Nice post. Thanks for supporting the Startup Visa.

We did up a Lord of the Rings spoof to help raise awareness. Check it out - looks like you’re one of us hobbits in America

http://twurl.nl/57i3i8

Good luck. This system is so broken I wish more Americans understood the realities.

Are you saying that “developers, business partners and important investors” are only found in the U.S.; or that you can’t plan business meetings in advance? Nonsense. Vancouver isn’t on the other side of the planet, if North America is the only place to set up a business, go there. An H-1 visa really isn’t appropriate in this situation at all, so I’m not surprised to see U.S. Homeland Security (fka INS) complaining. The problem with the U.S. is that they assume everyone is an immigrant, which really doesn’t work if you’re simply coming to the country for business. Visa waiver citizens get caught by this all the time; they don’t “need” a visa but they’re not coming for tourism and so if there’s no suntan lotion in their suitcase they may get deported. The U.S. already has an investor’s visa program, but its inadequacies have already been noted. Do business somewhere else, and maybe then the Americans will get the message. If the business gets big enough, municipal and state tax incentives relating to relocation might go a long way with respect to the visa.

Abscam in the 70’s ruined this for everyone. Before that case, local congressman could and would sponsor individuals. Not any more. Thank you, FBI!

Not like $5 of mine would help you greatly, but hey.

For those who are advising why cant Sharan work remotely - just remember - he is not part of a MNC which has global offices and infrastructure. He needs to be connected with his developers, business partners and importantly investors. And he cannot plan for ‘that last minute planned lunch meeting’ working from Canada or UK.

Not soliciting - you may want to check ww.vivu.tv (my cousin’s startup) for your group communication/ colloboratio. I can help you get it setup, if you want. All the best.

Mr. Lam — is that an EB-5 program? If so, it’s a pretty good program (ironically, it was invented in Canada & Vancouver was its #1 beneficiary, LOL) It’s geared toward investors but if you have a *regional* center then there’s a ton more flexibility. The hurdles are also lower if you’re “rural” (Idaho’s new EB-5 center is thus HQ’d just outside of Boise, LOL)

We’d see you more as an investee than investor (unless you have $500K just laying around, LOL). But as Phillip said, an investor can get a green card (family too) almost immediately & citizenship in 5 years.

Also, in other EB-5 centers, you tend to see clusters of people all going in as investors.. not just friends & family all as separate investors but, more important, bringing in firms in same clusters. We are getting a lot of traction here on animation and media, not so much in, say, nano -so we’d look to invest in digital media much more than nano — and recruit investors with the same interest.

(Somehow, Phillip, I don’t think we’d want to compete with NYC on financial software! LOL)

p.s. one of our Senators has proposed that earning a PhD in science/tech/math would merit an automatic invite for a visa (HB1 or even green card)

Keep plugging!
Norris

Sounds like you are in a tough bind and I am sorry to hear. Like the rest of the gang, I wish you luck and I am sure you will work things out. My firm has a program sponsored by the NY state, USCIS and NY city which helps foreign investors in getting a green card and eventually (usually within 5 years), you can apply for a citizenship. contact me if you are interested.

Cheers,
Phillip
phillip.lam@lionspd.com