WASHINGTON, DC – The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and 59 other organizations, individuals and interested stakeholders today expressed their shared disappointment that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delayed the effective date of the International Entrepreneur Rule and plans to rescind it entirely. In the comment letter organized by NVCA, the signatories encouraged DHS to use the delay to reexamine the decision to rescind the rule and prepare for accepting applications from talented foreign-born entrepreneurs beginning in March 2018 after the delay is over. Joining NVCA were leading national trade associations and advocacy groups, including FWD.us, Engine, ITI, and TechNet, as well as regional groups from the Midwest, New England, Mid Atlantic, Northeast and Southwest.
“President Trump has made winning the global competition for jobs a priority of his administration and we appreciate his stated focus on making our country the best place in the world to create a new enterprise,” the group of signatories wrote in the letter to DHS Acting Secretary Elaine Duke. “However, a key aspect of growing our economy is to ensure talented entrepreneurs start their companies here in the United States. The International Entrepreneur Rule will allow the world’s best entrepreneurs to create jobs in our country, rather than overseas where they will then compete with American workers and companies.”
“Retaining the International Entrepreneur Rule will also further President’s Trump’s goal of making the U.S. more competitive on a global basis. American entrepreneurship is facing challenges abroad like never before, as other countries have replicated our tax, regulatory, and education policy to spur startup ecosystems of their own,” the group added. “In the immigration context, countries like Canada, France, Singapore, and the United Kingdom have created dedicated entrepreneur visas to attract job creators to their shores. Policies like these mean entrepreneurs no longer need to move to the U.S. to scale a startup, and venture investment is tracking this activity: two decades ago, U.S. startups received more than 90 percent of global venture capital investment, but that number fell to 81 percent a decade ago and fell further to 54 percent last year. In the last five years, at least half of the top ten largest venture investments in the world occurred outside our country. The United States must keep in place the International Entrepreneur Rule to attract the best entrepreneurs rather than push them away.”