On: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does w...

[olivertang33]

Hi Peter,

I'm a currently on the H-1B work visa. Is there any way for me to either:

1. start a company with another co-founder, who is an American citizen?

or

2. Get accepted to an incubator program such as YC (with an american co-founder) and be a part of the program under legal work status?

[proberts → olivertang33]

Yes but ideally your USC co-founder should own a controlling interest and you should establish an independent board of directors that can fire you.

[cvaidya1986 → proberts]

I thought one can solely form a Corp on H1 as long as one doesn’t draw salary?

[proberts → cvaidya1986]

There's no issue with forming a company but you can't get an H-1B through that company if you control the company and you can't "work" for that company even if you don't draw a salary unless you have work authorization through that company.