Big Wonga's immigration travails

I came to work in the US around February, 1998. So it has been around 11+ years and as yet I am not sure if I can continue to live in this country, which I very much desire to. Presently I am on a temporary work visa, (un)popularly called as H1-B. During the past 11-odd years I have worked in California, graduated with a Master's degree, interned at a thought-provoking think-tank (The Cato Institute), worked as a consultant for a federal organization, and worked at two financial firms--first in the beautiful city of Minneapolis and currently in Wilmington, Delaware.

So what have I contributed to the US? In all I have paid about $30,000 in Social security taxes; $7,000 in Medicare taxes; approximately $60,000 in Federal taxes and at least around $20,000 in state and local taxes. In other words I am not and would not like to be dependent on welfare or the generosity of the good-hearted American public.

Recently I have conceptualized an online venture and I am in the process of executing it. I am confident it has potential in the specific marketplace I am competing. If it grows--and I am reasonably certain it would--then it will generate taxes for the federal, local and state governments and also provide employment to one or two people as it grows. That would mean additional payroll taxes and a tint of reducing the unemployment burden on the society. As it stands I can't do it: H1-B immigrants are prohibited from working on their own and the law is quite convoluted about how one could go about doing it. The expressed fear is that immigrants might take away jobs from citizens and other natives. But what if an entrepreneurial immigrant wants to generate jobs instead of taking away one; how can the law help attract (and create) jobs in the US? That's an un-answered question.

I see myself as a start-up guy who has to deal with the following challenges: (1) competition; (2) catering to end user needs; (3) raising money; (4) keeping my day job; (5) my wife who is living away in India (because she has a job there as she can't work with her Ph.D. here). But the biggest lump of all: I can't start a company with my work visa.

So what different courses are possible for me? These are my forecasts: In a worst case I might be able to convince a few investors and have relocate and to do the work from India--a prospect that I am not fully comfortable with. I have been in the US continuously for the past 12 years and would like to contribute by (1) generating revenue and (2) generating employment through my venture. In a convoluted scenario, I volunteer my efforts for my own company--letting a native to head the company--and eventually figure a way out. If you are an investor in my company you would be uncomfortable investing in a fellow whose stay in the US is uncertain.

I truly hope that the president's recent push for generating jobs by opening up the barriers to small businesses will be expanded to entrepreneurs like me and ameliorate my visa situation. I hope I get to stay in the US and generate jobs and revenue for the federal and Delaware state.

Ideas may succeed or fail in the competitive market place. But if they never start they will never see the light at the end of the tunnel. A disappointing scenario would be that someone couldn't start a business and employ people because their immigration status is uncertain. That would be a loss to the entrepreneur (in this case me) as well as to the United States of America.