Can International students legally start a business?

J

jo_theone

New Member
I have extensively searched the net for this but havnt been able to get a certain answer for my question. Here it is..
Can an international student on an F-1 Visa legally start a business?

I have heard of many students participating in these "work from home" schemes where they technically have their own business.. example.. quixtar.com. So i would like to know if i could register my own (lets say internet biz) and pay taxes as a business owner. I have been on F-1 status for the past year or so and have another 3 years to go in college. If it helps, i am in illinois.

Especially with the recent tightning of immigration rules i wouldnt want to do something that i am not supposed to. help!
 
Business yes, work for it - NO

This question has been answered so many times on this forum that one can just search on this one.

Anyone can start a business and so can you. But one can not work for it (in ANY form) unless you have work authorization to do so.

To put in other words, every one is allowed to invest in a business, but working for it (any kind) requires work authorization.
 
Hi,
Well, I've been looking into the same thing. I researched the net and it looked like i could start a business(refer: http://www.murthy.com/startup.html and http://www.usvisanews.com/faq-business.html ) I planned to get into website development contracts and offload the work to a company in india. I thought that would not violate my F1 status.

Next, i contacted lawyers in my area and some said i was not eligible while others said i would violate my visa. Well i researched the net futher and found that there were other sites which gave the exact opposite view (refer: http://www.abcsmallbiz.com/reference/dear abcs/bored.html
http://www.immigration.com/faq/fvisa.html#58)

Can someone tell me why there is such variety in opinion and which one is correct?

Thanks!
 
The opinion expressed in the 3rd link (abc) is that anyone who starts a business is automatically an employee- that would definitely violate my visa conditions. The 4th link (from this site) effectively says an international student cannot start a business without visa trouble. Are there any case laws or any precident that i can look at? I mean, what immigration law is the source of all this opinion.
 
What is regarded as working for a company

My wife who is on a H4 visa (H1's Dependent) and does not have a work authorization. She gets bored in teh house. She was thinking of doing some voluntry work at a friend's business.

I have heard that till the time you don't take money for working it is allowed. Can anybody confirm that please.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top