Bipartisan Standalone Proposed Immigration Legislation Seeks to Increase Investment in the U.S. and Create Jobs
Stewart Rabinowitz, of the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, weighs in on the Kerry-Lugar Visa Bill.
On February 24, 2010, U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) introduced bipartisan legislation to drive job creation and increase America’s global competitiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United States.
The StartUp Visa Act of 2010 will allow an immigrant entrepreneur to receive a two year visa if he or she can show that a qualified U.S. investor is willing to dedicate a significant sum – a minimum of $250,000 – to the immigrant’s startup venture.
“The Kerry-Lugar bill represents an opportunity for both foreign investors and the U.S. economy to benefit from the energy, ideas, and capital of foreign nationals,” asserts Stewart Rabinowitz, of the Dallas-based law firm Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz.
Rabinowitz is especially intrigued by the source and amount of the investment. “By lowering the actual initial investment amount to $250,000 and shifting the source of funds to a U.S. investor for this new entrepreneurial visa, and similarly lowering the created U.S. workplace expansion to five persons – an underutilized visa category can offer a real benefit to further help kick start the U.S. economy,” Rabinowitz explains, “Because the investment must either attract additional investment totaling $1 million or generate revenue of $1 million to successfully grant a long-term U.S. immigration benefit, the program represents a welcome sign from America to the best and brightest entrepreneurial minds worldwide: Come up with great ideas and plans to implement them; we will come up with the money.”
The Startup Visa Act of 2010 would amend immigration law to create a new EB-6 category for immigrant entrepreneurs, drawing from existing visas under the EB-5 category, which permits foreign nationals who invest at least $1million into the U.S., and thereby create ten jobs, to obtain a green card. After proving that he or she has secured initial investment capital, and if, after two years, the immigrant entrepreneur can show that he or she has generated at least five full-time jobs in the United States, attracted $1 million in additional investment capital or achieved $1 million in revenue, and then he or she would receive permanent legal resident status.
Rabinowitz is optimistic about the bill. “This is a win-win for the U.S. and an opportunity for foreign nationals to bring their energy here to help America grow,” he says.
But he’s also pragmatic. “We will see how much traction the bill actually gets in the highly partisan Washington D.C. environment during a midterm election year with a lightning rod issue such as immigration, even with bipartisan support, being at stake,” Rabinowitz concludes.
Stewart Rabinowitz is President of Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., a Dallas based Immigration Law Firm (http: //www. rabinowitzrabinowitz.com). He is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
To learn more about Rabinowitz & Rabinowitz, P.C., call 1.972.233.6200 or visit http://www.rabinowitzrabinowitz.com.
Tags: Dallas immigration, Dallas Immigration attorney, Dallas Immigration lawyer