4 ms·
This is the problem area that bugs me about the founder visa concept. The concept is great. Embodying it into law requires it go through the sausage factory.
by jhancock 17y ago
This is the problem area that bugs me about the founder visa concept. The concept is great. Embodying it into law requires it go through the sausage factory.
I jokingly told a doctor last week I could write health care reform in 5 pages. I'm pretty sure I could. But it wouldn't get through congress in that form.
- aristus 17y agoI was being a bit glib. The sausage factory is there for a reason. That reason often sucks, but it's not random. Look at it from a policy maker's standpoint: strip out the happy talk about money and jobs. What this boils down to is a group of rich people on the left coast asking for a grant of power, the power to give visas, with no oversight. The politicians doesn't know these geeks from anyone, and here they are asking for a slice of government power. So they propose a committee to make sure this doesn't become a loophole for rich fugitives and tax-evasion. Certain types of people smell a cushy job and the role expands, the idea gets paraphrased to someone at WSJ and we end up with that sentence.
- neilc 17y agoWell, there is potential for abuse: a startup founder gets an "investment" of $500k from an accredited angel and a permanent resident visa. A little while later, the startup takes an exit (e.g. dissolves the company and returns the assets to the investor), netting the founder a greencard in the process.
- wheels 17y agoIf you've got somebody willing to wire you $500k, you can basically do that already. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-2_visa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-2_visa
- neilc 17y agoWell, that requires that you leave the country immediately after the business has been concluded; this proposal says that "... the founder would be granted a permanent resident visa", which presumably wouldn't expire.