[winter_blue]

I was an F-1 student too, and here's my suggestion:

This coming Summer, apply for pre-completion OPT.

You are allowed to start a company (register a corporation), and work for it under OPT status. I have inquired about this on HN before: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1523021 I also verified with the DSOs (Designated School Officials) at my university, who are authorized to give legal advice on this matter, and they said that it was indeed possible to be self-employed / do a startup while on OPT.

What you should do is:

1. Apply for pre-completion OPT right away. Once you get your EAD (it'll have a start date on it), register for a C-Corporation after the start date. (Unfortunately, non-citizens cannot start S-Corps, which are actually more suited to startups).

2. Then get a bank account on the company's name; link that account to your PayPal account, and cash the money to the company's bank account. You can then pay yourself a lump-some "salary" or cash it out via stock dividends.

3. Since your pre-completion OPT is authorized only for the summer, you'll have to stop "working for your company" at the end of the OPT period. So that this doesn't bite you again, in the meanwhile you should find a different solution to charging customers such as an international PayPal account or some other payment solution that is not based in the US.

4. Once you graduate, you'll be able to work for you company for atleast 12 months; and if you have a STEM degree (Comp Sci counts as one), you can work for it for an additional 17 months (adding up to a total of 29 months). After that there really aren't any other visas for startups / being self-employed, as the H1B requires that you own less than 50% of the company employing you (the real issue is that "you are not in control of your employment" and that you're fireable -- so even substantial ownership under 50% might be problematic -- but IANAL and I don't know about this. It might indeed be possible to do a startup on an H1B with 3 co-founders. Check with a lawyer.)

5. After the 29 months of post-completion OPT, if you are not particularly attached to the United States, there are many countries that welcome startups and self-employed freelancers and issue visas for such people. One such place is Dubai, a modern metropolitan city with people from various backgrounds. The DTMFZA (Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Authority) issues Freelance permits (for $3k/year) that let you be self-employed in the country. One of the great things about Dubai (and the UAE in general) are the zero taxes. To top it all, Dubai happens to be a really great city. Other options, perhaps include Singapore and other cities/countries, but I don't know about the immigration/visa deal for freelancers in those countries.

Good luck! If you have any further questions, feel free to reply to this thread -- I'll be monitoring it.

[winter_blue]

Just want to add, OPT (both pre-completion and post-completion) applications will take around 3 months to process; so you should get the paperwork in right now in order to get your OPT authorized (and receive your EAD card) by mid/late May.

Until then, hopefully you can trust PayPal to hold onto your funds (and not gobble it up for some stupid reason).

[jonramz]

You cannot do both 12 months of pre-completion and 12 months of post-completion OPT, you only get 12 months of OPT per degree level

[winter_blue]

Yes, you're right. So if the OP works for 3 months this summer, he can still do 9 months of post-completion + 17 months if he has a STEM degree.

[jonramz]

can only do STEM is he works for an e-verified company, STEM is tougher to get for people running their own business

[nchuhoai]

You can work for your own company on post completion OPT as well? I'm currently doing it on pre-OPT, but didn't know it was possible. Do you have the same "continous work requirement" as normal employment under post-completion OPT?

[winter_blue]

> Do you have the same "continous work requirement" as normal employment under post-completion OPT?

If by that you're referring to the rule that mandates you maintain minimal periods of unemployment; Yes.

Since you're running your own company, as long as you don't fire yourself you should fulfill this requirement.

The F-1 OPT status allows for upto 60 days of unemployment though. This means that means if you were to work a regular job, you still do have a little gaps of time in between switching jobs to search for a new job.

[ra]

Good advice. But also, get a lawyer!