

Ask HN: Legal rights for US alien status developers - jkhawaja

For international web/software/app developers, how do they get legal rights for launching their websites/softwares/app in the US. For  instance if they are working with other co developers for a startup in the US, what are the legalities?<p>Thanks a lot!
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makmanalp
Well, the cool thing about the internet is that you don't need to launch at a
certain location. If you've launched in location X, you've launched it in the
US.

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neilk
Except when it comes to taking money from US customers. There are far more
options if you have a US presence, as well as greater customer confidence.

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iamcalledrob
Consider starting a company in your home country, and launching under that.

It doesn't matter if you only cater to US customers, and it means that you
won't be employed by any other US company whilst working in the US.

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neilk
You can found the company elsewhere and launch it for US customers, but you've
still got problems if you want to live and work in the US for long periods of
time.

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redduck666
you are in for a world of hurt with USCIS, startup can't be your sponsor (too
small).

your best bet is <http://www.cicdgo.com/> they will verify the company and be
the official sponsor on your J-1 visa. The J-1 is issued to you in your
country.

IIRC we paid 500-600$ for their services

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neilk
Seriously, a J-1? I'm assuming you went with the "internship" J-1, which lasts
only 6, maybe 12 months. And it's only plausible if you are currently a
student.

Might be worth it for someone hoping to get funded or bust in under a year,
but otherwise that seems problematic. Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but
once it's over, you can't turn around and get another J-1; you invariably have
to spend some time out of country?

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zbruhnke
this post is strikingly similar to one a few days ago, but as a reversal with
citizenship. The article talked about bit.ly being a website that was
technically on the domain for the country of libya (.ly) meaning that the
libyan government could possibly remove it like they had other sites in the
recent past, I would feel confident that the same is possible for the US, if
it caught enough attention of the proper people it could possibly get shut
down. Otherwise i would imagine it rolls freely without much fuss.

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olegkikin
Launching is not a problem. Getting paid is.

As an H1B employee, you will have all kinds of restrictions on doing business
in the US.

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logicb
I agree. I also heard the owner of a small but decent ERP consulting company
was working for a different company in L1 or H1B.

