The international entrepreneur status would have offered foreign-born entrepreneurs a unique pathway to live and work in the US for 3 to 6 years while developing their business. Signed by Obama in his waning days of Presidency, this rule was scheduled to take affect July 17th, 2017. However, Trump and the Department of Homeland Security have decided to postpone its start until March 14th, 2018. The administration has suggested the rule may be eliminated entirely before then.
Because visitors are barred from partaking in productive work and nonimmigrant worker visas such as H-1Bs require a preexisting corporate company to sponsor the employee, few opportunities exist for international entrepreneurs to take advantage of the resources in the U.S. in developing their business models.
Although critics of the international entrepreneur status point to preserving jobs and opportunities for U.S. citizens, the majority of American startups valued at greater than $1 billion dollars have been launched by immigrants and yield roughly 760 new jobs per company. While an estimated 3,000 entrepreneurs may have qualified for this unique status, this surprising postponement is especially disappointing to tech hubs in the U.S. such as Silicon Valley that are increasingly competing to recruit foreign talent. For comparison, other countries including Australia, Canada, Chile, Ireland, and New Zealand all have standing immigration policies to attract international entrepreneurs.