Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship and business creation is fundamental to a healthy economy. Companies less than five years old create an average of 1.5 million new jobs for Americans each year.† Immigrants in particular play an important role in creating jobs as they are more likely to start a new business than the rest of the population. Despite this, the United States lacks a startup visa to welcome immigrant entrepreneurs with a proven idea and solid investment. This results in many business owners struggling to stay—at a cost to our economy and its workers.
† Jason Wiens and Chris Jackson, “The Importance of Young Firms for Economic Growth,” September 13, 2015. Available online.
CEO Barry Zhang Says High Tech Manufacturing Companies Depend on Machine Operators from Abroad
Barry Zhang already had two degrees when he came to the United States from China to study at Princeton University. There he earned a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering. His wife’s U.S. employer sponsored her for a green card, and Zhang gained residency as her dependent around the time… Read More
Brazilian Immigrant Succeeds in Bringing Manufacturing Jobs to Minnesota but Says Immigration Policy ‘Did Not Help’
Precision-manufacturing firm Galaxy Enterprises is considered big business in Rothsay, Minnesota, population 600. The company employs nine people, eight of whom are Americans, and brings in more than $1 million a year. Yet getting started wasn’t easy for the firm’s Brazilian founder, Roque Rossetti, thanks to U.S. immigration policy. “My… Read More
Robotics Expert Is Recruited to the U.S., but Visa Prohibits His Wife From Working
Despite being on track to become a judge in her native England, attorney Michelle Garrod decided to forego her own professional advancement to support her husband, Michael, when he was recruited to be the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for BlackDog Robotics, a division of the American company NPC… Read More
After Spending $1.5 Million on a Hog Farm, Dutchman Learns He ‘Has Not Invested Enough’ to Stay
As the owner of one of Ohio’s largest hog farms, Meindert Van den Hengel contributes significantly to the economy. By the time he finishes building his third barn this year, he will be one of the state’s largest permitted hog farmers. He will have 7,500 hogs across three barns, for… Read More
Dominican-American Contractor Keeps Dozens of U.S. Workers Employed
“We are growing a little too fast now, it’s even scary,” confesses Vladimir Breton, a naturalized U.S. citizen who immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2002. His plumbing and construction businesses have approximately 25 employees and contractors, most of whom are Americans. They’ve been up and… Read More
Immigrants Are ‘Natural Entrepreneurs,’ Says Indian-American Founder of Multinational Marketing Giant
Indian-born engineer Jay Kulkarni was one of the first employees of DoubleClick, an online ad-tech giant later acquired by Google for $3.1 billion, and he led the team that developed the firm’s flagship ad management platform in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. Now, after striking out… Read More
Immigrants Rebuild a City Then Bear Stigma of Being ‘Undocumented‘ — Louisianan Asks: Is This Right?
This Louisiana Immigration Attorney Has Seen First-Hand the Contributions Immigrants Make to Local Communities In Need After flooding ravaged New Orleans in the summer of 2016, Miriam Crespo’s phone started ringing more than usual, just as it had after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. “It was such… Read More
‘Everyone Immigrated from Somewhere,‘ Says Pennsylvania Entrepreneur, ‘That’s the Beauty of America’
Jorge Estevez says rural Pennsylvanians are eager for quality homestyle international cuisine, so last year the Cuban-American general manager of Ichiban Hibachi and Ichiban Oriental unveiled Everybody’s Buffet, serving Asian and American cuisine in the small town of Stroudsburg, in the Pennsylvania Poconos. The three restaurants are worth about $6… Read More
Latvian-Born Entrepreneur Hopes to Return to U.S. to Grow Company
Peteris Krumins is the co-founder and CEO of Browserling, a software company that lets web developers test new apps and websites across multiple browsers at once. Krumins founded Browserling while in the San Francisco Bay Area on a tourist visa and is currently forced to run the company from his… Read More
America Needs to Know: Immigrant Businesses Add $780 Billion to U.S. Economy, Says Hispanic Chamber CEO
Javier Palomarez is the president and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The chamber represents 4.2 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States, which collectively contribute $668 billion to the national economy. “We represent 271 major corporations and work with a network of 200 local… Read More
Immigrants Create American Jobs
How many jobs do immigrant entrepreneurs create? The data shows that firms owned by immigrants provide millions of jobs for U.S. workers and generate billions of dollars in annual income. With new business formation slowing in the United States, immigrant entrepreneurs have a critical role in many parts of the country, creating jobs for all Americans.
What percent of businesses are owned by immigrants?
The act of moving to another country is inherently courageous and risky. So, it comes as no surprise that immigrants tend to be more entrepreneurial than the rest of the population. In 2019, immigrant entrepreneurs made up 21.7 percent of all business owners in the United States, despite making up just over 13.6 percent of the population and 17.1 percent of the U.S. labor force.
Where Immigrants Are Most Entrepreneurial, 2019
Immigrants and the Recovery from the Great Recession
Foreign-born entrepreneurs and the jobs they created were instrumental in the recovery from the Great Recession. Between 2007 and 2011, immigrant entrepreneurs founded a large share of new businesses across the country and in several key states.
Share of New Businesses Founded by Immigrants in Select States, 2007-2011
Which Industries Are Immigrant Businesses Most Prevalent?
As important as the frequency with which immigrants start businesses is the diversity of fields in which they start them. Immigrants start more than 25 percent of all businesses in seven of the eight sectors that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to grow the fastest over the next decade. They also play a large role in founding both Main Street businesses1 and high-tech firms.2
Sources:
1 David Dyssegaard Kallick, “Bringing Vitality to Main Street: How Immigrant Small Businesses Help Local Economies Grow,” New York: Fiscal Policy Institute and Americas Society/Council of the Americas, 2015. Available online.
2 Vivek Wadhwa et al., “America’s New Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Part I,” SSRN Scholarly Paper (Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network, 2007). Available online.
Share of Businesses Started by Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Seven Key Sectors, 2007-2011
Immigrants Found both Main Street Businesses and High-Tech Firms
Business Ownership Among Immigrant Groups
Looking at specific ethnic and national origin groups within the immigrant population, we find that many exhibit entrepreneurship rates higher than the native-born. At right we highlight the particular contributions of Middle Eastern business owners in Detroit, a group frequently credited with helping to spur the city’s recent economic comeback.
Sources:
3 Steve Tobocman, “Guide to Immigrant Economic Development,” Welcoming America, accessed July 5, 2016. Available online.
4 New American Economy, "Reason for Reform: Entrepreneurship," October 2016. Available online.
Entrepreneurship Rates for Immigrant Subgroups, 2014
Immigrants and the Fortune 500
Consistent with past NAE research, a significant number of firms on the most recent Fortune 500 list were founded by immigrants or their children. These companies make enormous contributions to both the U.S. and global economy. They also live on beyond their founders, generating jobs and revenue long after their visionaries retire or move on.
Visa Obstacles
Currently, there is no visa for those who want to come to the United States, start a company, and create jobs for U.S. workers. To access a visa, many immigrant entrepreneurs choose to sell a majority stake in their company and then apply for a visa as a high-skilled worker rather than as the owner of the firm. Our broken H-1B visa system, however, means that many entrepreneurs cannot get a visa before the cap is exhausted each year. In 2016, the White House proposed a rule that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to remain in the country, but it is clear a more permanent, legislative fix is needed.5
Sources:
5 Issie Lapowski, “White House Proposes a New Immigration Rule for Entrepreneurs,” WIRED, accessed December 14, 2016. Available online.
6“USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Random Selection Process for FY 2016,” USCIS, accessed December 14, 2016. Available online.
Low-Skilled Entrepreneurship
Immigrant entrepreneurs are hardly a monolithic group. While much of the attention is focused on high-skilled foreign-born entrepreneurs that drive innovation in Silicon Valley, immigrant entrepreneurs with humbler backgrounds continue to play critical roles in the U.S. economy. Founding retail shops, restaurants, and personal service businesses, these immigrant entrepreneurs help towns and cities across the United States stay vibrant. In sum, the over 2.1 million immigrant entrepreneurs with less than a college degree have a significant economic impact, creating billions of dollars in economic activity and providing jobs to thousands of Americans.
Top Industries Among Immigrant Entrepreneurs with Less than a Bachelor’s Degree, 2015
Entrepreneurship Rates of Workers in Various Demographic Groups, 2015
Business Income of Less-Skilled Immigrant Entrepreneurs, 2015
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