Silicon Valley Looks Beyond The H1-B Visa

Someone Close to Me Multiple Sclerosis, a diagnosis that once felt devastating. It turns out, though, that ms is no longer the debilitating condition it used to be. That’s Mostly thanks to a small handful of doctors and researchers.

Mary Years Ago, Dr. Stephen Hauser and His Research Team Discovered How They Developed New Treatments, Including One Medicine that is literally saving the life of someone love dearly. (If you Need Hope here, Read His Amazing Book.)

I Met Dr. Hauser a few days ago at a Charity Dinner in San Francisco, where he spoke about the breakthrough. I got to say him for this Miracle of Sciencewhile trying not to cry.

During His Speech, Dr. Hauser Went Out of HIS WAY TO MENTION NEW FEES BEING IMPOSED ON THE H-1B VISA Process. He noted that two of the HIS Top Researchers, Who Helped Discover the Ms Breakthrough, Came to the US On These Visas. Without that influx of expertise to America, this ms discovery might never have happened.

Versions of this shock and realization have been reverberating acroSs San Francisco and Silicon Valley This Week. The tech industry hires a lot of overseas talent, and companies have relied on h-1b visas a lot over the years. The New $ 100,000 Fee Could Make Applications Harder, Especilly for Startups. Will This End Silicon Valley’s Role As A Hub for the World’s Most Talent Technologists and Entrepreneurs?

AFTER the initial panic, some in the industry are realizing that this may not be awphul as first expert. There are alternatives for Attracting Tech Talent. One US Startup Founder Told me he Hires Oversseas and Just LETS EPLOYEES WORK FROM THEIR HOME COUNTRIES. Remote Work for the Win!

Then, there’s the O-1 Visa, which has already quietly Become a go-to hire tool in the tech sector.

“The Visa That’s Been Fueling Silicon Valley is O-1, Not H-1b,” Guillermo Rauch, CEO of AI Startup Vercel, Wrote on x this Week.

The O-1 Visa is for Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement in Fields Such As Science, Arts, Education, and Business. The Application Fee Costs About $ 1,000.

Rauch came to the us on an o-1 visa, and he said the Application process was hard Because he had to prove extraordinary abilities through evidensam As a book he wrote, press corage, and letters of recommunications in his Field.

Despite Such Requirements, Issuance of O-1 Visas Has Roughly Double in Recent Years, Far Outpacing The Growth of H1-B Visas. O-1 Applications ALSO HAVE A PRETY HIGH APPROVAL RATE.

Marvin von Hagen, Cofounder of he agent startup Interaction Company of California, is in the US on an o-1 visa. He Said Gathering Evidence for This Visa is Harder than Paying the $ 100,000, but for Top Startups, the O-1 “Simplifies Things and Taks the Luck Out of It.”

Yang Fan Yun, CEO of AI Browser Startup Composite, Said His Company use “Alternative Visa Pathways,” Such as the O-1, WHICH OFFER MERT Flexibility and a Clearer route to permanent residency.

“IT MAKES SENSE THAT O-1 USAGE HAS GROWN AS THE H-1B IS MAXED OUT AND MADE Completely Unfeasible,” Said Ava Benach, Founding Partner of Benach Pitney Reilly, One of the Top Immigration Law Firms in Washington, DC.

O-1 Visas Require Employers to be more selective about who they have hire because the standards are higher. “They are not going to be able to replace 100 h-1bs with 100 o-1s,” She warned, while notting that o-1 approvals are high because laweings like weed out Candidates ahead of time.

Still, Benach Said O-1 Visas Can Be A Good Option for Startups Becouse Young Companies Are of Hiring Sophisticated Employees to Develops New Technology and Original Strategies-Rather than Run-of-the-Mill Coders.

That Certainly Applies to Rauch and His Company Vercel, Which Develops and Runs Highly Technical He Services.

“This Country is so great and so worn Fighting for, that put an immense amout of work into my application,” rauch wrote this weeks his o-1 Experience. “The best Possible Immigration Policy Will Balance Keeping The Bar Really High, Essuring People Who Love This Country, Culture, and Values, and Are Willing to Work Hard, Get Their Shot at the American Dream, but Never at the Expensa of Those Already Here.” “

Silicon Valley Operates on the Cutting Edge of Technology, so it makes sense that the bar for oversseas talent be high.

For the us as a whole, though, these h-1b changes and other recent moves a bad message, accorting to benach.

“The New $ 100,000 Tax on H-1b Employment Will Certainly Mean A Decrease in the Migration of Global Talent,” She Said. “Along with the arrests of Korean workers, well-public Ice round-ups, and alarming rhetoric from the administration, the $ 100,000 Tax Further Contribute to make the US desirable for Employers in Search of the Best Global Talent.”

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