Sophie Alcorn, lawyerits author and founder Alcorn Immigration Law in California’s Silicon Valley, is an award-winning Certified Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law from the State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Sophie is passionate about overcoming borders, expanding opportunities and connecting the world by practicing compassionate, visionary and experienced immigration law. Connect with Sophia on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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Dear Sophia,
I remember reading in your column a few years ago about the International Entrepreneur Parole program and that it is the closest thing the US has to a startup visa. What happened to the program? Are they still around? How does a startup founder quickly start building in the US?
— Perfect for parole?
Dear Perfect,
Thanks for your “perfectly timed” questions. Yes the Conditional International Entrepreneur The (IEP) program remains available, but the time it takes for US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to process IEP cases is more than two years, and the application and activation processes are often more time-consuming and impractical than a regular work visa such as O-1 or H-1B.
Recognizing these issues, President Biden directed the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to improve the IEP process for startup founders in artificial intelligence and other critical emerging technologies in its recent executive order on artificial intelligence.
I recently spoke with Samuel Newbold, a New York-based immigration attorney who also has a practice focused on investors and entrepreneurs. He has helped many entrepreneurs obtain IEPs. One of the most direct routes to qualification is through government grants from startup financiers such as Urban Future Labwhich works with the city, academia and the private sector to encourage economic growth, job creation and innovation.
Sam says that in his experience, the IEP tends to make more sense for startup founders who have received grants or economic development funding than venture capital or private investor funding because of the complex evidence requirements. The minimum requirement is to receive at least $106,000 in government funding, which can even be non-solvent.
“THE [IEP] The program requires private equity firms to justify their track record and that they have made good investments,” says Newbold. “As you can imagine, this is very sensitive, private information” that most investors are sensitive about disclosing.
Let me describe how the IEP program works and go over how to qualify for the IEP and offer alternatives.
