( - promoted by Colorado Pols)
Jared Polis, Diana DeGette and John Salazar announced on Tuesday that they are uniting with 80 other Representatives to move an immigration reform bill forward. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) includes several provisions, one of which I find intriguing--the HR 4259 Employment Benefit Act, introduced by Representative Polis.
The EB Act would expand the current EB-5 immigrant investment visa program, which was established in 1990 to attract foreign capital to the US and create jobs for Americans. Current requirements include establishing a business or investing in an existing business that was created after 1990, a minimum investment of $1 million dollars, and the creation of at least 10 full time jobs or 5 full time jobs for American workers in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA.) |
| The expansions being proposed include the following:
• Increase visas from the current 3,000 issued annually to 10,000
• Create a new visa class, called the Start UpVisa
• Broadly expand TEA to include rural areas, high unemployment areas, counties with 20% or more population decrease since 1970, and areas within the boundaries of a state or federal economic development incentive program
Businessweek voiced its support on December 2 and referred to the Start Up Founders Visa Program as a unique way to attract foreign investors while simultaneously creating new jobs in high unemployment areas. Also worth noting is the bipartisan support this reform is receiving.
How palatable would such a program be politically? U.S. Representative Jared Polis (D-Colo.), himself a former entrepreneur, is developing legislation to make it easier for foreign founders of investor-backed startups to secure visas to remain in the U.S. On the other end of the political spectrum, even Newt Gingrich, the Republican former Speaker of the House, has blogged about the need to make the country "more accessible to skilled immigrants." He wrote this after witnessing "the dynamic entrepreneurial and high-tech business culture in Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul"-countries with which we are competing for top talent. Representatives of both ends of the political spectrum can agree on this issue.
The Obama Administration knows that it is all about the economy. Every poll simply reinforces the obvious. The Democratic leadership has to find ways to create new job opportunities. It's time to turn to 21st century solutions for 21st century problems. From the look of it, Polis is doing just that. |
