Foreign-born people are twice as likely as American natives to want to start a business, and in 2011, immigrants followed through on their dreams to launch 25 percent of U.S. startups, a recent report finds.
The power of immigrant-driven innovation and creativity is especially felt in the technology and engineering industries, where about a quarter of companies launched between 1995 and 2005 were founded by at least one immigrant, according to a 2007 study from Duke University.
Washington has responded in kind, including attempts to expand work visas to specifically include highly skilled workers and most recently by introducing Startup 2.0, legislation designed to keep foreign entrepreneurs who have graduated from universities in the country.
Last week, Forbes contributor Ilya Pozin compiled a list of top immigrant-owned tech startups, including wildly popular photo-sharing service Instagram and banking service Simple. We've expanded on that list to include several other foreign entrepreneurs of note.
FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2008 file photo, Google co-founders Sergey Brin, left, and Larry Page talk during a new conference at Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Brin and Page have always said they put their principles before profit, even to the point of using their control of the company to take a stand. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file) (National Journal) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears with Liz Claiborne at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards in New York, Thursday, June 15, 2000. Claiborne was honored with the lifetime achievement award. (AP Photo/Mitch Jacobson) (National Journal) Dr. Andrew S. Grove, chairman of Intel Corp., displays the original "passport" identification tag supplied to him in 1957 by the International Rescue Committee for entry into the U.S. at an 800-guest IRC dinner honoring him Thursday, Oct. 29, 1998, in Burlingame, Calif. The IRC, a worldwide organization which aids in the resettlement of refugees, honored Dr. Grove for his achievements since he emigrated to the U.S. and for his dedication and support of the IRC. (AP Photo/International Rescue Committee, Court Mast) (National Journal) In this April 7, 2011 photo, CEO Kevin Systrom, at left, chats with engineers Shayne Sweeney, center, and MIke Krieger at Instagram in San Francisco. The mobile photo sharing service Instagram launched in October. Since then, the service has grown to about 3 million registered users, or an average of a half-million new users each month. Despite raising $7 million from investors the company has no plans to go on a hiring spree or seek to cash in on a quick public stock offering, the stereotypical scenario during the first Internet boom. "It's about going after the best people in the world who want to build a world-class company," Systrom said. "We are pretty sold at staying lean for quite awhile." (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) (National Journal) FILE - In this undated photo provided by the Bennet Group, Pierre Omidyar, the founder and chairman of eBay Inc. is shown. Omidyar is entering the news business with a new online service in Hawaii. (AP Photo/Bennet Group) ** NO SALES ** ZU KORR ** (National Journal) Aayush Phumbhra, co-founder of Chegg (National Journal) Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, introduces APT from Yahoo! at a news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) (National Journal)
