
Non-US citizens founders, any advice on immigration law? - eastmanko

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felipe
Here is a good link: <http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=735309>

I guess the bottomline is that you can start and invest in a company, but not
work for it.

Have you already applied for a Green Card? While you wait, maybe you could
invest your free time now in an open source project that you could potentially
leverage for-profit services later on, after you get your GC.

Another thing you could do while you wait for your GC is to simply start a
savings account and accumulate a little bit every month, so when you get your
GC you have enough funds to start a company and survive without a salary for a
while (I'd recommend 1 year of living expenses).

Another option is to go get some higher education, which you can do as a H1 /
work visa. Because you work for a large company, they probably offer tuition
reimbursement programs. Take advantage of those programs as much as you can!

In short, use the time between now and your GC to prepare yourself and your
life to eventually start a company. I'm now a GC holder, but I have immigrated
to US via a work visa as well... So I understand your frustration, but I don't
think you have many options, unfortunately.

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abstractbill
"I guess the bottomline is that you can start and invest in a company, but not
work for it."

Close, but not quite (according to the immigration lawyer I used). You can
start a company. You can invest in it. You can even work for the company. But
you _cannot_ pay yourself any money for that work. Any work you do for the
company _must_ be gratis.

So you need an alternative source of income, as well as a reason to legally
stay in the US. Usually these both come from a job, which will of course get
in the way of your startup efforts!

If a co-founder or a board-member of your company is a US citizen, they can
theoretically sponsor an H1 transfer providing you already have an H1. In
practice this is difficult and time consuming.

I opted to wait for the GC...

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eastmanko
I noticed that there has been a few startups with founders who are not US
citizens. I am not one, and this has been _THE_ reason holding me back. I wish
wish wish I was a US citizen, just because there are so many laws holding a
non citizen back from startups.

How did you guys do it? I'd so greatly appreciate any advice. I already am in
the US, working for a large company (on a work visa)

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danw
Theres no reasons why you can't just start your company outside of the US. It
may be a bit harder if you're not in the valley but you can always try.

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Keios
Also, In India Internet companies/dot-coms are open to 100% Foreign Direct
Investment and control. So if you start a company in India a VC or some other
company can easily buy all of your stake. This could be true for other
countries so check around...

