English 
Português 
Español 
Entrepreneurs born outside the United States have built a significant share of the economy that drives the world today. A 2024 report by the American Immigration Council found that 46% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants — 230 companies generating over $8 trillion in combined revenue. For those planning to immigrate with an entrepreneurial mindset, this is the concrete landscape that defines opportunities, immigration pathways, and realistic expectations for the years ahead.
The Weight of Immigrants in the Fortune 500
The New American Fortune 500 study compiles public data on the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue. According to the 2024 edition, 230 of those companies have at least one immigrant founder or a founder who is the child of immigrants, and together they employ more than 15.5 million people worldwide.
The numbers put the impact in perspective. The combined revenue of these 230 companies in 2023 exceeded $8.6 trillion — more than the GDP of Germany or Japan in the same year. In 2024, ten new companies with immigrant founders entered the ranking, including DoorDash and EchoStar.
Iconic Cases and the Multiplier Effect
A few names illustrate the pattern. Sergey Brin arrived from the Soviet Union at age six and co-founded Google at Stanford. Elon Musk emigrated from South Africa and built Tesla, SpaceX, and the holding company that controls X. Jensen Huang, born in Taiwan, led Nvidia to become one of the most valuable companies on the planet as GPUs became central to artificial intelligence.
Walt Disney, the son of Irish and Canadian immigrants, reshaped the entertainment industry. More recently, Tony Xu, born in China, transformed food delivery with DoorDash. These founders don’t operate in isolation: every publicly traded company they lead finances entire ecosystems of suppliers, startups, and skilled professionals.
Sectors Where the Impact Is Greatest
Technology and Software
Silicon Valley is the most visible example. Studies by the National Foundation for American Policy and the American Immigration Council show that more than half of American startups valued at over $1 billion were co-founded by immigrants. Sectors such as semiconductors, large language models, and computational biotechnology are especially concentrated with this profile.
Manufacturing and Heavy Industry
More than two-thirds of the largest manufacturers in the Fortune 500 have roots in immigrant founders or their children. Companies like Steel Dynamics in steel and Tesla in automotive support entire supply chains across the United States.
Finance and Fintech
The financial sector is experiencing a wave of new entrants led by immigrants, particularly in digital payments, consumer credit, and AI-driven risk analysis. Established companies like Capital One and Charles Schwab also appear in the study, and growth-stage fintechs are feeding the next generation of the list.
Retail and Consumer Goods
From Levi Strauss, founded by a German immigrant in the 19th century, to contemporary direct-to-consumer brands, American retail has always been fertile ground for founders who combine cultural heritage with a sharp read of the domestic market.
Immigration Pathways for Entrepreneurs
There is no single entrepreneur visa in the United States. Foreign founders typically navigate a combination of categories under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), each with its own requirements.
The EB-5 visa allows permanent residence for those who invest and create jobs. Following the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, the standard minimum investment is $1,050,000 — or $800,000 when capital is directed to a Targeted Employment Area (TEA) — with a requirement to create at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers.
The E-2 is a nonimmigrant treaty investor visa that allows the investor to manage a business in the United States. No minimum investment amount is set by statute, but a substantial and proportional investment relative to the business size is required. Brazilian nationals do not have direct access to the E-2 because Brazil does not maintain a qualifying treaty of commerce and navigation with the U.S.; Brazilian citizens often rely on a second eligible nationality.
The L-1 visa allows intracompany transfers of executives, managers, and employees with specialized knowledge, while the O-1 covers individuals with extraordinary ability in science, business, arts, or athletics. For early-stage entrepreneurs, the International Entrepreneur Parole program allows temporary presence in the U.S. based on objective evidence of startup traction.
The Real Obstacles
Entrepreneurship in the United States as a foreign national still runs into concrete barriers. Immigration bureaucracy can extend timelines by years, especially in categories subject to visa backlogs. Access to bank credit is more limited in the early years without a U.S. credit history, which often pushes founders toward venture capital or personal funds.
Regulatory variation across states, the complexity of combined federal and state tax obligations, and the need for functional English proficiency for fundraising and hiring are persistent challenges. Add to that the political cycle: recent administrations have alternated between restrictions and openings in programs such as the H-1B and the International Entrepreneur Parole, requiring immigration planning that accounts for windows of opportunity and contingency scenarios.
Trends for the Coming Years
The weight of immigrants is expected to continue growing over the coming decades for structural reasons. The native-born American population is aging, fertility rates are declining, and strategic sectors such as semiconductors, energy, and healthcare depend on skilled labor that cannot be produced domestically in sufficient volume alone.
Countries such as Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Portugal are actively competing for the same human capital with founder and highly skilled professional visas. For Brazilian or Latin American entrepreneurs evaluating destinations, this means more options — but also the need to coldly compare costs, timelines, quality of life, and market potential across jurisdictions before committing capital and family.
The immigrant movement that built the Fortune 500 is not a closed chapter. It continues every year, in the founding of new companies, in investment rounds, and in the decisions of those who choose to take their project to a market capable of scaling it. Understanding the legal framework, the real numbers, and the available options is the starting point for anyone who wants to be part of that story.
Victoria Harper
Editor-in-Chief
Leading journalism and editorial content at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps make immigration topics clear, trustworthy, and easy to understand. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.
