Following the Trump administration’s decision to introduce stricter terms for issuing H1B visas and delays over implementing the International Entrepreneurship Rule (IER), it is a trying time for Indian techies and entrepreneurs in the United States.
Even as the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services is taking steps to bring back IER — a proposed regulation to promote entrepreneurship in the U.S. which allows foreign-born entrepreneurs to be considered for two-and-a-half year visas with the potential for an extension for another two-and-a-half years — following a court decision, several Indian startups are exploring options in other countries such as Canada and Estonia. Could these new stringent immigration policies be hurting the U.S.’s image as a global startup destination?