Immigrant Entrepreneurs Account for Nearly Half of Top U.S. Venture-Backed Companies

Posted December 21, 2011

A study recently published by the National Foundation for American Policy highlights the pressing need for reform in investment and entrepreneur visa categories.  Immigrants have started nearly half of the country’s top 50 venture funded companies, and are a pervasive presence in key management and product development positions.  The companies analyzed are all privately held and have received venture capital financing in the past three years, key indicators for future success.  According to the study, of the top 50 companies, 23 had at least one immigrant founder, and 37 employed at least one immigrant in a key management or product development role.  Not surprisingly, the country providing the most entrepreneurs for such high-potential companies is India, followed by Israel, Canada, Iran and New Zealand.

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USCIS Rolls Out Beta Version of New Online System ELIS

Posted December 7, 2011

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has offered an online preview of their new ‘transformational’ interactive system for immigrants and representatives, dubbed ELIS, or the USCIS Electronic Immigration System.  The system is designed to streamline the application process for immigration benefits by increasing security, accuracy and consistency in adjudications within a contained electronic universe accessible through the internet.  You can take a video tour of a prototype of the new system here.

When made publicly available, ELIS will initially only support applications to extend, change or reinstate nonimmigrant status (I-539) for certain applicants.  For such applicants, the system will allow you to create an individual account online, securely manage your interactions with USCIS and obtain detailed case status and assistance related to your application.  Over time, as ELIS is tested and proves reliable, other nonimmigrant and immigrant application benefit processes will be incorporated into the system and become available online.

While ELIS should improve elements of the application process for limited benefit categories, the system should not be seen as a substitute for an informed decision-making process regarding your short and long term immigration goals.  The federal government has a vested interest in reducing their own costs and providing a more secure, accurate and speedy service to U.S. immigrants and nonimmigrants. ELIS will represent a welcome modernization of the world’s largest administrative immigration system.  Individual users of ELIS should be advised, however, that rules and regulations which govern your eligibility and qualification for immigration benefits have not changed.  This is an interactive process transformation only.  ELIS will not make obtaining benefits more likely; just more quickly, and perhaps easier, for straightforward cases.

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H-1B Cap Reached for FY 2012

Posted December 6, 2011

USCIS has announced that November 22, 2011 was the final date that petitions for H-1B specialty occupation visas would be accepted for employment to start during fiscal year 2012 (Oct. 1, 2011 through Sept. 30, 2012).  The annual statutory cap of 65,000 has been met for ‘new employment’ H-1B visas.  Further, as of October 19, 2011, USCIS had received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of advance degree graduates of U.S. universities, representing the annual statutory maximum for that cap-exempt group.  Accordingly, until April 1, 2012 – at which time fiscal year 2013 H-1B petitions may be submitted – USCIS will only accept and process H-1B petitions filed under remaining cap-exempt categories, including petitions filed to:

  • Extend H-1B status for workers continuing U.S. employment with the same employer;
  • Change the terms of employment for H-1B workers continuing U.S. employment with the same employer;
  • Change U.S. employers for workers previously accorded H-1B status with a former employer; and
  • Obtain H-1B status for concurrent U.S. employment with a different U.S. employer.
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Significant Drop Seen in Illegal Migration

Posted December 5, 2011

By implication from the volume of arrests, the number of illegal border-crossers entering the United States through the southwestern border has plummeted to levels not seen for nearly forty years.  According to figures released last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), 327,577 persons were arrested along the U.S.-Mexico border during fiscal year 2011, a drop in 25% from the prior year and a pittance of the 1.6 million persons arrested in 2000.  This trend, coupled with Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) removal of nearly 400,000 individuals from the country in fiscal year 2011 – the largest number of removals in the agency’s history – bodes favorably for the immigration reform debate, given the frequent caveat by tepid proponents of immigration reform that the border must be secured before comprehensive changes to immigration laws are implemented.  Since 2004, the number of Border Patrol agents has been doubled and physical barriers improved, along with technological advances in security measures, such as the use of cameras, sensors and Predator drones (yes, Predator drones).  Will a precipitous drop in illegal migration change the political environment for comprehensive immigration reform? Stay tuned.

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