Ask HN: Owning a company while on H1B | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Owning a company while on H1B

13 pointskc1012 comments

I know similar questions have been asked several times and many times the response has been "you can't start a company and work for that company while on H1B without proper employer-employee relationship".

But this question is slightly different: Can I incorporate and own a company while I am on H1B and work for my sponsoring employer? I won't generate any kind of income from my company any time soon (may be never), the company is just for liability protection for me.

I know I can start a company in my home country, but I prefer having a US entity.

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Standard IANAL, or an accountant.

Personally, I wouldn't bother incorporating unless you have investors or creditors. Or if a tax person says it's in your best interests. You can blow a lot of money on lawyers and tax preparers for no good reason.

A corporation (or LLC) doesn't protect you from being sued. Anyone can sue you at any time for anything. If someone wants to sue you, they'll sue both you and the corporation. Even if you defeat the lawsuit, you'll still be on the hook for a big ol' lawyer bill.

Also, if you plan on borrowing money, a bank won't lend you money unless you have collateral. Until your company has assets, such as inventory, accounts receivable, publicly traded stock, a building, etc., anytime you want to borrow money you'll have to personally sign for it.

Honestly, the laws are weird, please talk to an immigration lawyer. Many will do a free or low-cost initial consult.

It pains me to say it, but don't listen to the HN commenters - they may make you think something is fine that isn't fine, or may make you stressed about something that is fine, etc.

Liability protection from what?

If you have a company and don't do any work for it, then you can't possibly be liable for anything because you didn't do anything.

If you did something then you did work for the company which is something you're not allowed to do.

Ultimately consider that if it ever comes up, you'll be dealing with a suspicious immigration official, who has the power to deport you and no reason to give you benefit of the doubt.

You will be deported if you fail to convince him that you registered a company but didn't do any work for it. And I don't see how you can claim that with a straight face. Your explanation of wanting liability protection doesn't make any sense.

I want to launch one of my pet projects, I am not sure when I would receive my green card. Instead of launching the service on my name, thinking an LLC would provide better liability protection.

I talked to an attorney who said I can incorporate a company and should be fine as long as there is no payroll. But I am skeptical going down this route.

What kind of attorney did you talk to? Business law? Immigration? Did you pay for this advice or was this just a casual chat?

I'm not an attorney but I think you got some bad advice. Working on hobby projects while on a visa is fine. Owning a business while on a visa is fine. Transferring IP you worked on while on a visa to a business you own while you're still on the same visa is an area I wouldn't play around with. Even if it is fine I can see lots of potential headaches any time you deal with immigration in the future.

It is unfortunate but the reality is that H1B laws are very complex just like most US visas. You already know you cannot work for that company. So what is the point in just setting up a company ?

If you want to do your pet project, why not just build the project just as your own project. Don't work on it as a business including doing things like sales,marketing etc until you get the green card. What is the issue with that ?

If you are questioned about this company while entering the US from outside, you could get yourself into trouble. It is very hard to convince the immigration officials that you have a company but you don't work for it. So technically it is legal to create a company while on H1B but in practice, you are opening yourself to unnecessary scrutiny.

It sucks but that is the truth. Accept it, get the green card and then work on your company.

IANAL but yes anyone can own a company or start LLC, even foreigners outside of the US.

However, on H1B you cannot work for such LLC, you will be in violation of your visa status. But I am not sure if non-income generating, administrative task such as filing annual reports count as working for your own company. You should check with a lawyer on this.

Finally, owning an LLC may create future issues with immigration. Even if you don't violate your visa, immigration officers may assume that you did. It might be easy to clear up with additional documentation but I would not risk it.

I am interested in doing something similar. Please PM me and we can discuss about this. Creating an LLC will allow me to market it better and have UI freelancer work for me. I want to bring in a development agency who does the work. Are you thinking something in the same lines?

My advice: Hire an immigration attorney if an informed answer to the question is important.

Good luck.

Since you said its for a pet project, I am not really sure why you need a company but if you really want one why dont you open in our mom's name in your own home country (assuming its an online business)

Short answer - yes you can. Though, it's a serious hassle since you need to have someone running the company from A to Z for you. You can only be a passive owner/investor. That's it.

IANAL, but yes, you can.

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