Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups and Tech?

Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by ColinCera on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @11:39AM (#8330521)

As an American with two Scottish grandparents, I'm hoping an independent Scotland will implement a Scottish ancestry path to citizenship for Americans. I've visited Scotland twice and would love to live there and build a business there.

Of course I also hope there will be some reforms in taxes and bureaucracy to make starting a business in Scotland a reasonable proposition; currently it's not rational to start a tech business in Scotland, given the immense advantages of doing business in the US. I don't have much confidence that Scotland will actually become more business-friendly, but it would definitely be more likely as an independent nation.

But, yes, if an independent Scotland did create a business climate friendly to entrepreneurs and did make it easier for tech people to emigrate from the US, I for one would make the move in a heartbeat.

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by crb on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @11:55AM (#8330615)

You can get that today, with Scotland as part of the UK? https://www.gov.uk/ancestry-visa/overview

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by sksksk on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @12:10PM (#8330701)

The ancestory visa is only open to Commonwealth Citizens, which the USA isn't part of.

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by falsestprophet on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @12:40PM (#8330877)

You can buy citizenship of Dominica, which is a Commonwealth country, for $100,000 [1].

[1] http://www.dominica.gov.dm/services/how-do-i-apply-for-econo...

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by ColinCera on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @01:21PM (#8331134)

Interesting. I wonder if the UK actually lets people bank shot their way into citizenship (or at least a long-term visa) via Dominica or if they instead deny such applications on the grounds they're based on a ruse.

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by falsestprophet on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @01:52PM (#8331324)

Well they do for £1,000,000 [1] so they may not like the competition.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-investor/overview

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by sjg007 on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @12:41PM (#8330878)

If you were born before 1985 you can claim UK citizenship through your Scottish grandfather.

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Re:Scottish Independence – What Could It Mean for Startups a... by ColinCera on Wednesday September 17, 2014 @01:14PM (#8331089)

Only if you're a citizen of a commonwealth country — I'm an American, so doesn't apply to me.

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