5 ms·

What are the options for an h1b who wants to start up? we can't lose our jobs to maintain the h1b status. will yc care that we are not working on the idea full

What are the options for an h1b who wants to start up? we can't lose our jobs to maintain the h1b status. will yc care that we are not working on the idea fulltime by the time of applying to yc? (will certainly quit the job if accepted to yc.) what are the common attitudes of companies, like google, microsoft, apple, facebook, toward employee moonlighting?

blizkreeg 11y ago
this. I'm in the process of co-founding a startup. My co-founder is on an H-1B and it's probably the thing that comes up the most in "how are we going to make this work?". What are the capital/other requirements necessary to transfer/file for their H-1B by the startup?
- crudbug 11y ago
  I would also like to see a discussion on this topic. Folks with H1B, who wants to start 1. What is required, if the current company allows Moonlighting ? 2. If the second job is not allowed ?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
adrianbg 11y ago
http://unshackled.co/ http://unshackled.co/ You can transfer your H1b to them and work on your thing.
- ameyamk 11y ago
  How are the requirements for salary are taken care of? H1b employee must be paid market rate salary (not in stocks but actual cash)
  - winter_blue 11y ago
    There's investment. From the website: "Unshackled takes 5% common stock + invests up to $160,000 as a convertible note to help catalyze progress."
    - adrianbg 11y ago
      Yeah. Their investment comes in the form of a salary. I don't know the details for H1b's specifically but I can tell you that they haven't had trouble meeting visa requirements for people in the program.
    - FanaHOVA 11y ago
      With $160k you can get a E2 visa
      - adrianbg 11y ago
        E2's have to be financed by citizens of your country of origin. http://startupimmigrationattorney.com/e2-visa-for-startups-principal-investor-route/ http://startupimmigrationattorney.com/e2-visa-for-startups-p...
- beautybasics 11y ago
  Thanks for the info.
winter_blue 11y ago
With regard to maintaining legal status: If you get a part-time job H1B petition approved, you can use it to maintain your status. With an H1B visa you just need one job (at all times) to maintain legal status. Part-time H1B petitions allows the employer to specify a range of hours, like 10-20. If you find an employer willing to hire you for 10-20 hours, and file the H1B petition (which costs including attorney fees, around $3k to $4k), then that should free up enough time to do something on the side. With regard to working on a startup: In order to legally work for your YC or non-YC startup, you will need another (concurrent) H1B petition approved. This is actually rather hard. Key points: 1) You must own less than 50% of your startup. Someone (usually the board) must be able to fire you. If there is no one that can fire, your startup H1B petition will most likely be rejected. 2) You'll need investment that is sufficiently high that you can give yourself the "prevailing wage" for the region your startup's office will be in. Use this tool to find out what the prevailing wage for your region is: http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesWizardStart.aspx http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesWizardStart.aspx For example, in order to be legally employed on an H1B in the "San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA" MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), you must be getting paid at least $98,342 per year or $47.28 per hour. You'll need to get investment that's high enough to cover that. YC wouldn't cut it. My estimate is that you'd need stable yearly investment (or revenue) in the range of $500k to a million.
- bonobo3000 11y ago
  >For example, in order to be legally employed on an H1B in the "San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA" MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), you must be getting paid at least $98,342 per year or $47.28 per hour. Wow, i had no idea the prevailing wage was that high. Does this mean literally everyone on an H1B in the bay area is making at least $100k/year?! I should have negotiated harder...
  - vadym909 11y ago
    No- you find a job title that has a lower prevailing wage- for example programmer analyst vs application developer or something else. Companies like Infosys and TCS pay $70K/year
  - 11y ago

blizkreeg 11y ago

this. I'm in the process of co-founding a startup. My co-founder is on an H-1B and it's probably the thing that comes up the most in "how are we going to make this work?". What are the capital/other requirements necessary to transfer/file for their H-1B by the startup?

crudbug 11y ago
I would also like to see a discussion on this topic. Folks with H1B, who wants to start 1. What is required, if the current company allows Moonlighting ? 2. If the second job is not allowed ?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

adrianbg 11y ago

http://unshackled.co/ http://unshackled.co/ You can transfer your H1b to them and work on your thing.

ameyamk 11y ago
How are the requirements for salary are taken care of? H1b employee must be paid market rate salary (not in stocks but actual cash)
- winter_blue 11y ago
  There's investment. From the website: "Unshackled takes 5% common stock + invests up to $160,000 as a convertible note to help catalyze progress."
  - adrianbg 11y ago
    Yeah. Their investment comes in the form of a salary. I don't know the details for H1b's specifically but I can tell you that they haven't had trouble meeting visa requirements for people in the program.
  - FanaHOVA 11y ago
    With $160k you can get a E2 visa
    - adrianbg 11y ago
      E2's have to be financed by citizens of your country of origin. http://startupimmigrationattorney.com/e2-visa-for-startups-principal-investor-route/ http://startupimmigrationattorney.com/e2-visa-for-startups-p...
beautybasics 11y ago
Thanks for the info.

winter_blue 11y ago

With regard to maintaining legal status: If you get a part-time job H1B petition approved, you can use it to maintain your status. With an H1B visa you just need one job (at all times) to maintain legal status. Part-time H1B petitions allows the employer to specify a range of hours, like 10-20. If you find an employer willing to hire you for 10-20 hours, and file the H1B petition (which costs including attorney fees, around $3k to $4k), then that should free up enough time to do something on the side. With regard to working on a startup: In order to legally work for your YC or non-YC startup, you will need another (concurrent) H1B petition approved. This is actually rather hard. Key points: 1) You must own less than 50% of your startup. Someone (usually the board) must be able to fire you. If there is no one that can fire, your startup H1B petition will most likely be rejected. 2) You'll need investment that is sufficiently high that you can give yourself the "prevailing wage" for the region your startup's office will be in. Use this tool to find out what the prevailing wage for your region is: http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesWizardStart.aspx http://www.flcdatacenter.com/OesWizardStart.aspx For example, in order to be legally employed on an H1B in the "San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA" MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), you must be getting paid at least $98,342 per year or $47.28 per hour. You'll need to get investment that's high enough to cover that. YC wouldn't cut it. My estimate is that you'd need stable yearly investment (or revenue) in the range of $500k to a million.

bonobo3000 11y ago
>For example, in order to be legally employed on an H1B in the "San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA" MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area), you must be getting paid at least $98,342 per year or $47.28 per hour. Wow, i had no idea the prevailing wage was that high. Does this mean literally everyone on an H1B in the bay area is making at least $100k/year?! I should have negotiated harder...
- vadym909 11y ago
  No- you find a job title that has a lower prevailing wage- for example programmer analyst vs application developer or something else. Companies like Infosys and TCS pay $70K/year
- 11y ago