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How does one with a H1B, TN, H1B1, or E3 visa move from their current US employer and start their own company legally while living in the USA?
Alternatively, petition to change visa to H-1B & get your employer to start the greencard application.
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There are several options depending on the ownership of the company and the amount and source of the funding but typically the post-YC options are the TN, the E-1 or E-2, and the O-1. The H-1B, because of the cap among other things, is the least utilized.
Thanks for doing this AMA. I'm a Canadian who just got his TN visa (Systems Analyst) but in practice, my salary/responsibilities will be pretty similar to that of a Software Engineer. As far as the law is concerned, where is the line drawn between those two occupations?
Fellow Canadian that's been in the USA for the past 4 years.
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Legal fees aside, the filing fees are $1575 for a company with less than 25 FT employees and $2325 for a company with 25 or more FT employees. These are the fees for regular processing which can take months at present, so premium processing is required for quick decision and this costs an additional $1125.
How quick is the premium processing?
I'm currently on an H-1B in California working at a startup. In my spare time, I work on side projects that might provide value to somebody somewhere, but have an operating cost that I would have to cover if I wanted to offer the project as a free service. I'd like to be able to charge for this (or at least provide the option of a "Premium" plan) to supplant the money that I will lose in hosting the platform. I am NO…
i'm deleting this comment because it was a bunch of practical (as in non-legal advice) info about running an LLC that could potentially get someone in trouble if taken as advice.
While owning an LLC doesn't violate the H1B visa work conditions, working on an LLC does, even if there isn't any reported employment or income to the IRS.
Your current H1B employer probably won't care, but if USCIS ever caught wind of it (even years later) you will likely lose your H visa. USCIS recently closed the loophole where F-1 students would work unpaid internships without using OPT, and are completely unforgiving about visa workarounds.
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The EB-1 is a the immigration petition that gets you the green card. Getting approved for the EB-1 is how you get that green card. The green card is a two-step process: first, you apply for an I-140; this is the EB-1. Second, if approved, you can apply for an "adjustment of status," which is the green card. That one is mostly a bureaucratic process, but you're pretty much guaranteed to get it.
Thanks for clarifying :) P.S. I'd love to get in touch with you regarding Freshpay.
As a fellow (non-immigration) attorney, I'd just like to stress how remarkable and generous is Peter's willingness to do this via HN, even with the very obvious disclaimer. It speaks volumes about his confidence in his expertise and communication, as well as a genuine desire to spread good information around to those who need it. Neither the dated, often fuzzy rules about practicing law nor lawyers' developed risk co…
Would you mind explaining a bit more about why the status quo discourages this type of behavior and what most lawyers perceive as the risks? I'm not really familiar with how it works and I'd imagine there's others on HN who aren't as well.
The plaintiff would never win the case. But lawyers like to avoid being the target of malpractice claims, even if they're super-weak / spurious / whatever.
I think that is the situation.
As a lawyer, I personally don't mind writing about the law or answering general questions on the internet. I wouldn't answer someone's specific questions about their personal legal situation though (without an engagement letter).
I'm a student on F-1 visa. Am I allowed to form an LLC and sell products / offer services, while revenue from said products or services will be kept in the company bank account, without me pulling a salary?
Thank you!
Uhm. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I was slightly disappointed by the result of this. They might want to change the format in the future to promote fewer longer answers. "You might try X Y Z visa" doesn't really use his expertise very much. We also didn't really get an answer to the most obvious questions like if you can actually attend YC legally or if a temporary worker in the US can also run a company. Sti…
We've already heard back from Peter that the biggest problem was not being able to go deeper, and are going to explore options for how to do that. The takeaways from today are (a) there's clear demand in the community and (b) he would like to do more. That's an exciting combo, so we'll figure something out.
p.s. Please don't hijack the top comment in a thread by replying to it with something unrelated. (We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10720155.)
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Would you mind explaining a bit more about why the status quo discourages this type of behavior and what most lawyers perceive as the risks? I'm not really familiar with how it works and I'd imagine there's others on HN who aren't as well.
I think it's 'malpractice' risk. Like, if a lawyer give bad legal advice on a forum, and someone reads it and follows it and then loses a ton of money because of it, and then the reader sues the lawyer for malpractice. The plaintiff would never win the case. But lawyers like to avoid being the target of malpractice claims, even if they're super-weak / spurious / whatever. I think that is the situation. As a lawyer, I…
Is it possible to transition from an E-3 to a green card directly? I had a person at the US consulate remark on the fact that I was applying for a third E-3 visa with the comment "you can't keep doing this indefinitely", I didn't challenge him, but this by understanding was quite the opposite, that there was no limit on E-3 visas issues; can you provide any insight into this? If I obtain a green card by marriage, but…