<p><pre><code> Yesterday I left my wife and 3-month old son
to come to Singapore for my US investor visa
second interview.
Today my application was denied
because the visa officer thinks my $65,000
startup investment is not substantial.
This application has cost me countless number of
hours and $10,000+ to prepare
that I wanted to ask her if I could have
invested that time and money in my startup
would it make my investment substantial?
But I wasn't given a chance to dispute.
Today is a long day
that I wonder why America does not welcome
entrepreneurs
and have to rant from a hotel whose desk is
smaller than my laptop.
But tomorrow I will return to my wife and son
and continue to work on my startup
then write a much longer rant someday.</code></pre>
I'm wondering why you're surprised, or if I'm reading the wrong material. The first link on Google is to a site that says only 3000 investment visas are set aside each year, to investors of $500,000-$1,000,000 and(/or) employers that will be create 10 full time jobs in the US.
Come to Canada! Seriously think about it.<p>Give these a read as well.<p><a href="http://www.ictc-ctic.ca/en/Default.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.ictc-ctic.ca/en/Default.aspx</a><p><a href="http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/default.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://investincanada.gc.ca/eng/default.aspx</a>
Given that most startups discussed here are Internet-related, enabling people to do things over the web, the fact that most VCs and entrepeneurs seem to think that you have to <i>physically be</i> in insanely expensive Silicon Valley is pure conformism ("You should be on a plane to Silicon Valley NOW!"). Of course, since they're the ones with money and networking, they turn this arbitrary dogma into a law of investing. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the long-run, this is an acpect that entrepeneurs outside the U.S. can turn against them and outcompete them. Of course it's insanely hard, it's like trying to outcompete romans 2000 years ago.
I feel for you ... the U.S. visa and immigration process sucks. My wife's parents were denied a visitor's visa to come to our wedding (from Taiwan).<p>The system is broken, discriminatory, slow and unfair.
I feel for you -- I live in Japan and visa issues are near and dear to my heart.<p>If it makes you feel any better, you can have a successful business without being in the US, and should you later want to move the startup to the US having a successful business and all the fixings (such as a good immigration lawyer) will make the process quite a bit easier than it is when you're "just somebody with a gleam in his eye".<p>Immigration officials in both the US and Japan are not set up for tech companies, by the way. I used to work in a governmental unit of the prefecture which, ahem, zealously advocated the national government apply its immigration laws in the best interests of our prefectural high tech industry. If you're interested in trying the visa thing again in the near future, see if you can find yourself a stateside advocate like that. (I'd be kind of surprised if California doesn't have at least one state office which does something like that, probably sort of quietly for the obvious reason.)
The key here is that $65,000 is not enough money for a U.S. investor visa. You shouldn't have been surprised at all. If the business idea is a good one, start outside the U.S., and then seek to establish a subsidiary in the U.S. With a proven track record, you'll get your visa, but by then, you won't want it because you won't want to pay U.S. taxes.
This is another sad example of the US's twisted immigration policy. Brilliant entrepreneurs, scientists, and academics want to come in legally and are rejected, while thousands of others come in illegally.
I sympathize with you. But I cannot help wonder why you thought you would get a visa if you know they are generally given to 500,000-1M investments? Did you know it would be a longshot anyway?<p>Good luck with your startup!
It's not always easy to get in, which means the US tends to get immigrants who have a lot of initiative. This works out great for us. For you, keep trying. And as others have suggested, work wherever you are to continue developing your business in the meantime.<p>As an aside, have you considered having a usability professional do an evaluation of your web site and business idea? This kind of third-party opinion might be very valuable. It could even be a student in a usability program at a decent university, to save money.<p>Which leads to this thought: Now that you've announced to the world that you have a (very small) pile of money, I'm sure many people will be glad to help you spend it. You should be a little more careful and discrete imho.
i was denied usa visitor visa in 2007 -- the interviewer said i didn't put specific date, despite me having entered usa multiple time during the last 25 years<p>i guess she got a point. i never really miss usa much so i never really intended to go there, that's why i didn't buy ticket and put specific date<p>bad things hurt you ONLY if you allow it<p>i haven't re-applied any visa since then :D ... and no i don't want to go to usa either, even third-world countries are pretty good these days (i only need wifi, laptop, really minimalist stuff)<p>here i got servants for my family, life is pretty relaxed. actually i must say that my standard of living is higher here than when i lived in usa. the girls are nicer too, not as materialistic as the usa counterparts.
"... I wonder why America does not welcome entrepreneurs and have to rant from a hotel whose desk is smaller than my laptop."<p>There are one of two possibilities: all is not as it seems based on your story, or because the U.S. immigration "system" is idiotic. The latter is a fact, and the only question is whether it applies to your particular case.
<i>then write a much longer rant someday.</i><p>This sounds like you are giving up. I try to abstain from uncouth language on HN, but there is a saying: "Shit happens." I know little about this situation, but I do know of other unfair situations: illegal aliens cooking up Japanese food in the back of a restaurant down the street from me; a small company outside of Pittsburgh who hired a Chinese person just so the Chinese guy could get a green card (and then the guy quit as soon as he was on his way).<p>To quote an inspirational fictional character, <i>no matter how tough you think you are it'll always bring you to your knees and keep you there. Permanently if you let it. You or nobody ain’t never gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep movin forward</i><p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1tXhJniSEc" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1tXhJniSEc</a>
I'll add another note. I'm not condoning this but for the sake of all options being on the table...<p>If you know a few people who you trust then you can pool all of your money into one bank account in your name to reach the 500k-1M sum. Alternatively you can borrow the sum and hold it for a year or 2 and pay the ridiculous interest that would add up.<p>Clearly unethical and difficult but it's a very common technique with middle income would-be immigrants to get in on investor visas or as business immigrants.
The funny thing is he is trying to be legit. For 5-10k he could've married some random woman in US to get in, same for his wife.<p>It's not surprising power is shifting out of US and Europe.
May be a basic question but did you go through the visa norms before applying? The official site clearly mentions at least $500K as minimal investment (and employ at least 10 people etc) for consideration under the investor visa!<p>(<a href="http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4ff96138f898d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD" rel="nofollow">http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f...</a>)
> I wonder why America does not welcome entrepreneurs<p>To be entirely fair, the U.S. <i>government</i> does not welcome entrepreneurs.<p>And to be more general, the U.S. government no longer welcomes <i>anyone</i>; even the ones that are allowed in are treated badly.<p>If I had my way, this would be one of the top current issues in U.S. politics. I wonder why it isn't. I especially wonder why the U.S. tourism industry hasn't been screaming about it for a few years now.
jerryji, sorry to hear about your plight. Yes, the immigration system is full of inane/arbitrary rules and decision-makers. However, we are on <i>hacker</i> news after all. By definition us hackers are folks who are able to make rules and systems work towards our own advantage (while careful not to actually break any such rules). For one I think putting $10k towards E2 paperwork might have been a bit of a mistake, and perhaps the US consulate in Singapore might not be the kindest one out there. As some folks have mentioned here on this thread - think outside the box! Some cities in Canada have a growing startup culture (Vancouver, for one), and there are multitudes of different immigration options if you're still set on coming to the US, even if it means relegating your startup to being a hobby/project and picking up full-time work. As Randy Pausch put in, brick walls (like immigration) are indeed designed to filter out folks who don't want things bad enough (or figure out ways around them). Hope everything works out for you, don't give up.
As others have said , stay away from America . It's full of nationalist/protectionist rage these days and guess where its all directed at - yeah immigrants . I am assuming the reason you want to move is to collaborate with really smart people and feel the vibe , there are other countries with lot going on for them without all the nonsensical stuff. Come to India , seriously.
I'm very sorry. US immigration policy is highly arbitrary and irrational. I hope you succeed wherever you start, and still have the chance and desire to relocate to the US sometime in the future.