaiting to be passed in to a law, the Startup Visa legislation is being spearheaded in the U.S. by a couple of Senators who know that the way out for the U.S. economy is to get more companies on the floor. And immigrants must be armed with an opportunity to do so.

The legislation says (credit to the TechCrunch piece by Vivek Wadhwa of Berkley, Harvard, Emory and Duke here) that entrepreneurs living outside the U.S. will be granted a visa to set up companies there if a U.S. investor agrees to sponsor them with a minimum investment of Rs.45 lakh. It further says that workers on an H1B visa, or graduates from U.S. universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics or computer science will also be eligible for the Startup Visa, provided they manage an annual income of at least Rs.13.5 lakh or assets of at least Rs.27 lakh and have had a U.S. investor commitment of at least Rs.9 lakh in their venture. The Startup Visa will also be available to foreign entrepreneurs whose business has generated at least Rs.45 lakh in sales from the U.S.

What’s the catch? For all three, the startup must have created a specific number of new American jobs, and either have raised over a certain amount in financing or be generating more than a minimum amount in yearly revenue. I like the sound of this. Sure, there is the great India story to stop you from heading to the U.S., but there are many pros to this act. For one, it’s a boon for Indian students going to the U.S. and wondering if they will get hired there or will have to return to India to pay off heavy education loans on a much lesser salary. Similarly, it will help those zombie-like H1B workers dive into the startup sea. And thirdly, the job scenario in the U.S. might be down, but it’s still a market with enormous purchasing power and consumers who are ready to try new products/services—especially all things tech.

And heck, the ecosystem for startups is much more mature in the U.S. Things will get really interesting if this legislation goes through.

AUGUST SHARK is a once-failed, second-time successful bootstrapper who resides in Mumbai. He can be contacted at august@stumpspeak.com.

Tags:
August Shark, startup, Startup Visa, U.S.