I have several opportunities I want to explore - starting my own company, working for a vc/incubator but I can't do that in the US while on a H1B. If the work/company/pay check is completely remote (based outside US and not targeting the US market) and is not taking away from the job of an American, is it okay to pursue it? Feel free to comment if there are any platforms to find this kind of work.
Form a company in your home country and get payments routed to your company account.
Company is my name?
You have to incorporate a company or partnership firm and open a bank account in that name
https://www.guru.com is one option to get some work
Is it legal? No Will they take out your h1b if they find out? Yes Can you get away with it? Maybe
The only thing that you can do is to be an early member of a startup, where you don't get a salary but you can get equity and you would make money in the future if it gets acquired
Why is it not legal? Could you help share any relevant uscis language?
You are required to file taxes on all foreign income while you’re a legal resident of US, might not be worth the taxes and hurdles. There’s a $100k foreign income tax credit that cancels out taxes for anything below that about but it’s a huge pain to file. During the Obama years, the IRS went hard on people who dodged foreign taxes in previous years.
Point taken. But even after taxes, some income > no income. If I really have the time on weekends and an interest, should I be worried about anything else? ( my main concern is gc approval and h1b renewal)
Not a tax expert but any income outside of the country shouldn’t have anything to do with your H1B status in America. Similar to if you own a company in Europe that’s still generating revenue or a brokerage account in India where you’re still getting dividends. You need to get paid into a foreign bank account or set up a foreign company to accept payment to have it count as foreign income.