Starting a US-Based Business Without a Work Visa

Just got off the @ochowealth workshop with @Loganullyott on visas for entrepreneurs

1,700+ registrants and 500+ people joined us live to learn how to navigate the visa process as an immigrant entrepreneur

Sharing some of the highlights here: pic.twitter.com/PLnWcpFpn6

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

1 - You do not need to have a valid US work visa to start a US-based business

Anyone in the world can start a US based business

So even if you are in the country on an F-1, H1-B, J-1 or another visa that doesn't allow you to work for your company, you can still open it!

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

You cannot work or earn income from this company, but you can still:

- Talk to potential customers / investors

- Research your market

- Get funding

And set yourself up to apply for an O-1 visa from the business

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

2 - The O-1 visa is the best and most flexible visa for immigrant entrepreneurs

- It's really fast, compared to other categories

- The most flexible visa since it doesn't require a degree or limited to certain fields

- You can apply for a green card (EB1) with similar criteria

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

- There is no lottery system or cap on number of visas

- You can pay more to receive a faster decision

- 3 year visa, that can be renewed an unlimited number of times

It's the path I used to immigrate to the country!

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

3 - You can use an O-1 visa "agent" to set up a consulting company or freelance for multiple businesses

This blew my mind 🤯

I thought the O-1 was only for startup founders

But you can hire a visa "agent" who formally has your visa tied to them, and can work for anyone

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

This now means you can be an immigrant entrepreneur who starts an SMB

You can be an immigrant freelancer or consultant (pathways I didn't know that were possible)

In fact, @Loganullyott himself went down this path and got an O-1 visa agent

Super cool

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

4 - The O-1 visa criteria are surprisingly flexible

Here are some things that can help:

- Getting into an accelerator

- Press (Forbes 30u30, anyone?)

- High compensation

- Serving in an integral role for a well known company

- Winning a pitch competition or hackathon pic.twitter.com/W9PIQJIVOB

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023

- Join a professional org with selective membership (IEEE etc)

- Judging a pitch competition or hackathon

- Speaking at a conference or on a panel

- Writing an article in an industry publication (guest posts, anyone?)

- Creating a new technology used by people (software)

etc

— Ankur Nagpal (@ankurnagpal) April 11, 2023