Summit to Showcase Immigrant Entrepreneurs Amid Declining H-1B Registrations
The One Way Summit, scheduled for October 28-29 in San Francisco, is set to bring together over 1,000 founders, investors, and technology leaders to discuss the role of immigrant entrepreneurs in driving innovation and business growth. The event comes at a time when H-1B visa registrations have fallen sharply and immigration restrictions are tightening in the United States.
According to the Brookings Institution, 2025 recorded the first instance of net negative migration in the US in 50 years. Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows a 38.5 percent decline in eligible H-1B visa registrations for the 2026-2027 window compared with a year earlier.
Immigrant Founders Behind 59% of US Unicorns
A recent report by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) found that 59 percent of US unicorns were founded or co-founded by immigrants, generating approximately USD 5 trillion in value and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. India-born entrepreneurs account for the largest share of immigrant-founded US unicorns, having founded or co-founded 96 companies. They are followed by entrepreneurs from Israel (60 unicorns) and the United Kingdom (47).
“The summit is being positioned as a platform to highlight the contribution of immigrants to the US startup ecosystem amid the changing immigration landscape,” according to the event organizers.
Notable Speakers and Tightening Immigration Policies
Confirmed speakers include Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures; Severin Hacker, co-founder and CTO of Duolingo; Cal Henderson, co-founder and former CTO of Slack; Anna Makanju, Vice President of Global Impact at OpenAI; Immad Akhund, Founder and CEO of Mercury; Nicolas Dessaigne, General Partner at Y Combinator; Juan Pablo Ortega, co-founder of Rappi and Yuno; Manan Mehta, Founding Partner at Unshackled Ventures; and Gagan Biyani, co-founder of Udemy and Maven.
The United States has recently tightened its immigration and visa policies, resulting in mass deportations, stricter visa checks, and mass cancellations of student visas. The administration is replacing the previous “Duration of Status” system with fixed admission periods for F-1 and J-1 visitors.
On May 5, 2026, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed eliminating the “Duration of Status” (D/S) framework for F-1 student visas. Under the current system, international students are generally allowed to remain in the US as long as they maintain their student status and comply with visa requirements. The proposed rule would replace that system with a fixed admission period of up to four years for most students. Any extension beyond that period, including cases involving continued studies or post-graduation work authorization, would require formal approval from USCIS.
