Obama’s parting jobs gift to Trump

A new rule change by the Obama Administration in its final days will provide a boost for immigrant entrepreneurs, and a shot in the arm for American jobs.

Immigration reform has always been a top priority for tech leaders. Big companies like Apple and Google rely on talented immigrants to fill jobs, and some of America’s most influential companies — Google, Tesla, not to mention 40% of the Fortune 500 — are founded by immigrants.

But the system is broken in more ways than one: while H1B visas are a helpful (if limited) tool for companies to hire skilled workers, they don’t apply to startup founders.

Last summer the Obama Administration decided to do something about this, proposing a rule change through the Department of Homeland Security to make it easier for immigrants to start companies in the US. On Friday the final rule was announced, and it will take effect July 17.

The “International Entrepreneur Rule”, according to Geekwire, provides a temporary “startup visa” for entrepreneurs that have raised $250,000 in investment and want to immigrate to America. The rule gives these founders a two-and-a-half year grace period from immigration laws, followed by another two-and-a-half years if they raise more money and prove they are providing a “substantial public service”.

In a national conversation focused on jobs, this is huge. According to the Kauffman Foundation, nearly one hundred per cent of net new jobs in America come from start-ups — firms that are fewer than five years old. You might not know it from all the excitement around Silicon Valley, but we’re actually losing more startups as a country than we’re creating — a new company is founded in this country every two minutes, but a company also dies every 80 seconds.

The more we can do to encourage brilliant people to come to this country and build companies here, the better. It’s especially important since other countries are doing what they can to keep entrepreneurs at home. In the past few years India has been implementing its own National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and global entrepreneurship is on the rise.

Any jobs-first platform will need to keep America as the top destination for innovation. So I’ll be watching to see how President-elect Trump handles this rule change. He would be wise to build on President Obama’s playbook, in the spirit of job creation — rather than rolling it back, out of spite.

As startup policy advocacy organization Engine has written, there is more to do to make our immigration system smarter and more efficient for entrepreneurship. We have a big opportunity to create jobs by focusing on small and growing businesses, and more policies like this one is a start.