eb5exclusive

Because the policies pursued by President Barack Obama has positioned the leader as strong supporter of entrepreneurship, some analysts believe his administration may eventually amend the U.S. EB-5 visa program to further favor startup companies.

In his State of the Union address last week, Obama promised to drive increased lending to new companies and provide tax incentives for start-ups.

Thus far, the president has proposed the elimination of capital-gains tax on investments in small businesses, which will hopefully attract private investors by creating an even playing field for foreign investors, as many other countries do not tax capital gains.

However, as CNN columnist Amy Wilkinson pointed out, thus far, immigration reform has been left out of Obama’s message on entrepreneurship.

According to the news source, over the last 15 years, about 25 percent of all technology firms founded in the U.S. were started by immigrants, including giants like eBay, Google and Yahoo.

Wilkinson suggests, “Changing the provisions of the EB-5 visa or ‘entrepreneur visa’ to favor those who plan to start companies and extending their visas as they hire U.S. workers would spark job creation.”

She added, “Simply put, the U.S. needs global talent to help create jobs at home.”