can i start my company on my ead.looking for a answer for months.
can i start my company( get tax id etc) on my ead ?
Yes. You can!
if i can then i understand i cant maintain my h1b.my i-140 is not approved.
what are the pros and cons of the situation.
It is better to wait till your I-140 is approved before you avail AC21 provisions for Self-employment. (Your GC sponsor may withdraw I-140 or may not respond to any RFE on I-140 after you leave)
Please find below some info I had collected in 2006 before starting my company when I was on EAD.
Attorney Matthew Oh in immigration-law.com
26: When you port after 180 days of filing of I-485, you do not have to prove that the new employer has a financial ability to pay the proffered salary. However, USCIS may turn around and indirectly pursue this issue by requesting evidence that the new employement was an "legitimate" offer of employment. It is a question of the existence of similar or same occupational classification and the financial ability to pay may be indirectly relevant. Such financial ability to pay issue may be overcome if the new employer establishes the existence of a legitimate job for the alien. USCIS cannot deny I-485 application on the new employer's financial ability of pay issue alone when there is an evidence that the new employer has a legitimate job for the alien. If you can enter into a good contract with the clients for your wife's or your own company, you can port to your own company. AC-21 portability is available even in the context of self-employment inasmuch as the following three requirements are met: (1) The new self-employment is in a same or similar occupational classification. (2) The self-employment is "legitimate" and there is indeed a bona fides job existent. (3) When I-140 petition was filed by your current employer, your employer truly intended to hire you for the offered permenent job once your green card is approved and you yourself also had the same intent to work for your employer once the green card is approved. When you have been working for the current employer for a number of years, it may be fairly easy to establish this requirement. However, when you are not currently employed by the petitioning employer, this third requirement will be a very challenging issue. All in all, if you can develop a solid business that requires your work similar or same to the I-140 occupational classification, you may be safe to port to such a self-employment type of business, provided that you should be prepared to provide all the aforementioned evidence once you receive RFE from the USCIS. For instance, if you are a computer consultant working at your employer's client site. For whatever reasons, the client does not want to continue doing business with your employer. The client is willing to give the contract to yourself for the same job. From the perspective of AC-21 portability, you may not anticipate too much problem. However, there is a potential issue of the breach of employment contract with your employer. Accordingly, unless either your employer consents to such change or there is no employment contract
Interim Guidance for Processing Form I-140 EB Immigrant Petitions and Form I-485 and H-1B Petitions under AC-21 (5-12-05)
http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/AC21intrm051205.pdf
Question8. Can an alien port to self-employment under INA 204(j)
Answer: Yes, as long as the requirements are met. First, the key is whether the employment is in a “same or similar” occupational classification as the job for which the original I-140 petition was filed. Second, it may be appropriate to confirm that the new employer and the job offer are legitimate through an RFE to the adjustment applicant for relevant information about these issues. Third, as with any portability case, USCIS will focus on whether the I-140 petition represented the truly intended employment at the time of the filing of both the I-140 and the I-485. This means that, as of the time of the filing of the I-140 and at the time of filing the I-485 if not filed concurrently, the I-140 petitioner must have had the intent to employ the beneficiary, and the alien must have intended to undertake the employment, upon adjustment. Adjudicators should not presume absence of such intent and may take the I-140 and supporting documents themselves as prima facie evidence of such intent, but in appropriate cases additional evidence or investigation may be appropriate.
