The Chamber welcomes immigration reforms that would make it easier for high-skilled foreign entrepreneurs to stay and innovate here in the U.S.. America is hard-pressed for jobs, and the more business development there is on the ground, the more job creation we can expect. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Alejandro Mayorkas has also come out in support of revisiting immigration policy in favor of foreign entrepreneurs with excellent job creating potential. In response to recent petitions, Mayorkas responded with concerned curiosity, asking for more information on the subject and ensuring constituents that he will act quickly on behalf of the reforms.

According to an article from VentureBeat:

Last month, USCIS announced an Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative, spearheaded by Mayorkas. The goal of the initiative was “to ensure that our policies and processes fully realize the immigration law’s potential to create and protect American jobs,” as Mayorkas said at the time.

As part of the EIR initiative, USCIS asked industry experts to recommend policy changes that would have a positive impact on American entrepreneurship. In response, a group of leaders ranging from investors such as Fred Wilson and Brad Feld to academics such as Benn Konsynski and AnnaLee Saxenian to the United States Chamber of Commerce wrote Mayorkas an open letter.

In this letter, the group recommended improved training materials and certain “changes to the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM) to guide adjudicators in assessing petitions by prospective entrepreneurs under the Startup Initiative.” In simple terms, the group found that the process of setting up a legal business and establishing residency in the U.S. was needlessly complicated for foreign entrepreneurs of small startups.

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