Dave Knox, Rob McDonald and J.B. Kropp are co-founders of the Brandery, which hosted a forum to discuss immigration reform on Wednesday.
Andy Brownfield
Reporter- Cincinnati Business Courier
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As changes to the United States’ immigration policy are being debated on Capitol Hill, a group of Cincinnati startup and tech luminaries, business leaders and economic development forces met at the Brandery on Wednesday morning to explain why the topic is important locally.
Brandery co-founder Rob McDonald said the startup accelerator is currently accepting applications for its class of 2014, and many of those applications come from outside of the U.S.
“Immigration is a particularly important issue for us because when we’re looking at applications from over 40 countries we need to be able to determine whether or not these companies coming to Cincinnati are going to be able to stay in the U.S.,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for us to recruit a company that’s going stay for 90 days on a tourist visa then fly back to Israel or Singapore or wherever they’re from. This time of year it becomes a very relevant issue because we see really wonderful companies that we want to bring to Cincinnati that we think will be a strong fit that will create jobs for local folks, but unfortunately we can’t keep them.”
That’s not to say the Brandery will reject an applicant if they don’t know how they’ll stay stateside. One of its best success stories – Roadtrippers – was started by a British national who married an American citizen and was able to stay in the country.
“The only real solution is to come up with a marriage or wedding service, so if you can help us recruit brides, we’d welcome that,” McDonald joked.
Startups aren’t the only ones looking for ways to keep talented foreign nationals in the region.
Brownfield covers technology, startups, manufacturing and courts.
Cincinnati startup community advocates for immigration overhaul
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