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Ask HN: Legal rights for US alien status developers

8 points by jkhawaja ↗ HN
For international web/software/app developers, how do they get legal rights for launching their websites/softwares/app in the US. For instance if they are working with other co developers for a startup in the US, what are the legalities?

Thanks a lot!

9 comments

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makmanalp
Well, the cool thing about the internet is that you don't need to launch at a certain location. If you've launched in location X, you've launched it in the US.
neilk
Except when it comes to taking money from US customers. There are far more options if you have a US presence, as well as greater customer confidence.
olegkikin
Launching is not a problem. Getting paid is.

As an H1B employee, you will have all kinds of restrictions on doing business in the US.

logicb
I agree. I also heard the owner of a small but decent ERP consulting company was working for a different company in L1 or H1B.
zbruhnke
this post is strikingly similar to one a few days ago, but as a reversal with citizenship. The article talked about bit.ly being a website that was technically on the domain for the country of libya (.ly) meaning that the libyan government could possibly remove it like they had other sites in the recent past, I would feel confident that the same is possible for the US, if it caught enough attention of the proper people it could possibly get shut down. Otherwise i would imagine it rolls freely without much fuss.
redduck666
you are in for a world of hurt with USCIS, startup can't be your sponsor (too small).

your best bet is http://www.cicdgo.com/ they will verify the company and be the official sponsor on your J-1 visa. The J-1 is issued to you in your country.

IIRC we paid 500-600$ for their services

neilk
Seriously, a J-1? I'm assuming you went with the "internship" J-1, which lasts only 6, maybe 12 months. And it's only plausible if you are currently a student.

Might be worth it for someone hoping to get funded or bust in under a year, but otherwise that seems problematic. Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but once it's over, you can't turn around and get another J-1; you invariably have to spend some time out of country?

iamcalledrob
Consider starting a company in your home country, and launching under that.

It doesn't matter if you only cater to US customers, and it means that you won't be employed by any other US company whilst working in the US.

neilk
You can found the company elsewhere and launch it for US customers, but you've still got problems if you want to live and work in the US for long periods of time.