Tuesday 15 March 2011, 10:23 AM
Washington, March 15 (IANS) Two senior senators have introduced a bipartisan legislation aimed at slowing down the outflow of skilled talent and boost entrepreneurship in the US 'to drive job creation and increase America's global competitiveness'.
Introduced Monday by John Kerry, Democratic chairman, and Richard Lugar, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the bill adds provisions to last year's draft Startup Visa Act to allow foreign students in US universities and workers on H-1B visas to start companies in the US.
The StartUp Visa Act of 2011 will allow an immigrant entrepreneur to receive a two year visa if he or she can show that a qualified US investor is willing to invest in the immigrant's startup venture.
Under the updated version, the pool of eligible immigrants would now also include holders of H-1B visas and entrepreneurs living outside the US with a market presence in the country.
The new legislation provides visas to the following groups under certain conditions:
First: Entrepreneurs living outside the US - if a US investor agrees to financially sponsor their entrepreneurial venture with a minimum investment of $100,000.
Two years later, the startup must have created five new American jobs and either have raised over $500,000 in financing or be generating more than $500,000 in yearly revenue.
Second: Workers on an H-1B visa, or graduates from US universities in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, or computer science - if they have an annual income of at least $30,000 or assets of at least $60,000 and have had a US investor commit investment of at least $20,000 in their venture.
Two years later, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised over $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
Third: Foreign entrepreneurs whose business has generated at least $100,000 in sales from the US. Two years later, the startup must have created three new American jobs and either have raised over $100,000 in financing or be generating more than $100,000 in yearly revenue.
'Every job-creating American business started as an idea in the mind of an entrepreneur. We need to keep and bring more of those ideas to our shores where they can put Americans to work,' Kerry said.
'Global competition for talent and investment grows more intense daily and the United States must step up or be left behind,' he said.
'We want to establish a way for the smartest and most entrepreneurial individuals in the world to come to the United States and create jobs. Many are already here studying at our great universities,' said Lugar.
'Helping them stay to invest in their ideas and create jobs benefits all Americans.'
College student Amanda Foote has turned the die-hard techie tradition of waiting hours, sometimes days, to be the first to purchase a new Apple product into a lucrative odd job. After nearly 41 hours of waiting in line for theiPad 2 release at Apple’s flagship store in New York, she sold her number one spot for $900.
Google has launched a version of its Person Finder service for people caught up in the Japanese earthquake.
The website acts as a directory and message board so people can look for lost loved ones or post a note saying they are safe.
It is designed to be embedded on websites and social network pages to reach as wide an audience as possible.
The system has proved useful after other disasters that have stopped people getting in direct touch.
Victim logSoon after being set up the Japan quake Person Finder was logging more than 2,200 records.
The extent of the damage caused by the Japanese earthquake is not yet known but its magnitude and the widespread devastation wrought by the subsequent tsunami is likely to see tens of thousands displaced.
The Person Finder was developed to solve a problem common in the aftermath of many catastrophes when many different agencies are on the ground giving aid and gathering information about victims.
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Before the advent of tools such as Person Finder it was much harder to compare the information gathered by separate agencies and help to re-unite families and friends.
Underlying the site is a common format for describing people who are lost or who want to announce they are safe by whatever means they can.
In the wake of disasters, many volunteers in other countries often scrape sites for this formatted information and add it to the People Finder database. Others take information from blogs, texts and tweets and convert it to the format so it can be put in the database.
The system was first used following the Haiti earthquake that struck in January 2010. That first tool was based around work done in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans.