I have been working on a couple of personal side projects for the last year, and I believe they have reached a stage where they can be useful to their target market and generate revenue. (I could be wrong, of course.) However, I am currently on an H-1B visa in the US, and I am unsure if it is possible to build a startup while on this visa.
I understand that it's not a straightforward process, so I am looking for advice on whether it's possible to register a company anywhere else in the world and run it. The company would be a one-person company with minimal time investment (less than a couple of hours a week) and is designed to be a self-service application.
I would greatly appreciate any insight or experiences shared by the community on this matter. Thank you in advance for your time and help.
>So, if you decide to work actively for your own company – managing day-to-day activities, acting in elevated positions such as CEO including managerial or executive positions, and hiring-firing people in your business, it might lead to revocation of your H-1B status.
Beware that your current employment probably has an "assignment of inventions" agreement, which may give them rights over software you create outside work. You can often negotiate an exception for a particular project.
If the startup starts growing and you want quit your existing job and to go full-time, it's more difficult but there may be options depending on your circumstances. You'll need a good immigration lawyer then.
Freelance "work" while in H-1B status is prohibited. This covers side gigs like driving an Uber, blogging for pay (including ad revenue and donations), playing music for tips, and yes, working on your own for-profit company, even in pre-revenue stage where you're not actually getting paid yet.
Your hack - to base the company abroad - gets points for creativity! It would still violate H-1B status, however, if the "work" you're doing for the foreign entity physically takes place in the US.
Here's a pretty accurate summary of the situation. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-i-work-remotely-...
I'm putting "work" in airquotes, because performing non-H-1B labor of any kind while in the US is the core of the H-1B violation. So, for example, owning a company in the US is permissible in H-1B status, as long as you don't work there in any capacity.
I realize this is perverse and insane. H-1B requirements are frozen in time in the pre-internet workplace of the early 90's. But here we are.
Personally I'd advise against testing the limits of the H-1B, mostly from hearing horror stories about H-1B renewals getting denied, over dumb things like occasional babysitting, or fixing your neighbors' computers for pay, or "working" at a volunteer organization.
That said, I think there's scope for plenty of activities to advance your startup, that aren't "work" in the H-1B sense. Reframe it for now as an interest, hobby, or skill, and build an online reputation as an expert in that thing. Give advice, ask for opinions, identify pain points, get known, build an audience.
Also, building and testing a prototype of your thing, in the privacy of your own home, still counts as a hobby. Sounds like you've already done this though, so maybe you're at the limit of this one already.
Hope this helps. I feel your pain. I wrote an article about this if you're interested. From 2016, still accurate. My first post on HN as I recall.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11491428
https://visabuilder.com/blog/escape-from-h1b-hell-5-things-i...
Edited to add, the article cited below from "Law Firm 4 Immigrants" is a misleading blend of accurate and inaccurate information, which is pretty dangerous IMO.