Startup Act 2.0: House lawmakers introduce Senators’ immigration reform bill

One week after Senators from both sides of the aisle unveiled a new immigration reform and job creation measure, Republicans and Democrats have again linked up to introduce the same bill in the House.

Startup Act 2.0 would allow immigrants who obtain graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math to stay and work in the country; reform made necessary, proponents say, by demand for those degrees that is outpacing the supply of graduates from American universities. The bill would also create a new category of visa for immigrants who start companies and hire workers in the United States.


Republicans Michael Grimm (N.Y.), Kevin Yoder (Kan.), Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Robert Dold (Ill.) teamed with Democrats Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), Russ Carnahan (Mo.) and Jared Polis (Colo.) to bring the bill into the House on Wednesday. A bipartisan group of lawmakers already introduced the measure in the Senate.

“US immigration policy should help, not hurt, the ability of US companies to attract top talent,” Sanchez said in a statement. “As our economy continues to recover, we must further enable our entrepreneurs to grow and to create jobs.”

A similar bill failed earlier this year amid concerns that such reform would allow foreign-born graduates to flood the job market and exacerbate the country’s unemployment woes.

However, on the other side of debate, immigration reform advocates point to new research showing that American universities are not churning out nearly enough STEM graduates to meet the demand of American businesses. Currently, the number of job openings requiring those degrees is increasing at three times the rate of the rest of the job market, yet science and math departments are still struggling to attract new college majors, according to the National Science Foundation.

But not when it comes to foreign-born graduate students, 60 percent of whom were studying science and engineering in 2010. However, under the current laws, many of them will likely be forced to return to their home countries after graduation.

“Too often we educate the world’s best and brightest in STEM fields, only to send them back to countries like India and China to open businesses and compete against us,” Grimm said. “This bill will keep top talent here in the U.S. to open businesses that hire Americans, and drive U.S. innovation and competitiveness.”

Startup Act 2.0’s other provisions would make certain investments in young companies permanently exempt from capital gains taxes and create a research and development tax credit for firms less than five years old that bring in less than $5 million in annual revenue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...nGV_story.html

The question is. If an undocumented student already in the country overstay/EWI earns the graduate STEM degree, is he or she eligible under this bill?

Those with STEM degrees would probably have to leave and apply from abroad--unless some special clause is included.

If only the US would get rid of its darn 10 year ban for us--at least for us, many of us would leave and do it the legal way.

the answer, i firmly believe, would be a big no.

Well, this would be very good for international students who're having problems with getting jobs. Maybe they'll be eligible for this. At least someone can benefit. But it is beyond me why these people are continuing to ignore us, people who have been growing up in this country. Feel very insulted. I can't even start describing to you..

I feel you 2face. I feel you completely.

I guess we're not worthy? WTF??? We know this country better than those foreigners and yet Congress prefers these guys over us?

I guess we're considered to be "toxic" since we're illegal...

And, we live in a Democratic country . . . fucking odd.

No that is not the case. We are considered precious, not toxic. They want to use us as "hot-button" election issues to sway voters from both left and right. Classic example is right before your eyes. Rubio wants to win over left voters by giving us false hope when in reality there is no bill. At the same time, he would like to keep his regular voters by passing bills to limit tax credits for undocumented and taking away the possibility of citizenship in his imaginary bill. Now, going over to our friend on the other aisle, Obama would like to win over right voters by increasing the number of deportations by the second. At the same time, he would like to retain his left voters by saying things like, "I promise immigration reform in my second term." At the end, there will be only one winner. Don't worry, it will not be us.