Hacker News Reader

Comment by jw2013 | Hacker News Reader

jw2013

Some points on my mind:

a) Most adventurous student entrepreneurs don't really MUST need a founder visa, they can use OPT. I think founders of Stripe did that.

b) Most non-immigrants already working (mostly with H1 visa) needs a founder visa. To work on a startup you founded in H1b visa is hard, consider H1b visa needs some funding/salary requirement on your startup, and that is hard to get by on the early stage of a startup. Giving these people the visa may be important to the U.S. economy consider that group of budding founders are with the most experiences.

c) Maybe approval of founder visa won't be in the near future. Right now that is really tangled with other messes in the Immigration Act, which seems hopeless at the House in the stage.

d) Really +1 for founder visa. Can't afford to lose foreign entrepreneurs to Canada.

View on HN

> a) Most adventurous student entrepreneurs don't really MUST need a founder visa, they can use OPT. I think founders of Stripe did that.

Founder of Stripe here. Not disagreeing with anything you've said, but I feel I should point out that OPT is far from ideal: it doesn't last very long, it requires the job is related to the field of study, full-time work is permitted only during vacations prior to completion of a degree, etc. Still, it can be a useful stopgap in some cases, as you point out.

It's also a MASSIVE pain, and some schools (like mine) only allow OPT for internships (as opposed to CPT). As a result, I need to choose if I want to intern for my four years of college, or if I want to start a startup.

I agree with all of what you and Patrick said. Still most likely the student on OPT is in a much better position to start a startup than most people on H1b. Once you are hired by some company on H1b, you want to start your own startup? You need to prove your startup is viable (some funding constraint + providing prevailing wage for yourself I remember). But how you can have a viable startup that has not even been started? That kind of chicken-and-egg problem stuck tons of aspiring entrepreneurs on H1b.

Will really appreciate anyone here that can give some solution under current circumstances.

seconded - btw do you have a STEM related degree though? there's now an additional provision for OPT extension if you graduated from a STEM related field.

> a) Most adventurous student entrepreneurs don't really MUST need a founder visa, they can use OPT. I think founders of Stripe did that.

OPT is an extension of the F1 student visa, and only lasts for 12 months (29 with the STEM extension). In addition, it's a "non-immigration visa", which means that you can't apply for a green card with it (in fact, the whole idea of the visa is that you go back to your own country after you're done).

Also, if you're on OPT and your F1 expires, you might not be able to get it renewed, because your studies have ended (from what I've read, but not sure; can anyone confirm this?), which means you're stuck in the US (if you leave, you're not getting back in).

I'm fairly certain you can just apply for a new F1 visa?

Like I said, I'm not sure. The F1 visa is for studying; I'm not sure what happens when you graduate and move on to OPT.

I am pretty sure even after you graduate and get an OPT, you are still on F1 visa. But the point is 29 months (if you are a STEM major) is enough for your startup to generate some revenue, and then you can apply for H1b (as long as you prove your startup has sufficient fund, your wage from your startup is prevailing wage, and you can be fired from your startup).

If a startup fails, it usually fails quickly. Yes, sometimes a company, like airbnb, went quiet for a very long time before it hit it off, but 29 months are likely enough.

Normally you go from OPT to H1B, and from H1B to Green Card. How fast that process goes varies greatly

Yes, but the GP was proposing using OPT as a founder visa. In that case, you need to get your own startup to sponsor your H1B; that's pretty hard to do. I imagine you'd have to offer the market salary for "startup CEO" (whatever that is), post an ad for 30 days and then prove that you couldn't find an American to take that job (this is usually the process for regular H1B employees).

EDIT: It seems you can get a H1B where you work for your own company, it just needs special approval (there's a link to it earlier in this thread).

Thanks for the comment. I am not proposing using OPT as a founder visa, all I am saying is using OPT is one viable alternative, maybe not as cool as a founder visa, but you can still pull it off in the condition I stated in my other response to you.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com