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Is an H4 visa compatible with Real Estate Investing???
- Thread starter AR_CT
- Start date
H4
cannot register themselves as realtors
cannot form a company or work in a company that does real estate business.
However like stocks, a H4 can buy as much as real estate as possible with their (or spouse\'s) money and can later sell them at their convenience. Any profit or loss are considered as passive income and as long as IRS is aware of that income INS is not bothered.
cannot register themselves as realtors
cannot form a company or work in a company that does real estate business.
However like stocks, a H4 can buy as much as real estate as possible with their (or spouse\'s) money and can later sell them at their convenience. Any profit or loss are considered as passive income and as long as IRS is aware of that income INS is not bothered.
Attorney with Immigration and Real Estate expertise!!!???
Well that\'s really encouraging news! What I had in mind is buy properties that need rehabilitation, fix them up and sell them. Does anyone recommend an attorney with both Immigration and Real estate expertise?? I really appreciate any thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance.
Well that\'s really encouraging news! What I had in mind is buy properties that need rehabilitation, fix them up and sell them. Does anyone recommend an attorney with both Immigration and Real estate expertise?? I really appreciate any thoughts on the matter. Thanks in advance.
I agree with Jaxen\'s analysis here
Purchase of property and sale seems like passive income to me similar to other investment such as stocks.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
Purchase of property and sale seems like passive income to me similar to other investment such as stocks.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
Where can I find the laws that govern the activities of H1b and H4 visaholders??
Thank you for your response! Even though I can purchase real estate (tourist visa holders do it all the time!) my main concern is in regards to the number of times per year I can legally do this without being considered work??? I plan on buying, fixing and selling in order to profit (the key word here is profit). Where can I find info about the laws that govern H1b and H4 visaholders?
Thank you in advance for your counsel.
Thank you for your response! Even though I can purchase real estate (tourist visa holders do it all the time!) my main concern is in regards to the number of times per year I can legally do this without being considered work??? I plan on buying, fixing and selling in order to profit (the key word here is profit). Where can I find info about the laws that govern H1b and H4 visaholders?
Thank you in advance for your counsel.
sb20022002
New Member
Re: where can I find the laws governing H1bs and H4??
An H1B can work in the job authorized. An H4 cannot work. Doing
anything actively with the intent to make money is not permitted. You
could buy a house as a passive investment and sell it years later, rent
it out in the meantime through a management company. But as soon as the
H1B\'s or H4\'s involvement becomes active it crosses the line. Same with
stock trading. As long as it\'s intended as passive investment it\'s OK,
but as soon as it becomes a "means to earn money to live on", it crosses
the line.
Most dependent statuses simply cannot do anything but be a dependent.
You can\'t even volunteer (i.e. work for nothing) unless the work you\'re
doing is NORMALLY unpaid and the organisation you\'re doing it for has no
one paid do do the work, and no other organisation in the area your in
normally pays people to do the work. For example, in some places,
church secretaries are normally unpaid, and as long as a church has
never paid anyone to be a secretary, then it\'s permissible to volunteer,
but if you\'re in an area where the norm is to pay church secretaries
(even if this one has never paid its secretaries) you can\'t volunteer
for that either!
This is so tricky a situation ... take the case where a non-immigrant
neighbour helped a disabled neighbour, going up on the roof with a
ladder to get a ball down. Someone reported the activity to the INS
claiming that the disabled person should have hired a handyman service
and apparently it was upheld by the INS! Crazy.
An H1B can work in the job authorized. An H4 cannot work. Doing
anything actively with the intent to make money is not permitted. You
could buy a house as a passive investment and sell it years later, rent
it out in the meantime through a management company. But as soon as the
H1B\'s or H4\'s involvement becomes active it crosses the line. Same with
stock trading. As long as it\'s intended as passive investment it\'s OK,
but as soon as it becomes a "means to earn money to live on", it crosses
the line.
Most dependent statuses simply cannot do anything but be a dependent.
You can\'t even volunteer (i.e. work for nothing) unless the work you\'re
doing is NORMALLY unpaid and the organisation you\'re doing it for has no
one paid do do the work, and no other organisation in the area your in
normally pays people to do the work. For example, in some places,
church secretaries are normally unpaid, and as long as a church has
never paid anyone to be a secretary, then it\'s permissible to volunteer,
but if you\'re in an area where the norm is to pay church secretaries
(even if this one has never paid its secretaries) you can\'t volunteer
for that either!
This is so tricky a situation ... take the case where a non-immigrant
neighbour helped a disabled neighbour, going up on the roof with a
ladder to get a ball down. Someone reported the activity to the INS
claiming that the disabled person should have hired a handyman service
and apparently it was upheld by the INS! Crazy.
Well can I or can\'t I????
Well it\'s all very confusing. On the one, I\'m told I can invest in real estate since it\'s passive income, on the other hand, I\'m told that I\'m crossing the line because I produce "income I live on"...
Where\'s the truth here? Are both parts correct? Please any other thoughts are welcome!!
Well it\'s all very confusing. On the one, I\'m told I can invest in real estate since it\'s passive income, on the other hand, I\'m told that I\'m crossing the line because I produce "income I live on"...
Where\'s the truth here? Are both parts correct? Please any other thoughts are welcome!!
It\'s confusing because there is no clear answer and depends on what and how much
It just isn\'t that clear. Look, stock ownership is clearly passive income but day trading 12 hours a day is probably NOT passive income. Home ownership is clearly passive income but buying 20 homes a year, fixing them up and selling them probably is not passive income. At what point an activity passes from passive income to employment is somewhat of a judgement call.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
It just isn\'t that clear. Look, stock ownership is clearly passive income but day trading 12 hours a day is probably NOT passive income. Home ownership is clearly passive income but buying 20 homes a year, fixing them up and selling them probably is not passive income. At what point an activity passes from passive income to employment is somewhat of a judgement call.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
What is then a reasonable limit??
Thanks for your response!
According to your experience with the INS, what would you consider a reasonable limit in the number of properties bought and sold per year? 2 or 3 per year sounds OK? It\'s a tough call but I want to have some kind of reference point to play it safe.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks for your response!
According to your experience with the INS, what would you consider a reasonable limit in the number of properties bought and sold per year? 2 or 3 per year sounds OK? It\'s a tough call but I want to have some kind of reference point to play it safe.
Thanks in advance!
Create a partnership with US citizens in order to buy and sell properties!!
How feasible is this thougth?? Create a partnership with US citizens with the idea of buying and selling real estate. The company would sponsor me for an H-1B, I would be handling their financial affairs (I have a degree in Finance)... Would this be something at all feasible?? Sounds like a stretch, but it might work... Any thoughts??
Thanks in advance
How feasible is this thougth?? Create a partnership with US citizens with the idea of buying and selling real estate. The company would sponsor me for an H-1B, I would be handling their financial affairs (I have a degree in Finance)... Would this be something at all feasible?? Sounds like a stretch, but it might work... Any thoughts??
Thanks in advance
Actually, that sounds fairly possible.
It\'s really a judgement call on how much is too much and you don\'t really know when you cross the line until somebody complains and INS investigates and starts giving you trouble. I haven\'t researched this but my guess is that there are no published cases that would give a tremendous amount of guidance on this. You just have to thingk about it logically, use common sense, and be prepared to fight with INS and DOL over it if necessary.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
It\'s really a judgement call on how much is too much and you don\'t really know when you cross the line until somebody complains and INS investigates and starts giving you trouble. I haven\'t researched this but my guess is that there are no published cases that would give a tremendous amount of guidance on this. You just have to thingk about it logically, use common sense, and be prepared to fight with INS and DOL over it if necessary.
Jim
James D. Mills
Attorney at Law
http://www.geocities.com/jamesdmillsesq/
jdmills@justice.com
immigrant2k
New Member
What are the requirements for creating a company that could sponsor an H-1B?
I\'m planning on creating my own real estate company that would sponsor me for an H-1B... Besides paying salary for myself, what are other needed requirements?
Could partners in the business contribute money that I may use to pay my yearly salary?
Thanks in advance.
I\'m planning on creating my own real estate company that would sponsor me for an H-1B... Besides paying salary for myself, what are other needed requirements?
Could partners in the business contribute money that I may use to pay my yearly salary?
Thanks in advance.
Can an H-4 visaholder "passively" invest this way??!!
As an H-4, is it possible to "invest" with a group of friends who are engaged in real estate investing. They would buy and sell properties in order to profit. I wouldn\'t be actively managing or fixing up any of the properties. They would use the proceeds from the sale (with profits) to invest in over properties in turn, fix them up and sell again...
My question is, at what point would I be able to obtain some of the money back?? Again, I wouldn\'t be actively managing or fixing any of the properties, my role would be passive (just like a mutual fund where the manager has the discretion to buy and sell other stocks)... I just want to know if the rules in real estate are the same as with the stock market.
Thanks in advance.
As an H-4, is it possible to "invest" with a group of friends who are engaged in real estate investing. They would buy and sell properties in order to profit. I wouldn\'t be actively managing or fixing up any of the properties. They would use the proceeds from the sale (with profits) to invest in over properties in turn, fix them up and sell again...
My question is, at what point would I be able to obtain some of the money back?? Again, I wouldn\'t be actively managing or fixing any of the properties, my role would be passive (just like a mutual fund where the manager has the discretion to buy and sell other stocks)... I just want to know if the rules in real estate are the same as with the stock market.
Thanks in advance.