BRAIN
DRAIN
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
“They’re saying, ‘We believe in
you.’ And I’m wondering,
‘What are you believing in?’”
“To work remotely is far from
ideal, especially when trying to
meet a deadline or grow a company,” Aharoni said in an interview. “These are crucial times in
a company’s lifecycle. You have to
be there with the team.”
Six weeks later, ABC News
broadcast a story on Aharoni’s
situation. The next day, immigration officials reconsidered and approved his visa. Aharoni said they
did not give him a reason for why
they changed their minds, though
he suspects it was due to media
attention surrounding his case.
Still, his dilemma — along with
Darash’s — shows the types of
roadblocks that many foreign-born
founders can face, Aharoni said.
“Asaf’s case is another demonstration of the unfriendliness to immigrant entrepreneurs and people
who are taking a lot of risks to build
businesses here,” Aharoni said.
In Congress, a bipartisan group
of senators introduced a bill in
May that would allow foreign en-
trepreneurs to live in the United
States as long as they raise a minimum level of financing and employ a certain number of workers.
But the prospects of the Startup
Visa Act remain uncertain, largely
because changes to immigration
policy are considered politically
controversial, especially during an
election year.
Opponents argue that temporary visas allow immigrants
to take jobs away from capable
Americans, depress wages and
discourage American-born students from entering high-tech
careers. “The influx of foreign
workers has driven the best and
the brightest Americans away
from the field,” said Norman Matloff, a computer science professor
at the University of California at
Davis and an outspoken critic of
expanding visas.
But advocates argue that creating additional visas for immigrant
entrepreneurs would not take jobs
away from Americans, but instead
would create more jobs by allowing
foreign-born founders to grow their
companies in the United States.