Starting any type of company on H1-B?

[boomkrish]

I own my own website (www.FindDesiRoommate.com) as a free service to help people find roommates/rentals/tenants in USA. The website has been doing really well and I want to register a company and start earning advertising revenue on from it.

Can I start any company on H1-b? What is the best approach?

Thanks,
krishna@FindDesiRoommate.com

 

[laborvisalaw]

Boomkrish,

As you know, your H-1B visa limits you to work only for the employer sponsoring your visa. Any other employment, including in most circumstances unpaid work, is considered outside the scope of your visa and thus illegal.

Unfortunately, there are not many ways that you can accomplish your goal.

One of the most obvious ideas is for the H-1B foreign national to start his own company and possibly have the new company issue a second H-1B visa for the owner. However, this strategy may not work because running a company is not an occupation which requires a bachelor’s degree and therefore an H-1B visa approval is unlikely.

I have written in more detail on this subject as it is a very common question by many H-1B or F-1 holders.

Best-