I'm a Canadian about to graduate from engineering. I'm well into my first startup, but I need to get to a startup hub where I can iterate faster and be around the right people. I don't want to spend 3+ years working for a company to get a green card, I want to focus on starting companies and failing as fast as possible. Is there any way I can get into the US?
ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
1–10 of 31 posts
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#2Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship.
Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Then, whoever you're working for just has to fill out some form and you can stay pretty much indefinitely as long as you're still employed and file an extension every two years.
http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f...
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#3Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship. Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Th…
What do you mean? I think he means he _doesn't_ want to be employed.
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#4Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship. Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Th…
What do you mean? I think he means he _doesn't_ want to be employed.
that's what plan a (sham marriage) is for.
But as long as you find somebody to incorporate with, they can technically be your 'employer' for these purposes, I assume. Bear in mind that this is all a little shady and really the only other way without an in (fake wife/employer) is through the presumably arduous process of just straight up applying for citizenship. Otherwise, grad school? :\
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#5Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship. Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Th…
The sham marriage is technically illegal, and vaguely dangerous. Though in fact it is indeed a common occurrence. You can, however, get a TN visa for part-time work, that is completely allowed. Also, the letter of the law seems to indicate that you're allowed to get a TN visa for a company you own partially, provided you don't have a controlling share (i'm not sure if this holds up in court, though). If it does, (i'd talk to an immigration lawyer to make sure), find three other Canadians, split a company equally, and nominate each others visas.
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#6Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship. Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Th…
I knew an Italian dude that had a fake marriage in order to stay the US - he was a video game programmer making 100K+ in the early 90ies, but didn't have a college degree, so obviously wasn't qualified or some such tripe. He said that they are pretty thorough in their investigations of your marriage, especially if there are no kids.
If it were me in charge, the customs/immigration/etc folks would be the first ones up against the wall:-)
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#7Get a travel visa and a sham marriage. As the spouse of a US citizen, you are entitled to a nonimmigrant visa while you wait to be processed to become a permanent resident. Then, you can apply for citizenship. Actually, your best bet would probably be to send out a boat load of emails to half the valley explaining your situation and see if any will hire you. You can come in for interviews on a regular travel visa. Th…
The sham marriage is technically illegal, and vaguely dangerous. Though in fact it is indeed a common occurrence. You can, however, get a TN visa for part-time work, that is completely allowed. Also, the letter of the law seems to indicate that you're allowed to get a TN visa for a company you own partially, provided you don't have a controlling share (i'm not sure if this holds up in court, though). If it does, (i'd…
Just found this: http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/nafta-tn-blog/2008/1/14/tn-visa... << Looks like "controlling" doesn't just refer to shares.
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sham marriage is technically illegal, and vaguely dangerous. Though in fact it is indeed a common occurrence. You can, however, get a TN visa for part-time work, that is completely allowed. Also, the letter of the law seems to indicate that you're allowed to get a TN visa for a company you own partially, provided you don't have a controlling share (i'm not sure if this holds up in court, though). If it does, (i'd…
Just found this: http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/nafta-tn-blog/2008/1/14/tn-visa... << Looks like "controlling" doesn't just refer to shares.
Interesting; they have the clause 'as a matter of fact'.
What we're doing is we've actually founded a company (some americans are part of the company), but it's an actually entity, and the shares are split equally so nobody has a 'sole or primary' share of the stock or income.
Again, this seems to be legal, and we don't see anything wrong with what we're doing. But we do see that some things that would be quite dubious could slip by the laws as well, and that makes us wonder if our interpretation is correct.
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just found this: http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/nafta-tn-blog/2008/1/14/tn-visa... << Looks like "controlling" doesn't just refer to shares.
Interesting; they have the clause 'as a matter of fact'. What we're doing is we've actually founded a company (some americans are part of the company), but it's an actually entity, and the shares are split equally so nobody has a 'sole or primary' share of the stock or income. Again, this seems to be legal, and we don't see anything wrong with what we're doing. But we do see that some things that would be quite dubio…
Hmm interesting, did you ever look at moving on a J1? Or for that matter does anyone else reading have experience with J1 visas?
Re: ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting; they have the clause 'as a matter of fact'. What we're doing is we've actually founded a company (some americans are part of the company), but it's an actually entity, and the shares are split equally so nobody has a 'sole or primary' share of the stock or income. Again, this seems to be legal, and we don't see anything wrong with what we're doing. But we do see that some things that would be quite dubio…
Hmm interesting, did you ever look at moving on a J1? Or for that matter does anyone else reading have experience with J1 visas?
I think you need to get some sort of legitimized sponsorship. I bet this is fairly complicated.