
Non-US Visa Applicants to the US - Don't You Think It's Time We Compared Notes? - petesmithy
OK, I'll kick things off. In our case, we have a US founder and two UK founders, a further two US employees, and a UK employee.. We started life as a UK limited company, and then incorporated a US Delaware parent co. So now the UK company is wholly owned by the Delaware corporation, and all the shareholders hold stock only in the US co.<p>Sound complicated? It is, but entirely doable and we negotiated fixed fees and payment deferral with our US lawyers (UK lawyers are twice the price by the way..).<p>This was not the most efficient way of getting from zero to functioning company, but it has presented us with some interesting options for visas.<p>Firstly, the UK guys (founders and employee) can be employees of the UK company and get B1 visas for the US for the first twelve months . Physically, we can be in US, but be paid by the UK entity.<p>We can do this for 12 months than get E2 (Treaty Investor) visas so long as the US parent continues to be at least 50% owned by UK nationals.<p>Or we can decamp the whole team to Europe for the first year where it's pretty straightforward to get work permits, and get our heads down over there before returning to the US.<p>We can work in the UK for a year and go back to the US on L1 (intra-company transferee) visas.
OR
We can work in the UK for a year and in that time try for H1Bs (application due in March 1, visas would be valid from October 2008). And a couple of us would probably pass muster as 'Individuals of Extraordinary Ability (the O1 visa) coming to do work in the US in the area of our abilities.<p>So that's our pretty unique situation - however, perhaps there's a lesson there? From the very beginning, explore having two companies - European and US - to give yourself the maximum number of options.
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Harj
"We can do this for 12 months than get E2 (Treaty Investor) visas so long as
the US parent continues to be at least 50% owned by UK nationals".

why can't you get the e2 visas from the start? that's a great visa to have.

"We can work in the UK for a year and in that time try for H1Bs"

the buxfers successfully applied for H1bs for their own companies

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petesmithy
E2 sounds even better than I thought then..

This just proves how difficult it is to cut to the truth..

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Harj
Definitely - on that note my biggest piece of advice would be to find an
immigration lawyer that has a good trackrecord of success. There are so many
grey areas in this business it's better to leave it to a professional to worry
about the small details.

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shiro
Seconded. Furthermore, their immigration policy changes year to year; so one
person's experience a few years ago may not be applied to this year's
applicant.

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gappiah
Thanks for sharing this. I'm in Ghana, and earlier today I had discussions
with two US nationals who'd like to join in my startup. I'm surely going to
watch this thread.

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petesmithy
sounds exciting - let me know if you want any advice (petesmithy82 at gmail)

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semigeek
L1 is an expensive visa (I have one). E2 is very hard to qualify for - but
your plan does sound like it will work, as long as you have the
qualifications.

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Harj
in what sense is the L1 expensive?

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ALee
This may sound like a stupid question, but how did you meet some of your
international cohorts? Old fashioned IRC Chat or elance? I've been talking
wtih my co-founders about getting some great help internationally, but I just
don't know where to start. Any resources from anybody?

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jamiequint
facebook groups (together with news.yc) is how I found my UK co-founders (I'm
from the US)

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ALee
Cool. Thanks for the reply.

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sebastien
really interesting! nice post. thx for sharing your experience

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yarek
For H1B you need to pay prevailing wages.

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rokhayakebe
Dude, you guys are making it so freaking hard on yourselves. You have the
right to be in the US for up to 6 months I believe without a working visa.
Assuming you are a startup who the fuck knows that you are working when you
are not supposed too. I say come in as a visitor and while you are here for
"fun", make the connections and taste the waters. If everything is running
smoothly then you can contact the Immmigration in place and make the necessary
changes. YOu will be surprised how much can be done if you sit down with them
live and tell them you are building a 100 million dollar company, but you need
his/her help to do it legally. That's my take

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petesmithy
Yeah sorry rokhayakebe you're way off. Try following your own advice if you
like but good luck pal!

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rokhayakebe
no need to.

