The Trump administration announced Monday that it will delay the implementation of an Obama-era policy that would have awarded visas to startup company employees starting July 17, and that it is looking to repeal the policy altogether.
The International Entrepreneur Rule would have given non-U.S. citizens who have created startup companies while in the country a chance to stay stateside with a renewable 30-month visa. Foreign nationals were eligible for the visas if they received $100,000 in government grants or $250,000 in a venture capital investment.
But U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said the Obama-era rule had no basis in law, and said it would take comments until mid-March on its new proposal to scrap the idea.
“The International Entrepreneur Rule has sometimes been referred to as an ‘entrepreneur visa’ or ‘startup visa,’ which is inaccurate,” USCIS said. “Only Congress can create a new visa program, and it has not done so.”
Under the DHS decision, the program will be delayed until March 14, 2018 to ensure it is line with executive order “Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements,” which requires the secretary “ensure that parole authority is exercised only on a case-by-case basis,” USCIS said.
Former President Barack Obama proposed the plan in the final months of his second term in office.
