On July 26, 2021, U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, Chair of the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, introduced H.R. 4681, the Let Immigrants Kickstart Employment (LIKE) Act, a bill that encourages immigrant innovators to establish and develop their venture capital-backed start-up companies in the United States to spur economic growth, create jobs for American workers.

Start-up companies create an average of 3 million net new jobs per year, more than four times as many jobs as mature companies. Despite widespread evidence that high-skilled immigrants are fueling the next generation of high growth companies, the current US immigration laws don’t provide a viable visa option for such individuals to start a new venture. The LIKE Act creates a new temporary visa for founders of start-up entities, as well as the opportunity for lawful permanent residence if the start-up entity meets certain growth-related benchmarks that demonstrate the founder has a proven track record of success in business development.