These are tense times for foreigners who want to live and work in the U.S., due to President Trump’s aggressive remarks and stringent policies about immigration. But skilled immigrants who want to start companies in the U.S. are finding support in a group of venture capitalist investors who aim to ease their challenges. Such assistance can be crucial to immigrant entrepreneurs because the U.S.—unlike Canada, France, Singapore, and the U.K.—lacks a so-called startup visa. In July, the Trump administration delayed the International Entrepreneur Rule, an Obama-era regulation that would have helped international founders stay in the U.S. for up to five years and has indicated it plans to rescind it. In its absence, several VC firms that explicitly invest in companies created by immigrants are filling some of the gaps. Though these firms, which include Unshackled Ventures, One Way Ventures, and One VC, were not created in direct response to Trump’s actions, their focus on aiding immigrants is particularly timely and vital now. “As immigration issues pop up, we’re seeing VCs answer the call and offer immigration counsel [to their portfolio companies],” says Jeff Farrah, vice president of government affairs at the National Venture Capital Association, a Washington, D.C., trade group. Yingzhe “Regi” Fu is one beneficiary of this trend. He approached Unshackled Ventures in early 2016, a few months before he was due to graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, with a master’s in mechanical engineering. As a Chinese citizen who wanted to stay in the U.S. and help some school friends launch a home-automation-technology startup, Fu essentially had two choices: he could seek employment with a large American company that would sponsor his visa or he could convince Unshackled Ventures to support his work authorization so he could concentrate on his startup. After several rounds of pitches, the firm agreed to sponsor Fu and provided his startup with office space, strategic advice, and access to a network of experts in exchange for a small equity stake. Today, Fu is able to work full-time on Togg, which just began deploying its smart-sensor product inside homes. “I’m very grateful for what I have right now,” he says. “I can focus on building my company and not worry about the immigration process too much.” Since Unshackled Ventures began investing in 2015, it has helped its portfolio company founders, who hail from 16 countries, obtain seven different types of visas through a close partnership with an immigration law firm. Often, the process requires the Palo Alto-based fund to hire its entrepreneurs using H-1B visas, which lets non-Americans who have specialized technology knowledge work in the U.S. for up to six years. In order to provide that service and give its companies hands-on coaching, Unshackled Ventures limits its investments to eight to 10 companies a year, says founding partner Nitin Pachisia. (The firm typically invests up to $300,000 in a company during an angel/pre-seed round and asks for 8 to 15 percent ownership in return.) One Way Ventures also plans to assist entrepreneurs with immigration issues when it begins investing in companies in October. However, the Boston-based fund will focus on more-established companies that are raising seed and Series A funding, and founding partner Semyon Dukach says he will likely refer people to lawyers rather than sponsor their visas. (San Francisco-based One VC has made several seed-stage investments while raising its first fund, but declined interview requests because it has yet to officially launch.)
Venture capitalists in the US are providing support to start-ups created by immigrants. Such start-ups have been threatened by the Trump administration’s decision to delay a ruling that would have permitted overseas entrepreneurs to remain in the country for five years. Unshackled Ventures, which started to invest in 2015, has supported founders from 16 different countries to obtain visas by working in partnership with an immigration law firm. Immigrants founded or co-founded 8 to 15 percent of US-based “unicorn” start-ups worth at least $1bn, according to a 2016 study.