
Starting a startup on an F1 visa - zsras
	I&#x27;m a student on an F1 visa in the Unites States.
I&#x27;ve been working along with my co-founder on our startup for the past 9 months. Recently, I was issued CPT to work for my own company, and I didn&#x27;t realize you couldn&#x27;t be self-employed while working on CPT. So I was wondering what options I have at this point to avoid violating my student status? The document was issued early of this month for your reference.<p>We are going through seeding stage at the moment and finalizing things with investors, so we have to register our company and establish all the related paperwork, and we are trying to do so taking my situation into consideration.<p>So is there any legal way in which I can keep working on my startup without violating my status? If any of you know lawyers or website where I can look for legal concerning this matter, please point me to them. I&#x27;m currently located in MA.<p>Thank you.
======
dropnap
You cannot start a startup with your F1 visa, at least legally, so as you
rightfully mentioned you are violating your visa.

If your cofounder is American, the company can be registered in his name and
you can work for him as an employee which you can do with your CPT and later
OPT and possibly H1B. As an employee you can have shares in the company which
can help protect your interest.

If you startup does well and your share become valuable to around 100K you can
apple for an investor visa or a visa for special ability which will help you
work here.

If your cofounder is not American your best bet is registering the startup in
your home country and getting a virtual forwarding address here in the US,
then you can claim you are not working in the US but then you have to find a
company in the US to work for and work on your startup parttime

~~~
zsras
Hey, thanks for your response, I do appreciate it! Just couple follow up
questions, how much shares can I legally own? And does one of the co-founders
have to register the company under his name or could it be a third trusted
party? Again, thanks for your time!

