Originally from India, entrepreneur and CEO of Ocular Therapeutix, Amar Sawhney has been living and innovating in the United States for more than 25 years. We had the opportunity to discuss Amar’s experience as a foreign national living and innovating in the United States. After completing his graduate degree at the University of Texas, Amar experienced first-hand the challenges presented by trying to stay in the U.S. to work. He persisted, however, and has since founded five successful companies while directing five more out of Boston, Massachusetts. We discussed his experience as an entrepreneur, his take on the proposed immigration reform, and his advice for internationals starting work and business in the United States.New York International: Why did you choose the University of Texas for your graduate degree?Amar Sawhney: When I graduated with my undergrad at the Indian Institute of Technology, I had quite a few good options: offers for some of the best jobs on campus, the option to attend a leading MBA school in India, and a scholarship offer from the University of Texas. My view was that I wanted to do something different, I wanted to go see the U.S. and do some research, I could always come back to India if I wanted.NY Intl: After graduating you decided to stay in the U.S. – was it difficult to find a sponsor for your visa?Amar: When I first went through my university for placement, I was instantly rejected by each company due to my (immigrant) visa status. Since I couldn’t find employment, I stuck around for a PhD – doing research – because I found it interesting. I thought “I’d rather stay than go back to India right now.” It was a journey though. Being in a research role helped. The technologies I had developed were licensed to companies being set up in Boston and LA by prominent venture capitalists and they both wanted me to join them. This gave me a unique opportunity to be the first employee in a startup based on my inventions.NY Intl: What was the primary reason you decided to stay in the United States despite the obstacles regarding employment and immigration?Amar: The technology I was working on was owned by the University of Texas, so I couldn’t just take it with me. My academic advisor suggested I stay in the United States since the strong venture capitalist system in the U.S. is a great advantage of starting up here.NY Intl: Do you think that your businesses would have been as successful had you chosen to operate them out of India?Amar: No – not then. Today India is different. Venture capitalism exists in India, and is more accessible. It was close to impossible in India to start a company without your own capital back in those days. Indian businesses – especially big IT companies – were more service oriented. Today that has changed a little bit and product development and innovation is happening in India too. It would not have been possible to do what I was doing in India back then.
NY Intl: Do you see many entrepreneurs going elsewhere to start their businesses due to the long wait to obtain a U.S. visa?Amar: I see several entrepreneurs going back to India – and it is not only to do with the visa but also to do with the hurdles of business formation and the available market types in the United States. For some companies, India makes more sense. Several friends of mine who are U.S. citizens are now going to India because the environment is more attractive there. The question becomes “How do we attract these people to the U.S. and create global companies, so that we do not lose out on this talent?”Several other countries are becoming equal with the U.S. in terms of capital and technological availability. Some countries have even become better places to do business. For example, Chile has big initiatives to provide startup capital and services for entrepreneurs. Israel offers matching capital for entrepreneurs – dollar for dollar – so the cost of capital is lower.NY Intl: What would be your advice for a college graduate or entrepreneur looking for employment, hoping to stay in the United States?Amar: Start early when looking for opportunities to prove yourself – internships or additional projects, for example. Two nephews of mine are in the process of looking for internships with the hope that they can turn them into jobs in the future. My counsel to them is that this is the land of opportunity, professionalism is respected, merit goes over who you are, and equality and a fair share are given to everyone.For entrepreneurs: you need to identify where the markets are for your business. If the United States is the biggest market, then it makes sense to start here. But localization will give you certain benefits. If there are not that many benefits to being local, you must balance – how well do you know the U.S. environment? What kind of contacts and connections do you have – can you work from your home country? Decide carefully.
NY Intl: What does the United States have going against it? What types of companies are more likely to leave?Amar: With current immigration the U.S. is giving people more reasons to leave. Now we are creating barriers. I’m not saying to open the floodgates to the entire immigrant population, but remember that many immigrants create value and jobs in the US.I am still very bullish about the United States. The U.S. remains a unique place where the markets are very large, innovation is still king here, there is an incredible amount of talent available. The availability of human talent, synergistic types, law firms, accountants, and recruiters makes up the ecosystem needed to create innovation, especially for businesses that rely on people and materials. Purely tech businesses are going to be the first to move elsewhere as they do not have that reliance.NY Intl: What do you think needs to change when it comes to U.S. immigration laws?Amar: Student visas should be extended to give them a longer time to gain work experience upon graduation. It is so difficult to hire a student who only has a year to stay. No firm wants to invest time training so you can get only 4-5 months of use out of a person. I think that the more advanced education you have, the longer you should be allowed to stay.There should be a system like Canada or Australia where immigrants are given a level of preference based on qualifications because these are the kind of people that we need to bring in so that we continue to drive prosperity.There are three elements that make a country succeed: a stable human resource availability – through immigration or fostering their own talent; a stable government – which this country has for the most part; and a vast natural resource base – which the United States is blessed with. If we can keep immigration reasonable, the United States will be on a prosperous path for years to come.