Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by MojoJolo | Hacker News Reader

Full thread

MojoJolo

This question is also in my mind. Will tourist visa work for YC?

View on HN

It does not fully answer the question, but this discussion is relevant :

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3545548

That would be a question I have as well. AFAIK know, there it no Visa suited for YC unless you can do ESTA.

Someone told me that you can't register a business or incorporate a company as a tourist. So maybe, tourist visa will not work for YC? Because AFAIK you need to be incorporated in YC, right?

Also, can you explain ESTA to me?

coorperation doesn't matter what status you have. Your visa is only relevant whether you are allowed to work in the US or not. No non-immigrant visa allows you to work, the B-visa technically only allows you to have meetings etc.

ESTA is a an agreement with various countries for its citizens to enter the states for 3 months without a visa. Many people I know use ESTA to work in a grey-zone

A non-citizen of the US can register a company in certain states (Delaware is the most common one). I'm an Indian Citizen and our company is a C-Corp there. I go back and forth on a Business Visa.

Various non-american founders have done US accelerators on ESTA and B1 visas.

And it is very fortunate that they weren't deported, and that it didn't harm their ability to get visas in the future.

Really. US immigration is more perverse and frustrating than you can imagine. You might be fine, but just because someone said 'I did this and it was OK' doesn't mean it will be. If you aren't sure, take legal advice.

Also, point of information, ESTA isn't a visa. They did it on the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). ESTA is part of the process of entering on the Visa Waiver Program

A large number of founders have done this (in the hundreds now) and I'm not aware of anyone having a problem with it, even with people specifically stating what they were doing in the US (people however have had problems when they've described YC as an "educational program").

Moreover the visa waiver is used extensively by technology companies, investment banks and consultancies when having foreign employees work out of their US offices for short periods (upto several months).

Is it a legally airtight option ? - no. Is it in practice what everyone uses ? - yes.

I think a business visa would be more appropriate.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com