Has anyone ever been a co founder of a startup on H1b? If yes, did you need funding to get the H1b approval ? How difficult is it to get approval as a cofounder ? Also, how much was your equity stake ?
You will need to establish an employer employee relationship. Your cofounder will need to be under at will employment terms and a be minority stakeholder.
Have you done this / are you aware of someone who has ?
Is the other cofounder GC/USC ? U can be a co-founder as employee of the company and get h1 on that company . Yes, u need funding to pay salary as per H1 rules
Also getting H1B with smaller companies tough?
Conflict of interest. Talk to attorney. Most likely it’s not gonna work.
I am a cofounder through an H1B which is filed under a entrepreneurship program affiliated to the university. The complications of filing H1B by your own company are three fold: 1. Establishing business credibility: customer contracts, awards, revenue, business plan etc. which shows it’s a real business 2. Paying market salary: having enough funding to pay market salary for the position for the duration of H1B or employment. 3. Establishing employee employer relationship: since H1B is a work visa you should demonstrate employee relationship with your company. Having a minority stake, setting up a board that has ability to fire you etc. helps.
For (2), does it need to be actual funding ? Or can owners pool together funds in the company account ? For (3), in case it is majority ownership, is there a way this can be made possible ?
Funding can be in the form of private investment from partners. But it should be shown in the company bank account. Based on point 1 you will be showing using that funding for operations and filing company taxes etc. Majority ownership is a grey area but if you create a board which can technically fire you that should work too. You can also try filing for O1.
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Isn't it illegal for H1B ?
Of course not , if you can show an employer employee relationship