Coalition Of Business Leaders Tells Trump: We Support International Entrepreneur Rule
A coalition of business leaders, investors, and organizations
sent a letter on February 8, 2018, to President Donald Trump in
support of the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), which is in
effect following a court order. The Trump administration has
signaled that the IER is likely on the chopping block. The letter
says that killing the IER “would upend the ability of talented
immigrant entrepreneurs to launch new enterprises and employ
American workers in communities across the United States.”
Among other things, the letter notes that “Rescission of
the International Entrepreneur Rule” has been pending review
with the Office of Management and Budget since November 17, 2017.
“This potential new rule places a dark cloud over IER, as
immigrant entrepreneurs are uncertain of how long IER will be in
place,” the letter notes:
The rescission rule stifles investment into new companies with
foreign-born founders, which ultimately costs the U.S. economy. It
also exacerbates an alarming trend of elite entrepreneurs launching
successful startups outside the United States. Twenty
years ago our country’s share of global venture investment was
90%, but that number has dropped precipitously to 81% in 2006 and
to 53% in 2017. In 2016, China was home to six of the ten largest
venture capital investments in the world. If we continue to push
entrepreneurs overseas, our share of global investment will
continue to decrease.
As background, on January 17, 2017, the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) published the International Entrepreneur final rule
with an original effective date of July 17, 2017. On July 11, 2017,
DHS published a final rule delaying the effective date until March
14, 2018, to allow for a full review of the rule. The Trump
administration proposed in late 2017 to rescind the final rule. In
December 2017, a federal court ruled in National Venture
Capital Association v. Duke that the rule should go into
effect because the government had not provided sufficient
notice-and-comment for the delay rule under the Administrative
Procedure Act.
The full text of the coalition letter may be viewed HERE.
TechNet, with 77 member companies, sent a similar letter to U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, available HERE.
The court’s decision is available HERE.
View the USCIS statement following the court order HERE.
Information on how to submit an international entrepreneur
application is HERE.
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