Biden administration seeks to revive visa programme for entrepreneurs

US President Joe Biden's administration plans to restart the immigration programme for foreign entrepreneurs that his predecessor Donald Trump tried to end. 

Three days before his tenure ended in 2017, former president Barack Obama announced the International Entrepreneur program that gives foreign entrepreneurs the right to work in the US for up to five years, as long as their companies are able to attract at least $250,000 in the US venture capital, and meet other requirements. 

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The Trump administration said that it wants to end the program as it is based on an authority known as parole that lets foreigners enter the US without visas for as long as there is "significant public benefit". 

The programme was not ended, but applicants did not apply for it as they understood that US would not entertain their cases. 

Since Biden came to office, venture-capital companies have urged the US administration to put the resources to back a program that allows thousands of foreign startup founders to move into the US or expand their businesses in the country. 

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"Immigrants in the United States have a long history of entrepreneurship, hard work, and creativity, and their contributions to this nation are incredibly valuable," Acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Tracy Renaud was quoted as saying by Wall Street Journal.

There is no separate visa program available for startup founders as of now in the US, and entrepreneurs based abroad are to apply via other categories. 

Between 2017 and 2019, the US received just 30 applications for the program and just one was approved, according to an USCIS official.