Coming to America?

by redrory on 8/21/2007, 4:56 PM with 4 comments

Hello again guys. I see alot of posts by persons wanting info about move to San Francisco , and stuff. But I was wondering for the international persons among us, ( I am from Jamaica) on what bias do international persons come to properly develop their startup. I mean like, will I need work permit? Can I come on a Visitor's visa? etc.

Thanks much..

  • by petercooper on 8/21/2007, 10:59 PM

    It's not too difficult. It's what the E-2 visa was designed for.. for people to come to the US and start (or, rather, "invest in" businesses). All you need is to invest about $100,000 into a company, either one of your own creation, or one you're going to take over, and you're in for two years (and then indefinitely if the business continues to make reasonable revenue). There are no quotas on this visa and application times are very quick, whereas the H-1B ties you to an employer (totally useless for your own company), etc.

    The L-1 visa is another option if you have a company and you want to set up a US office while maintaining the company in your home country, which can be harder to do but is most likely "cheaper".

  • by yawl on 8/21/2007, 10:05 PM

    You can come with visitor visa, but if you want to work in US, you need to start with H1B visa, which is now kind of a "lottery" (the annual limit is too small and no guarantee if you can get one).

  • by bluishgreen on 8/21/2007, 8:39 PM

    We have talked a lot about this before.. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40208