

ASK YC: How does a non-American entrepreneur get into the US? - omakase

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?
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amohr
Get 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...](http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=a7cc6138f898d010VgnVCM10000048f3d6a1RCRD&vgnextchannel=48819c7755cb9010VgnVCM10000045f3d6a1RCRD)

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DaniFong
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.

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omakase
Just found this: [http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/nafta-tn-blog/2008/1/14/tn-
visa...](http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/nafta-tn-blog/2008/1/14/tn-visa-and-
opening-new-business.html) << Looks like "controlling" doesn't just refer to
shares.

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DaniFong
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.

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omakase
Hmm interesting, did you ever look at moving on a J1? Or for that matter does
anyone else reading have experience with J1 visas?

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DaniFong
I think you need to get some sort of legitimized sponsorship. I bet this is
fairly complicated.

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omakase
A friend of mine did this to work as a waitress for four months in SC.
<http://www.swap.ca/out_eng/destinations/usa_internship.aspx> Apparently she
found work after she had received the visa and didn't have to report it. I
don't want to do anything shady though. I guess you can't sponsor yourself (or
your co-founder) for a J1 either?!

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alexsolo
I am also really interested in a way to start a startup in the US. Also
Canadian.

Currently, I am working on a TN visa for a big tech company in the US. The TN
is a 1 year temporary work permit. Currently, I'm on my second TN; last year,
I tried to upgrade to an H-1B, but my application was not randomly selected.
The TN visa is quite easy to obtain if sponsored by a company. It's the H-1B
that poses a problem; you might get one after 1 year, or it might take longer
(like in my case). Once on an H-1B, you can start applying for a green card.
You can find more info about the TN and H-1B on wikipedia:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_visa>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1B_visa>

It is also possible to go straight from a TN to a green card if you have a
good immigration lawyer. This procedure is risky: if your green card
application is rejected, you'll never be able to obtain a TN again. Take a
look here for more info:

[http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/t-123851....](http://www.immigrationportal.com/archive/index.php/t-123851.html)

I do plan to start a startup later this year, in the US if possible. I don't
really want to wait 3-5 years (or even longer) to get a green card. In my
research, I also came across the Treaty Investor visa status that petesmithy
mentions in his thread. Here are some links:

<http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1273.html>

[http://toronto.usconsulate.gov/content/content.asp?section=v...](http://toronto.usconsulate.gov/content/content.asp?section=visas&document=evisa_intro_faqs)

I would be really curious to see how this goes for you omakase. I've only
recently started to do some research into this. You can contact me at (alx dot
solomon at gmail dot com).

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white
You don't have to get H1B to apply for EBGC. The H1B period is 2 years.
Although it's not guaranteed to be approved for next two years, you'll pretty
likely be. The maximum period of H1B is 5 years from what I remember (2 + 2 +
1).

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raju
I am on an immigrant, and to answer your question, I don't think there is an
easy way to accomplish this. Your best, and most legit option is to wait out
for the green card.

There might be a way to spin off a company with a citizen, but even then, to
work with them on a H1-B visa, the company needs to show some revenue so that
as to convince the INS that it may potential need additional employees,
especially immigrants.

Please take what I say with a grain of salt. I looked some into this, and from
what I understood, this is the only safe route. Good luck, and I will be
interested in knowing if you find something that disagrees with me...:D

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white
You can't be employed by the company you own. And you can't share the
ownership to avoid this restriction. As far as I know, they don't care are you
1% or 100% owner. So, this means neither H1B or EBGC are possible. And yes,
among with solid revenue stream, ability to prove that you're not "one man
shop", and that you're not trying to make your business of solving other's
immigration problems, the company also needs to be able to pay competitive
salary within the market range. So, if you're getting H1B for Software
Developer, I'm pretty concerned that you'll ever get approved if your company
is stating your salary is less then 65K annually (in CA). And, as far as I
know, the companies and visa applicants are getting audited very often to
assure that they keep the salaries not lower then stated.

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ojbyrne
My experience is the thing about ownership isn't true, and I can think of
plenty of people who are counter-examples. Me (own shares in digg.com), Daniel
Burka (digg, pownce), Tara Hunt (Citizen Agency). All three in the US on TN
visas.

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white
You're saying about TN status (sometimes referred as TN visa). I was saying
about EBGC and H1. Only Canadians and Mexicans can use TN.

~~~
ojbyrne
Yeah, my bad. I mixed up comments. Or maybe I mixed up visas. Which is about
the easiest thing in the world.

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ojbyrne
Having been through this experience, I think the best way is to try and get a
job in the US with a visa, then work on the startup on the side. If you can
get funded, everything gets a lot easier. Unless of course you're wealthy to
start with.

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petesmithy
Check this chain out.. Drop me an email (pete at songkick dot com) if you want
any info, looked into this pretty extensively..

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=67268>

~~~
iamelgringo
Wow, great thread on this topic, petesmithy.

My experience is with Nurses moving here to the States from the Phillipines or
Canada. And, they all say that it's a royal pain. The Immigration service, or
to those in the know, "La 'migra" has been very crabby since 9/11. It pays to
know what you're doing and know what your options are.

A friend of a friend is on a temporary visa from Hungary (don't know exactly
what type). He went to San Diego for a weekend, crossed the border into Mexico
for the afternoon, and on the way back in, got a very crabby talking to by the
Customs official, and then had to spend several days talking to immigration
officials, and explaining why he had violated the terms of his visa, and why
they shouldn't deport him.

All that to say, is don't taunt "La 'migra". Don't do something foolish like
try to get a faux marriage. Don't get into trouble with the law while you're
over here, trying to get your visa.

Perhaps a better question might be: Does anyone know a really good immigration
lawyer that I could talk to for an hour or two to see what my options are?

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icky
> 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 think you might want to examine your assumptions. If you need to hire people
(or are desperate to get funded or acquired ;-), then said startup-hub is
important. If you have a way of bootstrapping on your own ("I only bus tables
as a day-job; I'm _really_ an actor^Wstartup founder!"), and a plan for
getting actual revenue, then don't overlook the potential of a certain global
computer network that can reach across borders much more easily than you can.

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matthewpjw
I've worked in the US on J1 status, the process was pretty painless, but the
sponsoring company does need to produce a Training Plan that includes US
social events and evidence of US only experience to be gained and how that
experience will then be used in your home country.

You can then try for a H1-B and hope you get one of the very limited number
available.

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foonamefoo
You can't. Thank Lou Dobbs.

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samwise
short answer. MEXICO...... j/k

