[While this article is supposed to bring a tear to your eye, the author has not even realized she is describing a visa fraud. It is illegal for an H-1B holder to work for a company he starts.]

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An American Dream that Depends on an American Visa
By Shannon Henry


Monday , June 5, 2000 ; F05
Start-up entrepreneur Shaurav Sen has raised venture capital, found office
space and hired a management team.
But while he's overcome the typical challenges facing a new Internet company
chief executive, he has an additional, potentially devastating problem.
He might get kicked out of the country next month.
Sen's visa is about to expire, and he has spent the past few months
frantically putting together a package that could get him another special
visa--known as 0-1--that is reserved for those who have made an
"extraordinary" impact on the American economy in the field of science,
education, business, athletics or the arts.
The package was delivered to the Immigration and Naturalization Service last
week, and an answer--which could be yes, no or a request for more
information--is expected in the next 30 days.
If the answer's no, Sen could have to leave immediately.
"It's taking a toll," says Sen on the day his application was completed.
"I'm only 31 but I have more white hair than I'd like to have."
The call to increase the number of H-1B visas--otherwise known as high-tech
visas--which let immigrants work in the country for up to six years, has
become a controversial issue. Executives say more H-1Bs are needed to fill
available tech jobs. But Sen's story points out that sometimes even the H-1B
doesn't do the trick.
"Six years is not enough in general, and in particular to people from
India," says Sen's lawyer, Michael Maggio. He also points out that because
visas generally tie someone to a particular employer, they discourage
immigrants from starting their own businesses.
Sen has told the 10 employees of his company, AdSavers.com in Arlington,
about his visa problem. AdSavers sells advertising on individual screen
savers--ranging from simple logos to little movies. Planning for the
company's first product launch has been moving along parallel to Sen's visa
process: AdSavers is expected to debut at the end of June.
In an emotionally grueling experience, Sen has started interviewing people
who might take his place as chief executive of AdSavers. Clearly worried,
Sen is also trying to be matter-of-fact about the process, looking for a new
CEO who he thinks would fit into the company culture.
"I am mentally prepared to leave the country the first week of July," he
says.
And he agreed when he took a $3.5 million investment from venture firm
Draper Atlantic in Reston that he would give back half of his stock in the
company if he had to leave the country, so Draper could give all or part of
that stake to the new CEO.
Sen could apply for another H-1B visa, but he would have to go back to India
for a year first.
"The company does not have a future if I have to leave for a year," says
Sen.
Sen discovered the possibility of applying for the special visa when he
hired Maggio, a lawyer who focuses on immigration issues. Sen did not know
about the option, and was thinking he might be able to move to Canada to run
a Canadian office of AdSavers, though he would probably have to give up his
CEO post.
Putting together the package was like applying to an Ivy League college. It
contains letters from industry experts and other well-known people,
including Sen. Charles S. Robb (D), on Sen's behalf; a copy of Sen's
AdSavers patent; transcripts from school; proof that he was compensated
highly (six figures) by previous employers; and clippings from media
coverage of AdSavers. It points out that AdSavers was able to attract $3.5
million from a respected venture capital firm and employs 10 people, each of
whom has a stake in the company.
Maggio says awards--such as an Emmy for an entertainer--are one way of
getting the 0-1 visa. "For the Internet world, [getting venture capital] is
like winning the Emmy," he says.
"If I have to get on a plane, I can look back and say I tried everything in
my power to legally stay in the country," says Sen.
Almost everything. Sen says many people have been asking him why he doesn't
just marry his girlfriend of two years. He says his visa problem is not a
reason to get married.
"It is something I cannot do. Because then I question the fundamentals of
getting married."
Sen came to the United States from India in 1991 for graduate school on a
full scholarship from Marquette University in Milwaukee. After graduating,
he landed in Bethesda as a junior economist at a technology company. He says
he never intended his stay in America to outlast his six-year visa, but
things changed when he came up with an idea to start a company.
A big reason he couldn't jump full-force into starting a company was that
Sen could have lost his visa entirely if he quit his job.
He conceived the idea for AdSavers one day last fall when walking by a
co-worker's computer that had a screen saver of the cartoon character Sad
Sack. "I noticed it and it didn't bother me," says Sen. "I thought maybe
advertisers would like to capitalize on that."
Sen decided that if no one had registered the domain name www.adsavers.com,
which he thought would be the logical name for such a company, he'd be in
business.
His company let him stay until he'd established AdSavers, and then had the
H-1B transferred to his new enterprise.
"I feel like telling the INS that I really stuck to the rules," says Sen. "I
know a few people who have not stuck to the rules. And others who have fake
marriages. I just wish there was another way out."
His guess on the outcome?
"My gut right now is 50-50."
Shannon Henry writes about regional technology issues every other week in
Monday Business.
© 2000 The Washington Post Company