F1 Visa and Corporate license ???????
Hiroshi Umeda
I am currently in F1 student status, and going to Communitly College.
When I was reading some posts here and FAQ also, I came up with one question
that is;
If I wanted to form ,file and apply for something like corporation
lisence to my State, which is Washington, would I have to have some Visa
other than F1 ?
For example, If I wanted to do some export business and formed company
and also went thru whatever the neccesary process, then I export
something out of the U.S. and earned money from doing this with having
only F1 visa, Would I be in trouble ?? Or would it be no probrem since I
would own very small business in the U.S. ??
thanks in advance.
hiro
--
Hiroshi Umeda
Seattle WA.
hi...@netcom.com
SUNNY KALARA
>>{
>For example, If I wanted to do some export business and formed company
>and also went thru whatever the neccesary process, then I export
>something out of the U.S. and earned money from doing this with having
>only F1 visa, Would I be in trouble ?? Or would it be no probrem since I
>would own very small business in the U.S. ??
>
>
This question has been asked a few times and I am responding to it not
because I know a definative answer, but more because it will prod
another netter more knowledgable than I, to clarify it.
This is what my understanding of this scenario is.
One can certainly form a corporation while on F-1/H-1 or most other
nonimmigrant visa. Thats not a problem.
The question is can you work for that corporation, or can you be
gainfully employed by that corporation?
The answer seems to be NO. You can form a corporation and have the
corporation apply for H-1 on your behalf. That would be consistent.
But if it is a small business, especially a new one, INS will never
approve an H-1 from that business entity.
A corporation is seperate legal entity. That corporation must follow
all the regulations/rules set forth by INS. And one of the regulation that
this corporation would need to follow is that it will not hire an employee
without checking for his employment authorization status.
So the corporation, can get in to trouble and may need to pay fines etc,
for hiring somebody on F-1. It matters little that you are the owner (CEO/
major shareholder) of the corporation.
Hence, if you are on F-1/H-1 or most other nin-immigrant visas tied
to a particular employer, starting ones own business would be inconsistent
with holding F-1/H-1 and you might be considered "out of status" for accepting
unauthorized employmnet.
I can make a weak theoretical argument why starting a small business
while on J_2 may be ok, and perhaps a weaker argument that F-1PT engaged
in work related consultancy may be OK. But these would be tenuous arguments
and probably worth less than the paper they are written on (or more approprately
transient cyberspace that they occuy).
BTW, this analysis does not change if you decide not to start a corp.
but just do a small business on the side. In this case it is the partnership,
thats you, and the employee of the partnership, thats you again are violating
INS regulations.
Good Luck.
-Sunny
_____________________________________________________________________
Sunny Kalara Ph.D.
Law Student in Intellectual Property
University of Houston Law Center
st2da @ Jetson. Uh. Edu
Kamen Penev
>In article <hiroCqy...@netcom.com>, hi...@netcom.com (Hiroshi Umeda) writes...
>>>{
>nonimmigrant visa. Thats not a problem.
>
>The question is can you work for that corporation, or can you be
>gainfully employed by that corporation?
>
>The answer seems to be NO.
To me, the answer seems to be YES, if the F-1 holder obtains off-campus
work permission from INS. This is possible if his/her financial situation has
drammatically deteriorated recently and he/she is unable to continue his/her
studies in the U.S.
As it probably shows, I am not a lawer. So, take the above with a
grain of salt.
--
Kamen Penev
--
Kamen Penev
SUNNY KALARA
>In article <5JUN1994...@rosie.uh.edu> st...@rosie.uh.edu (SUNNY KALARA) writes:
>>In article <hiroCqy...@netcom.com>, hi...@netcom.com (Hiroshi Umeda) writes...
>>>>{
>>One can certainly form a corporation while on F-1/H-1 or most other
>>nonimmigrant visa. Thats not a problem.
>>
>>The question is can you work for that corporation, or can you be
>>gainfully employed by that corporation?
>>
>>The answer seems to be NO.
>
> To me, the answer seems to be YES, if the F-1 holder obtains off-campus
>work permission from INS. This is possible if his/her financial situation has
>drammatically deteriorated recently and he/she is unable to continue his/her
>studies in the U.S.
Thats exactly the point. You need permission from INS to work off
campus.
If you do not have permission from INS, you may NOT work off campus,
nor can you start your own corporation and work for that corporation
any more than you can work for IBM Corp.
Same logic applies to most (not all) other non-immigrant visa.
-Sunny