Opportunity Lost: The Cost of Rescinding the International Entrepreneur Rule

The American Dream has long provided hope to millions that a better life in America is possible through hard work, ingenuity, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Despite this history, U.S. immigration policies remain conspicuously ambivalent to the task of welcoming the most promising entrepreneurs from other countries. Instead, entrepreneurial immigrants in the United States are forced to navigate a complex set of different visa programs in the hopes they can find a way allowing them to stay and establish their business by the book. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) regulatory measure to give foreign entrepreneurs a chance to grow their firms in the United States, called the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER), was a first step in remedying this situation. However, despite the inherent job-creating potential of the IER, its future remains uncertain. Despite receiving widely positive press coverage and ample supporting public comments, DHS first delayed the implementation of the rule, and then later announced its intent to rescind the rule altogether. In order to provide more specific notions of the potential cost of DHS’s decision, NAE estimated the potential impact on U.S. job creation over 10 years as well as its broader implications for the economy.

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