
Ask HN: Can someone with no visa (or wrong visa) create a Corp or LLC in USA? - guest666
Just curious, can someone with no visa (or wrong visa - tourist, F1 international student, or even with H1 Foreign Worker) create a Corp or LLC in US?<p>If so, how can the founder of the LLC or Corp continue to stay in the US? Does it mean creating an LLC or Corp in US guarantee the founder a work visa? Or they still need to find visa sponsors?<p>Thanks.
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mahesh_gkumar
A foreign worker can form an LLC in the US. You can also sponsor an H1B visa
for a founder _IF_ you can satisfy the employee employer relationship criteria
(more
[http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memorand...](http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/2010/H1B%20Employer-
Employee%20Memo010810.pdf) or google) but basically it means the founder can't
hire himself. There needs to be a board in place which can hire/fire the
person in question.

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opless
I'm assumed that you'll need a valid social security number.

But actually, no according to [http://www.sba.gov/blogs/starting-business-us-
foreign-nation...](http://www.sba.gov/blogs/starting-business-us-foreign-
national)

which was the fourth link when googling for "creating a corporation in usa"

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guest666
wow, thanks for the quick response.

Does it mean a foreign national can 'legitimize' their business just by
registering an LLC or Corp in US? What I mean is that there are many startups
that are not registered in US, and usually have a credibility issue if they
want to launch internationally. One way people can get legit quickly is by
establishing a US presence, why? because most (if not all) legit famous
startups (FB, airbnb, uber, lyft, whatsapp, etc) are US based company.

then they can start scamming people (i.e run away with customers money), or if
things don't work, they can just escape and not paying the LLC/Corp tax.

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vecio
He can still create a LLC but can't get a work visa, I got these suggestions
from some local agents in Beijing.

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neoterics
Also, non US citizens can get an ITIN number in place of SSN.

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indyboy
"Just curious, can someone with no visa (or wrong visa - tourist, F1
international student, or even with H1 Foreign Worker) create a Corp or LLC in
US?" \-- Yes & No. Any foreign national can create a Corp/LLC in US. That goes
through foreign national corporation rules. There are laws that govern and
what industries you can operate and what businesses you can run. If you are on
a non immigrant class visa (B1, B2, F1 etc), you are treated as a foreign
national and thus will be governed by those. For e.g. you cannot take money
out of business within US etc. You can create and own a Corp/LLC if your class
of visa is "immigrant" (e.g. H1B, L1 etc.). However you cannot work for your
firm. For example, you can be legally in the country on H-1B working for an
employer and then provide consulting/guidance to people in the neighborhood on
how to garden and charge them. You can route the charges through a business
and have protections that LLC/Corp offer. You can code in parttime and route
the revenues you earn through the firm (however your primary employer might
come back and claim any of your inventions as theirs.. be careful). You can
hire US Citizens or permanent residents and run the firm as an independent
board of director and take money out of business. All of this is possible for
immigrant class of visas. The only catch is that you cannot work for it.
Remember that if you hire an american citizen as CEO and then file your H-1B
through your own firm, you can surely forget to get a permanent residency. You
cannot file your own employment based green cards no matter what revenue you
make or killer app you developed. The law is very clear there. There is severe
self interest and you have to prove that there are no US citizens to hire for
that post and when you own the firm, you have self interest to reject any
legitimate resumes that come your way.

"If so, how can the founder of the LLC or Corp continue to stay in the US?
Does it mean creating an LLC or Corp in US guarantee the founder a work visa?
Or they still need to find visa sponsors?"

The founder or the LLC or Corp have to stay in US using the same process they
used when they entered US. They can switch firms (not to their own) using the
same technical skillsets or any additional skill set they gained through
training on their previous job. There are very few ways for attaining green
cards and then citizenship. Keeping the lottery and the freebies that military
doles out, it largely boils down to specifics like marriage, employment and
investment. There are clear cut rules for each category and Startup founders
do not fall into any of the slated categories (because these laws were
developed pre internet startup boom). There have been bills proposed and
killed in the congress. Nothing has changed much since the last 2 decades.
Keeping all non work related visas out (which includes visitors, business
visitors, marriages, military programs, lottery program etc etc), the only
viable option for gaining permanent residency and in future citizenship is
through employment based categories (EB1, EB2, EB3, EB4 & EB5). None of these
categories have anything for founders. The intended founder of a firm have to
work for other employers until they get their green card and then start their
own firms. Or work as co-founders in a private firm (without disclosing their
co-founder status and stock ownership) and file for employment based visa and
then kick start the green card process. Finally work for an employer and work
part-time without telling anybody, make a killing (i.e. >$1,000,000.00) and
then invest it back using EB5 (investor) category. Investors get 2 year
temporary green card and at the end have to show fulfillment of the needs laid
out upon which temporary will be made permanent.

\-- I've been on H-1B visa for over 10 years and still waiting for my green
card. I've started about 4 firms like restaurant franchisees, real estate,
importing goods, tech body shopping & websites. I've closed down businesses
when I wasn't able to devote much time to those. Starting a business and
running a company is an amazing feat. But don't be fooled into an easier route
of permanent residency through this. Law is very clear and you might loose
your opportunity to work or stay in US if you play games around this. I'm
working part time with 2 firms incorporated by US green card holders while I
continue to work for my firm 8 hrs each day.

~~~
guest666
Thank you for your clarification.

"The founder or the LLC or Corp have to stay in US using the same process they
used when they entered US"

If the founder of the LLC / Corp enters the US using an F1 visa, how can they
stay in the US? F1 visa will expire no matter what, Bachelor usually have
about 6 years, Master have bout 3 years, basically F1 holder can not stay in
university forever.

H1b visa can expire too (up to 6 years), but with H1b, the employer can
sponsor the H1b holder to greencard.

What would happen if the startup got acquired and the founder are F1 or
tourist visa holder? Can they get paid if their LLC is a US based company?

