Being from the (rest of the) US, what disturbs me about this poll is how much entrepreneurial talent we might be missing out on.
At current count, ~2/3 of readers are from outside the US. These results seem to be backed up by pitdesi's post.
Since HN is so centered on startups, that's quite a few founders and potential entrepreneurs who could be working on the next Google. And all things being equal, there is a 2/3 chance that that next Google won't be happening in the US.
The Valley is amazing, but it's nothing without talent. Making our immigration law more amenable to founders obviously won't cause a mass migration of founders here, but surely some will be attracted to our awesome startup hubs. And we need every edge we can get.
We really need a startup visa.
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Edit: A couple of the responses have misinterpreted what I was hoping to convey. Of course I don't think everyone is dying to come to the US. What I am simply arguing is that 1) HN is a decent proxy of the startup community, 2) much of that community is outside of the US, 3) is there anything the US can do to attract some of that talent?
This is a question every country should be asking themselves, because startups are engines of prosperity.
For the US, I think the startup visa is a good solution.
"We" don't need a startup visa, "the USA" might. I'd prefer that Indian entrepreneurs capitalized on the excellent opportunities available at home. I support the startup visa in the spirit of supporting choice, but I resent the implication that the whole world should send its talents to the valley.
I'd like it if India and other Asian countries had a 'start-up visa'. Currently its usually too difficult to start-up a company using business or tourist visas for most Asian countries, let alone the police registration issues for even short-term residency and the actual legal registration of a local business (which can take longer than the longest available visas), if that's pursued at all.
I have tried start-ups in several Asian countries, and have assisted friends with other attempts, so have faced these issues repeatedly.
We did begin one start-up in Singapore, though not using EntrePass, as that required paid-up capital of at least S$50,000 and actually an operating company with bank account before applying for Entrepass. Unless there is a local partner willing to set these up ahead of time, makes using this program more difficult, especially if you want to do a low-cost start-up. There is also usually the requirement of paying the founder(s) a minimum salary to qualify for the visa, so that can artificially increase the amount of paid-up capital required in advance, some of which is then lost to govt coffers. I'd prefer to not pay myself & founders a salary and use my current/chequing account to pay those expenses.
SIN was one of the easier places in general to operate. Through the use of long-term social visas and frequent travel to Malaysia (JB for an hour or a day) for monthly tourist visa. Registering a business was quite easy too.
As an entrepreneur from India, the only issue is a lot of these payment gateways, and licenses of different kinds are easier to get from US.
If those become more global I personally would prefer starting and running from India.
Conversely, not being based in the US comes with lots of disadvantages, such as terrible payment gateways, unfriendly tax and small business legislation, and smaller networks of entrepreneurs. Here in Ede, the Netherlands, I feel pretty isolated, and I imagine a lot of people in Europe also do unless they live somewhere like London or Amsterdam.
the other advantage is the lack of software and process patents in Europe meaning less of chance of being sued out of existence. I think this will become more obvious over the next 10 years.
Would you mind emailing me with a bit of info on how you go about doing that? I assume you're not a US citizen? I'd really appreciate some pointers. davedx@gmail.com :)
I've also done this, it's not too hard. There are plenty of online services that let you setup an LLC in Delaware, LLCs have good benefits for non-residents.
You can then setup a business bank account as a non-residents using your LLC EIN, but I had to visit the US in person to do this.
Everything else is essentially free, I have a registered mailbox that redirects my mail and a US Skype Number attached to my iPhone. You'll need a US address to setup the bank account initially.
Nice .. Im going to chile in a couple of weeks and i was thinking about opening in deláware to .. Can you please add me to skype: j_camarena to chat a little?
I really think that we in the EU should start lobbying the EU Parliament and Commission to get a better environment for (especially web) startups. It will take time, but if we don't start doing that, it will take even longer...
I'm only willing to work remotely at the moment and lately I've noticed more and more American companies only willing to deal with remote workers inside the US.
1. It's awfully presumptuous for you to assume that all these people are just raring to come to the US and the only thing holding them back is the lack of a startup visa. Perhaps people don't live in the US because they want to live where they are?
2. Sheer numbers don't mean shit. The Valley has the best concentration of engineering talent anywhere. Opening up the floodgates to anyone and everyone isn't necessarily a good idea.
All things being equal, there is a 2/3 chance that that next Google won't be happening in the US.
In this case, all things are not equal. Being located in the US and specifically in Silicon Valley makes a lot of venture-backed startup life easier, whether you need cofounders, investors, advisors, or employees. It's not a coincidence that Google, Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Zynga, and Yahoo are all in the same area.
Regarding your edit - I can't understand why anyone doing a startup wouldn't want to be based in the US!
Better executive talent, great engineering talent (but perhaps expensive given demand), plenty of VCs, angels etc & importantly, exit opportunities. As another commenter mentioned, the sheer amount of successes (in the Valley especially) isn't coincidence.
The Startup Visa initiative is a great idea, but is that ever going to happen? The current US immigration system is an extremely good filter at keeping generally law-abiding entrepreneurs out, but letting in the exact kind of individuals it purports to protect the US from.
If you're going to keep potential job-creators out in this economy, why let anyone in?
In this regard I love what Chile is doing with Startup Chile. You guys seriously need something like that, where you just grant visas to smart founders.
I still wouldn't like to live in the US, but I totally support that you become more open :)
At current count, ~2/3 of readers are from outside the US. These results seem to be backed up by pitdesi's post.
Since HN is so centered on startups, that's quite a few founders and potential entrepreneurs who could be working on the next Google. And all things being equal, there is a 2/3 chance that that next Google won't be happening in the US.
The Valley is amazing, but it's nothing without talent. Making our immigration law more amenable to founders obviously won't cause a mass migration of founders here, but surely some will be attracted to our awesome startup hubs. And we need every edge we can get.
We really need a startup visa.
---
Edit: A couple of the responses have misinterpreted what I was hoping to convey. Of course I don't think everyone is dying to come to the US. What I am simply arguing is that 1) HN is a decent proxy of the startup community, 2) much of that community is outside of the US, 3) is there anything the US can do to attract some of that talent?
This is a question every country should be asking themselves, because startups are engines of prosperity. For the US, I think the startup visa is a good solution.