BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SJR 9|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SJR 9
Author: Huff (R), et al.
Amended: 4/25/13
Vote: 21
SUBJECT : Startup Act 3.0
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution calls on the United States Congress
to pass and the President to sign the Startup Act 3.0
(introduced as S. 310 in the 113th Congress of the United
States), that creates an Entrepreneur's Visa for legal
immigrants, provides authorization to adjust the status of not
more than 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's degree or a
doctorate degree, as specified, to that of aliens conditionally
admitted for permanent residence, and eliminates per-country
caps for employment-based immigrant visas.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1.The United States is a nation of immigrants, with a long
history of welcoming indigents from other nations and giving
them a chance at achieving the American Dream.
2.The United States economy has been enriched by the innovative
and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants from around the
world.
3.Fifty-two percent of Silicon Valley startups between 1995 and
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SJR 9
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2005 were founded or cofounded by immigrants, generating $52
billion in revenues and employing 450,000 workers.
4.In the past seven years, the national rate of startups by
immigrants has dropped to 42% according to scholars at Harvard
and Duke Universities.
5.The number of foreign nationals with advanced degrees awaiting
permanent-resident status in the U.S. has grown to over one
million in the past several years.
6.Under existing law, only approximately 120,000 visas are
available annually for skilled workers in key employment
categories and only 7% of these visas can be allocated to
immigrants from any one country. Therefore, immigrants from
countries with large populations, like India and China, which
are the source of the vast majority of startups in the United
States, have access to only 8,400 visas per year. The result
of this policy is that many of these highly skilled immigrants
must wait more than a decade for visas.
7.U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Mark Warner
(D-Virginia), Chris Coons (D-Delaware), and Roy Blunt
(R-Missouri) have introduced S. 310 in the 113th Congress of
the United States, known as the Startup Act 3.0, to ensure
that the United States has the chance to look forward and
build the kind of innovation-based economy that will help
future generations compete in the global marketplace.
8.The Startup Act 3.0 includes, among others, the following
provisions:
(a) creates an Entrepreneur's Visa for legal immigrants, so
they can remain in the United States and launch businesses to
create jobs, (b) provides authorization to adjust the status
of not more than 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's
degree or a doctorate degree at an institution of higher
education in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering,
or mathematics) to that of aliens conditionally admitted for
permanent residence to remain in this country where their
talents and ideas can fuel growth and create jobs, and (c)
eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based immigrant
visas, which hinder United States employers from recruiting
top-tier talent.
SJR 9
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3
This resolution calls on the United States Congress to pass and
the President to sign the Startup Act 3.0 (introduced as S. 310
in the 113th Congress of the United States), that creates an
Entrepreneur's Visa for legal immigrants, provides authorization
to adjust the status of not more than 50,000 aliens who have
earned a master's degree or a doctorate degree, as specified, to
that of aliens conditionally admitted for permanent residence,
and eliminates per-country caps for employment-based immigrant
visas.
Comments
U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, a co-author of S. 310 - the Startup
Act 3.0, states in reference to S. 310: "The businesses
high-skilled immigrants create are a source of jobs for
Americans, but at a time when our economy needs jobs first and
foremost, our archaic visa policies have America falling behind.
We are losing jobs and talent by the day to countries like
Canada, Chile and the United Kingdom that have realized
entrepreneurs have been the secret to America's economic success
and have changed their visa policies to aggressively court these
job creators. Startup Act 3.0 would create jobs for Americans
by keeping highly-skilled and entrepreneurial immigrants in the
United States where their talent and new ideas can fuel economic
growth. We don't have the luxury of time - if Congress fails to
act, we will lose the next generation of great entrepreneurs and
the jobs they create."
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
MW:ej 5/1/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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