The American “superpower” resides in immigration based on merit, skills and “courage”, governed by a set of safe and structured policies and processes. America is the only nation in the world founded on an idea. As such, America is uniquely positioned to become a talent magnet and entrepreneurial growth engine of the global economy for the next century. We must capitalize on our unique ability to attract people who yearn for “life, freedom and the pursuit of happiness”.
Before considering creative immigration solutions, the first step must be to secure US borders and work with Mexico to secure their borders as well. With a more secure border and an orderly, structured process, the way forward for America to maintain its role as a global leader throughout the 21st century is to attract the most successful, talented and resilient people in all other countries.
Over the past two decades, 55% of the founders of Silicon Valley “unicorns” (start-ups valued >$1 billion) were first-generation immigrants. (Anderson, 2022) America needs to change its thinking about immigration, no longer as a problem to be solved, but as a huge opportunity for American economic growth. According to the American Immigration Council (AIC), there are many more immigrants or children of immigrants creating American jobs in our economy. “In 2021, nearly 44%, or 219 Fortune 500 companies, were founded by immigrants or their children. (AIC)
As the birthplace of Silicon Valley and global success stories from Google to Apple, America tops the global ranking of the best countries to become an entrepreneur. With a highly skilled workforce, competitiveness and openness to business, and easy access to capital for entrepreneurs, America ranks very high in all areas. Given this, it’s no surprise that America is ranked first among the “Best Countries for Entrepreneurship” in the 2021 CEOWorld Entrepreneurship Index study.
All other countries in the world are formed by geography, ethnicity, religion or a tribal history. However, America is founded on the ideas of freedom, democracy and capitalism. America is currently experiencing a renaissance of domestic manufacturing and entrepreneurship as we realized we needed safer and more reliable supply chains for all of our industries after
the Covid pandemic. According to the US Census Bureau, over the past two years, more than 10 million new businesses have been created in the United States. To succeed in this momentum of internal growth, we need talent, skills, capital and a willingness to take entrepreneurial risks. Immigrants are willing to take immense risks to seize opportunities.
Comprehensive immigration reform is a political challenge, but the opportunity is immense for the future of our nation. Many of our global competitors are now experiencing declining birth rates, a sign of an impending demographic and economic crisis. America has the advantage of being a talent magnet, and we can continue to grow our vibrant economy by attracting deserving, skilled, and “brave” people to our country.
It’s easy to accept that we want to attract the best minds and the most prosperous and wealthy citizens from other countries. We also need to attract the world’s most resilient people by identifying a “courage” index that can be measured and linked to a guest worker program to enable the most successful and law-abiding guest workers to continue on their path to permanent residence for more than one year. a period of 5 to 7 years.
How can America continue to accelerate its immigrant-driven engine of innovation? The US Congress took a step in the right direction in March 2022 by reauthorizing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program for another five years. The Reform and Integrity Act 2022 brought much-needed additional compliance oversight to this 30-year-old government program. The EB-5 program is an American job-creating machine. The idea behind the EB-5 program is that America asks immigrant investors to put their capital “at risk” in order to create American jobs in the country where they want their family to immigrate. It’s a good and fair deal.
The EB-5 program is a true win-win program because it provides flexible, low-cost capital to American businesses from successful international families whose investments create American jobs at no cost to the American taxpayer. The program is funded entirely by fees paid to the U.S. government by immigrant investors and industry participants such as real estate developers, regional hubs, and fund managers, like my company, who protect the interests of EB-5 investors.
Currently, there is an annual quota of 10,000 EB-5 visas granted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) agency. An EB-5 investor invests $800,000 in a “risky” project (e.g., real estate, infrastructure, and other types of businesses), then hires a U.S.-based immigration attorney to file a multi-thousand page request that is carefully reviewed and reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security over a 5-7 year period. During this period, the investor must demonstrate to USCIS that their investment in the US economy has created at least 10 jobs in the United States, and then they are eligible to receive a green card for permanent residence as well as reimbursement of its capital.
Why not expand this program and make it a permanent source of capital to meet many of our national needs, such as our crumbling infrastructure? This new legislation is a positive step by Congress, but there is so much more we can do. There are great opportunities for immigrant investors to invest in projects that are in the national interest of the United States. By raising capital from international investors willing to come and live in America, we would create American jobs, build American infrastructure, and finance projects in our national interest, at no cost to the American taxpayer. Talk about a win-win-win set of policies.
Difficult problems call for creative solutions. America must leverage its unique position in the world to attract not only the world’s best talent, but also global capital to solve our toughest problems. A continued infusion of passionate, freedom-loving new entrepreneurs who believe in the American Dream is exactly what we need. As President Clinton once said, “There is nothing wrong in America that cannot be healed by what is right in America. »
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed above are those of the author.
END OF ARTICLE
