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Visas for entrepreneurs
投资者签证
Where creators are welcome
欢迎创业者的国度
Australia, Canada and even Chile are more open than America
对于投资者来说，澳大利亚、加拿大甚至智利都比美国更开放
Jun 9th 2012 | from the print edition
译者：Dezazer
MOST governments say they want to encourage entrepreneurs. Yet when foreigners with ideas come knocking, they slam doors in their faces. America, surprisingly, is one of the worst offenders. It has no specific visa for foreigners who wish to create new companies. It does offer a visa for investors, but the requirements are so stiff—usually an initial investment of $1m, or half that if the firm is in a depressed neighbourhood—that the annual quota of 10,000 visas is seldom filled.
大多数国家的政府都表示它们要鼓励创业。然而当外国人带着点子来敲门时，这些国家又“哐当”把门关上了。出人意料的是，美国是最过分的国家之一。对于那些想创业的外国人，美国并没有特殊类别的签证。但该国确实为投资者提供签证，不过要求很苛刻：通常来说，初期投资需要达到100万美元，如果在经济衰退地区创办企业，金额可以减半——因此美国每年10,000个此类签证很少全数签发。
Other countries are more open (see table). Singapore offers visas to people who invest $40,000; for some, the government provides additional investment. Britain gives visas to entrepreneurs who meet certain conditions and attract ￡50,000 ($77,000) of venture funding. New Zealand has no specific capital requirement but offers residency to entrepreneurs whose firms are deemed to benefit the country. Chile is wildly generous: its government gives selected start-ups $40,000 without taking any equity in return. All these schemes have been introduced or expanded since 2008.
其他一些国家的门槛则要低得多（如表所示）。在新加坡，外商只需要投资40,000美元即可拿到签证；政府还会为某些投资者的项目追加投资。在英国，如果投资者能够吸引50,000英镑（77,000美元）的风险投资资金并满足一定的条件，政府就会发放签证。新西兰对于投资金额没有具体要求，只要投资者创办的企业被认定为对该国有利，投资者便可获得永久居留权。智利则更为大方：该国政府会为挑选出来的新兴公司无偿提供40,000美元（不要求持有公司股份）。这些政策都是从2008年开始在各国推行并完善的。
Where an entrepreneurial visa is not available, other routes may be. Australia and Canada use a points system that emphasises youth and skills. Since 2007 Australia has curbed the total number of permanent-residency visas it issues, but expanded the number of visas for skilled workers and their dependents from 103,000 to 126,000 a year. That is nearly as many as America (140,000), though America’s population is 14 times larger.
而在那些不发放投资签证的国家，一般都有其他替代形式。澳大利亚和加拿大使用一套倾向于年轻人并看重申请者技能的打分系统。自2007年以来，澳大利亚就控制了绿卡的签发数量，但每年为技术移民及其家属发放的签证从103,000提高到了126,000。这几乎与美国发放的签证数量（140,000）相当，不过美国的人口是澳大利亚的14倍。
A similar side door let Mohamed Alborno into Canada. The young Egyptian-born entrepreneur incorporated his company, Crowdsway, in Delaware. He had done well in a contest for budding entrepreneurs. But getting a visa to live in America is slow, confusing and unpredictable.
而加拿大却为穆罕默德-阿尔伯诺（Mohamed Alborno）打开了另一扇门。这位出生于埃及的年轻企业家在美国特拉华州成立了自己的公司Crowdsway。他在新生代的商战中脱颖而出，但是要拿到美国绿卡耗时较长、手续繁杂而且不一定能申请下来。
In the end he went to Canada instead, where setting up a company is just as easy as in America, but the visa process is much more straightforward. He now says he is very happy to have settled in Vancouver. His firm, which connects online video-makers with clients, has just launched a beta service.
最终他还是去了加拿大。跟在美国一样，在加拿大创办公司也很容易，但是办理签证的手续则要简单得多。如今他表示对于定居在温哥华很满意。他创办的公司为在线视频制作者与客户牵线搭桥，刚推出了一项测试服务。
America’s scorn for skills is extraordinary. The share of permanent visas granted for economic reasons (as opposed to kinship) fell from 18% to 13% between 1991 and 2011. In Canada it rose from 18% to 67%. The Partnership for a New American Economy, a pro-immigration group, warns that America is “falling behind in the global race for talent.” China, meanwhile, offers some highly skilled returners not only free homes but also cash to buy furniture.
美国特别看不起技术移民。1991年到2011年间，为投资者发放的签证（与因为亲属关系发放的签证相对）所占比例已经从18%下降到了13%。而在加拿大，这一比例从18%上升到了67%。美国新型经济伙伴（The Partnership for a New American Economy）是一个支持移民的组织，该组织警告称：美国“在全球人才争夺战中正逐渐落后”。而中国不仅为回国的高技术人才提供免费住房，还发放安家费。
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