3 ms·

Per article he owns a business. Usually a pre-Green-Card work permit doesn't allow that (you need a GC to own a business). This article is an example of sophi

Per article he owns a business. Usually a pre-Green-Card work permit doesn't allow that (you need a GC to own a business). This article is an example of sophisticated co-mingling of facts and omissions, designed to obfuscate the context.

catlikesshrimp 8mo ago
The bussiness can be lawfully owned by his US native wife. There are possibilities, but as you say, the article is lacking.
- ranger_danger 8mo ago
  People from other countries can own US companies even if they've never been to the US.
  - mindslight 8mo ago
    It's perversely hilarious to see people supporting fascism for its attacking other individuals, and then demonstrating zero awareness of how little regulation applies to capital crossing borders. It's a crab bucket, alright.
  - profsummergig 8mo ago
    If they are in the US on a work-permit, they have to follow the limitations of the work-permit. They are not free to follow the affordances available to people who are outside the US. For most temporary work-permits, owning a business is not permitted. The govt. wants the worker to work for their sponsor, not own a business. After one gets a GC (i.e. permanent residence), one is free to work for anyone, or start businesses.
    - dalyons 8mo ago
      That’s not actually quite true. You can own a business on a work permit, you just can’t work for it. Which is mostly a pointless arrangement, but possible.
      - profsummergig 8mo ago
        This is a more accurate take. That you can own businesses, but you can't work for them without an appropriate work-permit. He was working for his businesses, which explains why he's in a pickle.
- profsummergig 8mo ago
  If we are talking hypotheticals here, anything can be possible. Subject could be an illegitimate direct descendent of Thomas Jefferson, which would make this entire case uniquely newsworthy.
medion 8mo ago
Even with some co-mingling of facts, is 5 months detention still proportionate? That’s the crux of it.
- stackskipton 8mo ago
  My opinion is probably not but this is ultimately a political conversation. The article is extremely light on details but fact he doesn't have a Green Card/Lawful Permanent Resident yet would indicate that at some point of his time in United States, he was illegally present, probably for a while. Sure, he's on path, MAYBE (that's up to immigration courts), to legal status but he's not quite there yet and it's one of those "Are we going to forgive past transgressions?"
  - pavlov 8mo ago
    > “at some point of his time in United States, he was illegally present, probably for a while” How do you conclude that from the facts in the article?
    - exe34 8mo ago
      It's not a conclusion, it's an assumption.
    - stackskipton 8mo ago
      Having dealt with US Immigration law, if you are legally present for 20 years, it's extremely difficult not to transition to GC/Citizenship since work visas in United States generally have a limit and any immigration lawyer would have been clear "Either move to GC or you are going home." Also, despite all the US screaming about "They took our jobs" with immigrants, the US doesn't really hand out work visas all that much and don't really hand it out to blue collar labors at all. There is a possibility that he's been on legal visa entire time but I'd give extremely good odds that he wasn't. The fact his immigration lawyer doesn't mention it is very telling.
    - ivewonyoung 8mo ago
      Huh, the headline is very misleading but the article says this: > Culleton entered the US in 2009 on a visa waiver programme and overstayed the 90 day-limit > Culleton said that when he was arrested he was carrying a Massachusetts driving licence and a valid work permit issued as part of an application for a green card that he initiated in April 2025 That's about 15 years of illegal stay according to "the facts in the article".
nkrisc 8mo ago
Still shouldn’t warrant five months of detention. Additional context: he claims ICE forged his signature on legal documents. He should be free while the case proceeds. Seems like exactly the kind of person who is not a flight risk, because the entire reason he’s contesting it is because he’s built a life he doesn’t want to leave.
ylow 8mo ago
This is not true. You do not need to be a US resident to register a company, and anyone own shares in a company. There are a variety of visa options, and ways to navigate the process that will work.
- profsummergig 8mo ago
  I realize this is complicated, I didn't say you needed to be a US resident to register a company. I said that most pre-GC work-permits (e.g. H1B) don't allow you to own a US-based business. If you're here on a work-permit, they (the govt.) expect you to be an employee of your sponsor, they don't want you to start a business. To your point, one can be an investor in a US company without having a US visa/residence/work-permit. Although, to open a business without living in the US, only a handful of states allow this (e.g., Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada). However, once again, if you are in the US on a work-permit, you need to follow the rules of the work-permit. The rules applicable to non-citizens who are not living in the US on a work-permit may be different.
  - ylow 8mo ago
    Most tech startups will be Delaware. And a lot comes down to the definition of "own" which is ambiguous especially as a C-Corp. One may not be CEO, but can be a H1B Co-founder with a non-trivial (for some amount of non-trivial) number of shares. The O-1 far as I can tell allows for startups, and there may be other visa types which I am unaware of. Really, I am just saying that the statement "you need a GC to own a business" is far too broad a claim to be true.
  - ivewonyoung 8mo ago
    >I said that most pre-GC work-permits (e.g. H1B) don't allow you to own a US-based business You can absolutely own a US-based business on a H1B, like you can buy shares in companies, it's just a 100% share. You just cannot work for your company without having an approved H1B from that business or having some other generalized work permit like an EAD.
    - profsummergig 8mo ago
bovermyer 8mo ago
So that deserves five months of imprisonment and inhumane conditions? Gosh, we have very different ideas of policy.
tty456 8mo ago
You should back up "usually"
dietr1ch 8mo ago
Shoes not tied properly? => 5 months in jail, it's only right. You seem to be searching for the slightest absurdity to justify any of this happening.
- mcphage 8mo ago
  Didn't say "God bless you" when I sneezed?
zarzavat 8mo ago
> you need a GC to own a business Citation needed.
goodpoint 8mo ago
The article is clear: man imprisoned without due process for months.
ck2 8mo ago
btw Musk overstayed a Canadian student visa to work in the USA, both illegal and historically documentable there's probably good reason he's writing 5 Million dollar checks a pop to various PACs
rendx 8mo ago
> you need a GC to own a business You are mistaken. Plenty of people own businesses in the US even as foreigners. I don't even have to step into that country to open one, and also not for a transfer of ownership/shares.

catlikesshrimp 8mo ago

The bussiness can be lawfully owned by his US native wife. There are possibilities, but as you say, the article is lacking.

ranger_danger 8mo ago
People from other countries can own US companies even if they've never been to the US.
- mindslight 8mo ago
  It's perversely hilarious to see people supporting fascism for its attacking other individuals, and then demonstrating zero awareness of how little regulation applies to capital crossing borders. It's a crab bucket, alright.
- profsummergig 8mo ago
  If they are in the US on a work-permit, they have to follow the limitations of the work-permit. They are not free to follow the affordances available to people who are outside the US. For most temporary work-permits, owning a business is not permitted. The govt. wants the worker to work for their sponsor, not own a business. After one gets a GC (i.e. permanent residence), one is free to work for anyone, or start businesses.
  - dalyons 8mo ago
    That’s not actually quite true. You can own a business on a work permit, you just can’t work for it. Which is mostly a pointless arrangement, but possible.
    - profsummergig 8mo ago
      This is a more accurate take. That you can own businesses, but you can't work for them without an appropriate work-permit. He was working for his businesses, which explains why he's in a pickle.
profsummergig 8mo ago
If we are talking hypotheticals here, anything can be possible. Subject could be an illegitimate direct descendent of Thomas Jefferson, which would make this entire case uniquely newsworthy.

medion 8mo ago

Even with some co-mingling of facts, is 5 months detention still proportionate? That’s the crux of it.

stackskipton 8mo ago
My opinion is probably not but this is ultimately a political conversation. The article is extremely light on details but fact he doesn't have a Green Card/Lawful Permanent Resident yet would indicate that at some point of his time in United States, he was illegally present, probably for a while. Sure, he's on path, MAYBE (that's up to immigration courts), to legal status but he's not quite there yet and it's one of those "Are we going to forgive past transgressions?"
- pavlov 8mo ago
  > “at some point of his time in United States, he was illegally present, probably for a while” How do you conclude that from the facts in the article?
  - exe34 8mo ago
    It's not a conclusion, it's an assumption.
  - stackskipton 8mo ago
    Having dealt with US Immigration law, if you are legally present for 20 years, it's extremely difficult not to transition to GC/Citizenship since work visas in United States generally have a limit and any immigration lawyer would have been clear "Either move to GC or you are going home." Also, despite all the US screaming about "They took our jobs" with immigrants, the US doesn't really hand out work visas all that much and don't really hand it out to blue collar labors at all. There is a possibility that he's been on legal visa entire time but I'd give extremely good odds that he wasn't. The fact his immigration lawyer doesn't mention it is very telling.
  - ivewonyoung 8mo ago
    Huh, the headline is very misleading but the article says this: > Culleton entered the US in 2009 on a visa waiver programme and overstayed the 90 day-limit > Culleton said that when he was arrested he was carrying a Massachusetts driving licence and a valid work permit issued as part of an application for a green card that he initiated in April 2025 That's about 15 years of illegal stay according to "the facts in the article".

nkrisc 8mo ago

Still shouldn’t warrant five months of detention. Additional context: he claims ICE forged his signature on legal documents. He should be free while the case proceeds. Seems like exactly the kind of person who is not a flight risk, because the entire reason he’s contesting it is because he’s built a life he doesn’t want to leave.

ylow 8mo ago

This is not true. You do not need to be a US resident to register a company, and anyone own shares in a company. There are a variety of visa options, and ways to navigate the process that will work.

profsummergig 8mo ago
I realize this is complicated, I didn't say you needed to be a US resident to register a company. I said that most pre-GC work-permits (e.g. H1B) don't allow you to own a US-based business. If you're here on a work-permit, they (the govt.) expect you to be an employee of your sponsor, they don't want you to start a business. To your point, one can be an investor in a US company without having a US visa/residence/work-permit. Although, to open a business without living in the US, only a handful of states allow this (e.g., Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada). However, once again, if you are in the US on a work-permit, you need to follow the rules of the work-permit. The rules applicable to non-citizens who are not living in the US on a work-permit may be different.
- ylow 8mo ago
  Most tech startups will be Delaware. And a lot comes down to the definition of "own" which is ambiguous especially as a C-Corp. One may not be CEO, but can be a H1B Co-founder with a non-trivial (for some amount of non-trivial) number of shares. The O-1 far as I can tell allows for startups, and there may be other visa types which I am unaware of. Really, I am just saying that the statement "you need a GC to own a business" is far too broad a claim to be true.
- ivewonyoung 8mo ago
  >I said that most pre-GC work-permits (e.g. H1B) don't allow you to own a US-based business You can absolutely own a US-based business on a H1B, like you can buy shares in companies, it's just a 100% share. You just cannot work for your company without having an approved H1B from that business or having some other generalized work permit like an EAD.
  - profsummergig 8mo ago

bovermyer 8mo ago

So that deserves five months of imprisonment and inhumane conditions? Gosh, we have very different ideas of policy.

tty456 8mo ago

You should back up "usually"

dietr1ch 8mo ago

Shoes not tied properly? => 5 months in jail, it's only right. You seem to be searching for the slightest absurdity to justify any of this happening.

mcphage 8mo ago
Didn't say "God bless you" when I sneezed?

zarzavat 8mo ago

> you need a GC to own a business Citation needed.

goodpoint 8mo ago

The article is clear: man imprisoned without due process for months.

ck2 8mo ago

btw Musk overstayed a Canadian student visa to work in the USA, both illegal and historically documentable there's probably good reason he's writing 5 Million dollar checks a pop to various PACs

rendx 8mo ago

> you need a GC to own a business You are mistaken. Plenty of people own businesses in the US even as foreigners. I don't even have to step into that country to open one, and also not for a transfer of ownership/shares.