Starting a company or a startup is a dream for many of us. But things are different if you are in the US, especially as an international student. The US is the entrepreneurial hub of the world, but starting a company on a visa in the US as an international student is a complex process. If you are a green card holder, you don’t need to worry, but if you are on an F1 visa, it might be challenging. However, there is good news—you can start a company! At the same time, there are a few restrictions to keep in mind as an F1 visa holder. Also, here, we will talk about the challenges of starting a company with an H1B visa (a temporary work visa). After talking to immigration attorneys and similar firms, we are sharing here what we found out about opening a company on a visa.
First, let’s talk about both of these visa types.
Starting a company on an F1 visa:
What is an F1 visa?
F1 is a non-immigration intent student visa for a short period of time.
- The length is the same as your degree program. Also, based on a STEM/Non-STEM program, the duration of this visa can vary.
- For non-STEM programs, there is 1 year of curriculum training called OPT (Optional Practical Training).
- For STEM subjects, it will be a total of 3 years of OPT added to the length of your degree program.
During this time, you are not allowed to work other than study. Even if you work, it needs to be under CPT/OPT without any additional income. Your working hours will be limited to 20 hours per week and it will be on-campus.
Starting a company on an H1B visa:
What is an H1B visa?
H1B is a similar non-immigrant temporary visa, but it is a work visa, unlike F1, which is a student visa.
- After F1, students follow this route for an H1B work visa, which a US employer sponsors. This visa also has certain restrictions.
- This visa is granted for 3 years, extendable up to 6 years.
- As the employer is sponsoring you, you cannot work for other companies unless you transfer your H1B to the other company. So, you can see that even starting a company with H1B is tricky.
Starting a company is hard. But if you have a patentable technology that you want to commercialize, there are ways to do it. Let’s go through the steps.
- The first thing is no active employment. That is you can be a co-founder and have stocks and sharehold a company. But you cannot be seen to do marketing or providing servies or any kind of activities, especially on social media. Do the work in background.
- You cannot be the CEO. As CEO, there is no one you will report to. So, USCIS does not allow that and you need someone as your boss who is sponsoring you. You can be the scientific officer/ co-founder but not CEO While on a visa. So, let go of these tags and focus on the work in the background.
- Take on a partner who is a US permanent resident or green card holder. That way, you can still work as a co-founder.
- There are companies who back international student led start-ups. They can provide sponsorship and you can work under that company but actually work on your business. These VC ventures know the struggles of starting a company on a visa and they are here to help you so that you can focus on building the company instead of thinking about immigration. Such a name is unshackled ventures, founded by immigrants in the US.
- Most worthy route is applying for the green card through EB2.
Bottom line: You can form a company and you can have passive income. But you cannot be actively involved in the company’s operations. This is a very fine line to ensure. So, we suggest talking to an immigration attorney and firms like Unshackled Ventures. There are people who walked on this path before. So, do not let your entrepreneurial spirit die because of visa restrictions!
If you want to know more about other types of visas in the US, read this informative blog post by us.
