What Founders Should Know About Immigration and Visas
Some case studies from founders who’ve joined our global startup program
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One of the most common questions we get about a16z speedrun is whether we accept applications from international founders. And the answer is: Absolutely yes.
We want the world’s best founders to become part of speedrun.
That said, speedrun itself is a 12-week in-person program that requires successful applicants to temporarily move to California to take part in events. There are obvious challenges facing any international candidate that doesn’t already have some sort of travel authorization. And visa pathways into the U.S. can feel like a bit of a black box. It can be hard to know what the options are for a program like speedrun, or how to assess what sort of support you’d need to get a visa approved.
So today we want to try to demystify this black box a little bit.
First, when it comes to US immigration and speedrun, we’re typically trying to solve for two challenges: 1) coming to California to participate in the 12-week program, and/or 2) staying in the US after speedrun to build your company and team. Different visas can be better positioned to address each of these challenges.
For participating in the 12 week program: When founders come from a country where they need a visa (note: citizens/nationals of the roughly 40 Visa Waiver Program designated countries, plus Canada and Bermuda, generally do not need a visa to travel to the US for speedrun), we most frequently see them leverage B-1 visas. While the B-1 visa process is not the most complicated, getting a visa interview appointment is a necessary and often slow step in the process, so thoughtful planning is key (and strong immigration counsel can help strengthen your petition and interview prep).
For staying in the US to build your company and team, the most common non-country-specific visa we see founders pursue is the O-1 visa. While our speedrun founders have had a relatively high success rate petitioning for O-1 visas, there remain a lot of misconceptions about this visa, as well as a lot of nuance to a strong petition.
Queue the first misconception: the O-1 visa was often historically referred to as the “genius visa,” a moniker that put this visa type on a massive pedestal and has convinced many younger startup founders it is essentially unattainable. And while US immigration policy can at times evolve slowly, USCIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) has in recent years demonstrated openness to a much broader set of qualifications, especially for gifted technical startup founders.
Meaning: if you’re a 23-year-old high school dropout who’s been coding and building products for the last seven years, you might assume you won’t check all the boxes, but we’ve seen this profile make for a successful O-1 petitioner.
You can Google "what are the qualifications for O-1" and get halfway decent answers. But it's hard to look at yourself in the mirror and assess whether you have the qualifications and the background to qualify for O-1. This is where a16z’s network of experienced startup immigration attorneys can play a valuable role.
For admitted founders interested in pursuing an O-1, we’ll make key introductions to attorneys that specialize in cases like theirs, provide advisory opinions and letters of support… and of course, gaining admission to the highly selective speedrun program and having a16z speedrun on your cap table certainly helps :)
Case Studies
It can be helpful to see how this process has actually worked in the past for successful visa petitioners who participated in speedrun. So below we’re sharing three case studies with founders—each of whom we’re keeping anonymous for the sake of their privacy.
Case Study #1 - A Request for Evidence (RFE) Challenge
Founder #1 is from a country in East Asia. After his initial petition for an O-1 visa, he ran into a speedbump: a Request for Evidence (RFE) was issued. To figure out a strategy to respond to the RFE, Petitioner #1 connected with a new lawyer from the a16z network with deep, specific experience O-1 visa petitions for US-bound, pre-revenue startup founders. While it can feel risky to change immigration counsel mid-petition, in this case our founder shared that it made all the difference:
“The attorney a16z connected me with had a strong track record working with international founders backed by top-tier VCs, so she immediately understood our situation and the specific nuances of O-1 visas for startup founders,” Founder #1 says. “Crucially, she had extensive experience successfully handling complex RFEs like the one we received. Given that the visa application process can often feel like a black box, having an expert with this level of pattern recognition and insight was incredibly helpful and confidence-inspiring… Ultimately, working with her and leveraging her specific expertise led directly to our petition being approved after the RFE challenge.”
Sidebar: Case Study #2 - A Student O-1 Success Story
Founder #2 is an alumni of a16z speedrun originally from a tiny island country with a population of fewer than 1 million people. “My background is in food manufacturing—not the typical starting point for a tech founder,” he says. “Before college I started a food-tech company that manufactured alternative milk. It scaled quickly, but what really stuck with me was how painful and chaotic marketing was, so I knew my next company had to solve that. When I saw speedrun, it felt like the perfect fit.”
Founder #2 was originally a student in the United States, but upon leaving college to work on his company, his status effectively changed from student to tourist. “Not getting the O-1 would’ve meant I couldn’t stay on to build the company,” he says. “That was stressful.”
At first, Founder #2 says, the visa petition prep process was moving too slowly. But after the speedrun team introduced him to some lawyers that were a better fit, things picked up. An investor from the speedrun team also wrote a letter of recommendation (as we often do on behalf of speedrun founders), which he believes helped his cause. Ultimately, he was granted the O-1 and was able to participate in the program.
Case Study #3 - From Turkey With Love
Founder #3 is from Turkey, a hot-spot for startups connected to mobile gaming. After gaining strong experience leading a division at one of the region’s fastest-growing companies, he says, “It felt like the right time to apply everything I had learned toward building something of my own.”
We asked: In general, what was your visa experience like? What speedbumps did you run into, and what went well?
Founder #3’s response:
The visa process was definitely one of the trickier parts of preparing for speedrun. In Turkey, the waiting time for a U.S. visa appointment can stretch up to two years, which is overwhelming if you’re trying to move fast. The key is to act quickly as soon as it becomes clear you’ll be heading to the U.S., and to work with experienced visa consultants who know the system well. In our case, our consultant was able to spot an earlier appointment in Ankara (outside our home city of Istanbul), which made a huge difference. I had to dedicate a day just to travel there and get the process done, but it was worth it.
Finding the appointment was the biggest hurdle, but everything else went relatively smoothly. a16z also helped by providing an invitation letter, which can be helpful in supporting your application if needed. Overall, it’s doable. You just need to move fast, stay organized, and get the right support in place.
That’s it for this week. We hope this was helpful for any international founders thinking about applying to speedrun.
Although apps for SR005 have officially closed, the application portal remains open, and we encourage anyone interested in joining SR006 to fill out the form. Doing so ensures you’ll be notified when we begin formally accepting apps for it in September.
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This is super helpful for founders 🙏
Good read indeed!