[3] A two-year work and residence permit is provided for non-EU/EEA founders seeking to start and grow their businesses in Denmark.
It offers a simplified visa procedure for entrepreneurs by cutting red tape and providing a range of tax and labor regulation benefits.
[12] Entrepreneurs and startup founders can settle via the entrepass as long as they bring innovation, investment, and revenues.
[13] Entrepreneurs are offered a fast-tracked resident permit, requiring a government-vetted business plan, health insurance, and enough money to support themselves while living in Spain.
[14] Entrepreneurs and startup founders are offered three visa options depending on their situation and the length of their stay.
Foreign entrepreneurs who want to start a company in the United States have no or limited visa options.
During a conversation hosted by The Economist on 24 March 2011, Aneesh Chopra, the United States CTO, responded the following to Vivek Wadhwa's question about the Startup Visa: "The President has been emphatically clear, his support for high-skill immigration, but to do so as part of a broader, comprehensive immigration reform program".
[22] This approach has drawn criticism from some supporters of the Startup Visa who see the White House as wanting to delay the bill for an undetermined length of time to include it in a Comprehensive Immigration Reform broadly covering legal and illegal immigration, viewed as politically "toxic" for the Startup Visa Act.
[23] Some actual immigration mishaps that the Startup Visa hopes to address have been covered in the documentary film Starting-Up In America, released on 28 February 2011.
[25] This said, it is possible and often more accessible for entrepreneurs who want to start a company in Europe to come under the EU Blue Card or secondment route rather than apply for a Competencies and Talents resident permit.
[27] Applicants must show access to €500,000 in investment funds and that the business will create at least five job opportunities in Germany unless they are recent graduates from a German institution.
[29] The required investment funds depend on the business plan and estimations—the Spanish authorities make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
[31] In Canada, the initial investment required is of $118k if from VCs but only of $45k if from Angels and none if a business incubator program accepts in the entrepreneur.
In most countries, the eligibility to renew entrepreneur visas or to convert to permanent residency is assessed by the number of jobs created by the startup and either the additional investment raised or the revenue produced in a specific timeframe.
Typically, the tight deadlines for reaching these goals are justified by enabling the early identification of genuine businesses.
However, they can have harmful consequences for startups by discouraging risk-taking and preventing entrepreneurs from making rational changes to their business plans that would compromise their visa statuses.
A company called Blueseed aims to create a startup community located on a vessel moored in international waters near the coast of Silicon Valley in the United States.