The White House formally announced its Entrepreneurs in Residence program yesterday; a 90-day sprint for a fifteen-strong committee of startup experts(many of whom are foreign-born entrepreneurs themselves) and immigration experts from the USCIS to examine existing visas and ease the immigration process for foreign-born entrepreneurs in the U.S.
The EIR program is calling this team its "Tactical Team", and the approach they are taking to solving difficulties in the existing structure of skilled immigration is necessarily strategic: despite receiving widespread bipartisan support in theory, changing any policies regarding immigration has proved to be difficult in the current political landscape. What the EIR program aims to do is find ways to streamline the process without facing the hurdle of Congress. This means working within the existing laws to optimize the process for the high skilled workers and entrepreneurs who want to come to the U.S. to start a business.
Hattery's Luis Arbulu is one of the fifteen on the "Tactical Team" -- read his post about being an EIR here.
Something you might not know about skilled immigration: high skilled immigrants create jobs for Americans born here, both indirectly and directly through businesses they start. 40% of Fortune 500 companies in 2010 were founded by an immigrant or an immigrant's child. For other interesting stats about the impact of high skilled immigration on the American economy, view our infographic.
