Starting a Business as an Immigrant to the U.S.

Many people come to America to fulfill the dream of a better life, including access to education, employment, housing, and, at times, improved health care and more developed infrastructure.

Often, immigrant entrepreneurs start businesses, work in professional services, retail, restaurants, real estate, technology, healthcare or construction. They sometimes own franchises and small businesses like grocery stores, gas stations and fast-food restaurants.

Beyond helping themselves, many have added to our domestic economic growth as immigrant entrepreneurs. In 2016, the National Immigration Forum found that immigrant-owned businesses employ more than 19 million people and generate $4.8 trillion in revenue.

This is an increase from the 2013 report backed by Harvard, which noted that immigrants added $1.6 trillion to the total U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

A statistical analysis based on the American Community Survey and the Survey of Small Business Owners concluded that immigrants account for approximately 28% of all U.S. small business owners.

Plus, they are two times more likely to become entrepreneurs than native-born people. Even more compelling is research from the National Foundation for American Policy which reported that 55% of the country’s $1 billion…