Sheela Murthy finds herself smack in the middle of America’s immigration reform debate, reminding us that the proposed legislation is not about the length of fences or number of visas, but about real people looking to live the American dream.
Billboard in Silicon Valley. Photo: Debora Villalon, KTVU
For many, that dream is steeped in America’s culture and history of entrepreneurship, where some 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were created by immigrants or their children, according to statistics.
Murthy estimates that her immigration law firm receives between five to 10 phone calls each week from foreign workers in America who want to start a business but are stuck in green card limbo.
“Their biggest concern is, ‘How am I supposed to run a company if I’m not sure if I can stay?’ And they want to hire employees but they can’t,” Murthy told The Story Exchange.
Murthy, founder of the Baltimore-based Murthy Law Firm, says most of these calls are from people who are foreign-born professionals with visas who are keen to strike out on their own. “Some people have already started a business and I have to tell them that they might be violating the law,” she says.
Watch Sheela Murthy’s Startup Story:
Immigrant startups in decline
As legislators debate the latest attempt at immigration reform, they do so at at a time when the number of immigrant-founded startups is declining for the first time, with. . . (READ MORE)
Article by: Karin Kamp
Published at: HuffingtonPost.com
