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Comment by tejaswiy | Hacker News Reader

Wait, are they saying I can create a company on my own, no holds attached and go work for it? (minimum investment etc.)

A few questions - does it let me build apps and publish them to the Appstore to make money? (Since that doesn't count as working fulltime for the company I assume).

How do they prevent Masters students who are on an OPT from creating their own companies and sponsoring a H1B for themselves? No regulations on the amount of investment required?

If both of the above are possible .. well, mind=blown.

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No, they are not saying that:

"... business owners on H1-B visas could work for their own companies, provided that they work full time for the company and are treated like an employee. For example, the company could have a board that is able to hire, fire, pay, supervise or otherwise control the worker like they would any other staff member."

I don't know how many startups have a board that can fire the founders...

Is just paying a salary to yourself for the full-day duties not enough to count you as a 'normal employee'? How they could ever envisioned business owners being equal to other employees?

I wonder if there are rules around the board. Could I make the board with my family? Sure, I could be fired, but it isn't likely.

Sad that Washington is so useless that even something as straightforward as "let really smart, educated, financed people in the country to start businesses that hire other people" is controversial.

You probably don't have a family in the US if you come on H1B, but nonetheless, someone trustworthy can serve the board...

Say, YC or other incubator can form a board that will formally control the founders but in reality it's in the incubator's best interest to let the founders do their thing

I wonder if there are rules around the board. Could I make the board with my family? Sure, I could be fired, but it isn't likely.

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You probably don't want to do that since it would invite quite a bit of scrutiny ...

Well, that's still okay. I guess this is one thing that they can't change without government regulation. So like @SoftwareMaven says, what if I can get friends or family on my board? Do I have to be paid whatever the min wage for H1Bs is? (I think it's 45k / year or something).

You have to be paid prevailing wage for that particular geography, not minimum.

My understanding is, there are companies that will handle all the corporate paperwork for you, including supplying board members. DYODD however, IANAL, etc.

Isn't that what happened to the other PG, Phillip Greenspun?

I know a few founders who employ themselves under H1-B while also taking all the board seats, but they did this before August. I wonder if this would still fly.

It just means that you have to be venture-backed. But overall, this is still really good for the economy in general to try to get more entrepreneurs to first leaping from their comfort zone ( full time job ).

As an H1B you still have to be paid market rate, and the company has to have enough cash to be viable. That implies a certain level of minimum investment.

I want to quote on this statement as I am on the same situation:

"How do they prevent Masters students who are on an OPT from creating their own companies and sponsoring a H1B for themselves?"

With this new regulation is it possible if I start my own company with other US Citizen if I am on OPT?

The masters students must have sufficient funding too.

Yes ... you could get them as a cofounder (probably give them controlling shares) and then apply ... but the trouble is showing that your wages could be paid. You might have to get some capital invested or use savings.

That was my hope too, but it seems to say you need to already be working under an H1B visa.

keep dreaming

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