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Let the White House know about Paul Graham's idea for a Founder Visa

10 points by pupeno ↗ HN
It'll take you two minutes. Copy the contents of http://paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html and paste them on http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Provide your our comment, attribution, message, etc if you want. Maybe if enough of us do it, someone will read it.

10 comments

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jhancock
Nothing against folks outside the U.S. that want to work here. But, I have not seen any real evidence that supports a skill set shortage. Can someone provide real numbers?
maxwin
You missed the point. We are talking about founders who could potentially create a great company and jobs for Americans. Did you read Paul's essay? I suggest you take a look and think about how many founders/developers are foreign born.
jhancock
I have read the essay. I agree with the points. However, they do not take into account the number of Americans that have the skills and desire to create a startup but for other reasons can not afford to be founders. Shouldn't we address those reasons first?
TriinT
Does it matter if a company that was founded in the U.S. and that does employ mostly Americans was founded by an American or by a non-American??

I can understand the argument against visas for foreign engineers... but I don't see any trouble with a founder visa.

jhancock
Your point is well taken. However, we do have lots of talent already here (many are ones already here on various student and work visas). YC is limited to a narrow set of people that can "afford" the process. I do not buy the argument that this implies we need to increase the pool of eligible applicants with a special visa. Perhaps YC will simply reach its limits. Thats ok, there is no reason that something has to keep growing in size to continue to be a success; it could just reach a natural equilibrium.

Is there any evidence that the U.S. does not already have the talent? Or is it only that there is not enough talent that can afford to work at such low entry rates? Please keep in mind that our visa programs that already exist are to fill positions where there is proven lack of skills. They do not exist so the investor or business owners can find cheaper labor.

TriinT
I think the U.S. should try to keep the best and brightest at all costs. HN is too focused on programming, but I am thinking of electronics, photonics, semiconductor, nanotech, biotech people, etc. It takes so long to train experts on these fields, and since many of them were funded via NSF as graduate students, it would be wise to create incentives for them to stay in the U.S. and be productive.

Does that mean that a founder visa is necessary? Unfortunately I don't have the data to be able to offer any insightful comment on that...

jhancock
Your right, we do need to figure this out. I never have understood why we make it so hard for someone to stay after they've completed an education here.
scs
The one issue I have with the essay is how startup investors are chosen. "We know who one another are" is an unsatisfactory way for the government to decide who startup investors are, mainly because it could become a closed club very easily.
ujjwalg
I agree with Paul Graham completely. I wish there was some kind of founder VISA. I am graduating from penn state with a PhD. I have started my own startup which is developing educational apps for iPhone, android, desktop and web, but I am going to have a hard time staying back in US. I dont need to be present in US to run the business but I would prefer and wish there was something like a founder VISA for legitimate companies making more than $200k an year.
jhancock
I agree, a visa for what you are doing should be available. From what I have read about pg's founder visa, I don't see how that includes your situation.

It does seem reasonable that the U.S. should be tripping over themselves to provide a visa to anyone that can create jobs or be an overwhelming contributor to taxes.

From the government's view, how would they make such a decision? In your case, your already here and already have a going concern which seems an easy thing to write regulations for. What about for those just starting with no employees and no revenue? What about for those that just show up at the airport and say "I'm gonna give it my best shot, where's my visa?". Is it ok to show up and say, "Hey Paul Graham gave me and my friend $15k, let me in."

I like the idea, but I don't see how the rules get written and managed.