As an immigration lawyer in the Bay Area who works with many startups, founders, as well as established tech companies I can attest to the fact that the resurrection of this parole option is a game-changer for the expected 3,000 founders who will be applying each yea. This parole program actually provides a modern immigration solution that takes into consideration real-world startup practices that other antiquated immigration options never have, whether the E-2, L-1, H-1B, O-1, etc.

Due to this being a relatively new option I thought it might be helpful to list some of the initial requirements that must be evidenced to obtain the first 2.5 years (of 5 total available years) of parole to enter the U.S. These are items that the USCIS will want to see satisfied in the required I-941 application to be filed with USCIS.

Of course this is not legal advice and does not in any way replace the need to meet with an immigration lawyer. This is merely to raise awareness of this exciting option.

Q. What are the Critical Requirements that Must be Evidenced During an Initial Immigration Parole application?

A. The main focus of the I-941 entrepreneur parole application will require a founder to prove that their startup has been legally established in the U.S., within the last 5 years, and further that the startup has the potential for rapid growth and job creation.

The likelihood of rapid growth and job creation can be shown in various ways including having already raised, or having partially raised, $250,000 in funding from 'qualified U.S. investors' or $100,000 from 'qualified government grants and awards'. If a founder has only partially satisfied this requirement then they must have additional reliable and compelling evidence to prove significant public benefit to the United States. This additional evidence can include the following types of evidence related to the startup:

(a) Already proven rapid growth in the number of users or customers of a product, revenue numbers, investment that has been raised outside of investments that qualifying under the founder parole rule and more;

(b) The social impact nature of the startup business;

(c) How far reaching and national in scope the startup is;

(d) The total positive impact of the startup in a particular locality or region;

(e) Additional forms of reliable and compelling evidence proving that the startup entity has a substantial potential for rapid growth and job creation.

As part of a founder parole application it is also necessary to show that the founder applicant, or up to three co-founder applicants, each have a 10% equity stake at the time of initial parole application. This equity stake can decrease after initial parole but can never drop below 5%.

In order to obtain the initial 2.5 years in this program the rule is looking for a startup to evidence growth and job creation potential. Then, in order to be eligible for another 2.5 years on this entrepreneur parole program the rules require a founder to prove additional investments of $500,000 have been raised, $500,000 in revenue generation (with 20% annualized growth), or that the startup has created at least 5 qualifying jobs.

Of course, as with all U.S. immigration options there are many nuances here and there is some flexibility built into the thresholds being asked of foreign founders.

There are also important differences to understand between being paroled into the U.S. under this program and a normal non-immigrant admission into the U.S. with a visa. For example, a non-immigrant status holder in the U.S. cannot file to change status to this parole but instead must enter from abroad after completing the I-941 and foil process.

Happy to comment more if there is any interest. It is great to see this Obama-Era idea finally be welcome and for the USCIS to be inviting folks to apply.