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When it comes to visas, two countries get me hot and bothered: the US, because of its failure to innovate and show the rest of the world the path to the future, and India, because it remains well and truly stuck in the past.

How many deals have not gone India's way because business people couldn't travel there last-minute, or without considerable difficulty? I personally know of several such deals - and once enjoyed the experience of being refused entry at Mumbai airport because the Indian embassy in a third country had made a mistake. Somewhere in Mumbai, a roomfull of people was waiting for someone to come and talk about purchasing their goods.

I love India - hate their visa system. One day, someone in government there will do the math and finally figure out how much the country could be gaining from copying virtually any other country in the world and enabling executives, investors, employers, to travel there with ease.

Enough of India. Let's discuss the US. Right now, I am faced with the choice of either standing in line for a new H1B visa or equivalent, or doing the work I need to do to support my startups in a third country, via the Internet and a joint-venture structure.

There are several countries that my wife and I have friends in, and these choices are all excellent. Should we choose to go that route, and "phone in" my work to the US, who loses? No us. The people that will lose are the local community right here where I currently live - in Florida.

• The local restaurants (already thinly-populated).
• The supermarket and local food stores.
• The dry-clearner.
• My banker, my lawyers and my accountant.
• The local mechanic.
• The local hospital.
• My commercial real estate landlord.
• My real estate agent, insurance agent,

I could go on, but I sense you've got the drift. Each of these guys will lose a chunk of change when I leave - why? Because Visa regulations don't affect people like me - they affect the people I distribute my paycheck to. I can park myself anywhere, and "phone in" what I do from any number of places that would be only too happy to have me, and spend my money there, in a third country.

So why make me? Shouldn't the aim be to generate as much money as possible for US businesses?

Visa regulations affect the people that salaries get distributed to after they are earned - the local merchants and business owners that stand to benefit from business and investment brought into America by foreigners. When too tough, they make the country as poor as if few regulations existed.