

Ask HN: Can you get into YC while on an H1B? - thrwy10

Most blogs that describe tips and best practices when applying to YC have one advice in common - &quot;Get customers&quot;, &quot;Prove that someone needs your product&quot;, &quot;Get signups, email addresses&quot; etc. And while that is a very valid and important point, for some of us though its harder than that. Even if one has a prototype, the companies they work for have strict policies that prevent doing business on the side, let alone the fact that the H1 visa also explicitly prevents you from having any other source of income or starting a corp. The only options would be to go all in and go to their home country to develop the product further, at which point they&#x27;ve abandoned everything they&#x27;ve worked hard for all this while, - or - wait for a green card, which is elusive if you are from one of the populous Asian countries.
What other options does one have? Have any H1s successfully made it to YC? Could they describe their experience?<p>Also, please correct me if I&#x27;m wrong here, but despite assurances from YC folk and Sam himself that you can and should apply even if you have just an idea or prototype, blog after blog suggest you need to be much further than that to get through the tough competition.
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vishalzone2002
I am on a H1 and I have been thinking of applying. Here are my thoughts :

\- Somewhat illegal but less risky is to take an unpaid leave from your
employer and as you build you own company, come back, resign and transfer visa
to your own company.

\- If you are married and your wife is working, you can transfer to H4 and
once you have your own company, apply for a h1 again. The risk here is pretty
huge as getting back on h1 is a lucky draw system especially if you are from
India/China.

\- Go back to school by transferring to F1 visa and take a semester off or you
can work on OPT.

\- People have also used travel visa which for some reason is illegal and
risky, IMO.

\- Can't think of other ideas. Maybe wait for the reform...

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Spoom
Wouldn't you need to be employed to stay legal?

 _If a foreign worker in H-1B status quits or is dismissed from the sponsoring
employer, the worker must either apply for and be granted a change of status
to another non-immigrant status, find another employer (subject to application
for adjustment of status and /or change of visa), or leave the U.S._ [1]

It would seem difficult to both be in YC and working full time for an
employer.

1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa)

~~~
thrwy10
The question isn't about after getting into YC. For that, you could
theoretically transfer your visa to the new company with the money YC give
you.

To clarify, how do you do the ground work and launch / pre-launch while on an
H1 so that your new startup can stand a chance among other applications to YC
from people that are much futher along?

~~~
falsestprophet
No you can't. An employer-employee relationship must exist between the
sponsoring company and the employee. Not possible if you _own_ the whole
company or even a lot of the company.

[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)

In any event, you should really ask an immigration attorney rather than the
internet.

~~~
thrwy10
With 3 founders and YC taking 7%, it will be possible to show that the person
won't own 51% of the company and can be fired.

Again, this is for after, and there are other options, like being on a B1 or
dependent visa while doing YC. You can own shares in that company and not
derive income and at completion move out of the US.

But the question here is, how do you go about doing the ground work to even
have a product that is competent enough to stand a chance?

------
e15ctr0n
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6841113](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6841113)

~~~
thrwy10
Not completely the same question. The above discussion answers what to do
_after_ or when you are about to get into an accelerator.

The question is about _before_ getting there, how do you even think about
starting up and applying to YC while on an H1. How can you attract customers,
when you can't legally do anything?

------
thrwy10
EDIT: To clarify, how do you go about doing the ground work for _before_
applying to YC, while in the US, on an H1B.

