In November 2014, President Barack Obama directed the Department of Homeland Security to undertake a set of administrative initiatives on immigration in the absence of congressional action on statutory immigration reform. The headline initiative was to try and protect the undocumented parents of U.S. citizen children from deportation, but several other directives were aimed at making the legal immigration system more responsive to highly skilled immigrants and entrepreneurs. In a flurry of activity as this administration comes to a close, a rule to allow “parole” of entrepreneurs into the United States was finalized, and the Department of Homeland Security issued a precedent decision setting a new standard for determining when highly skilled immigrants should be granted green cards “in the national interest.”
The entrepreneur parole rule, finalized Tuesday, will not take effect for 180 days. The parole rule uses authority granted by Congress to the secretary of Homeland Security to parole any foreign national into the United States—that is, to allow that person into the United States without a visa or green card. The secretary may do so “on a case-by-case basis, for urgent humanitarian reasons or for significant public benefit.” The new regulations provide one way for applicants to demonstrate that being allowed into the United States would be of “significant public benefit.” Generally, the grant of parole under this rule requires a newly formed business in which a foreign national is a key entrepreneur, and that meets one of three criteria demonstrating its growth potential. The entrepreneur may demonstrate that the business has received at least $250,000 in venture capital investment; or that it has received at least $100,000 in government grants; or that it can otherwise demonstrate potential for rapid growth and employment of U.S. citizens.
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