Sophie Alcorn
Contributor
Sophie Alcorn is the founding father of Alcorn Immigration Regulation in Silicon Valley and 2019 International Regulation Specialists Awards’ “Regulation Agency of the 12 months in California for Entrepreneur Immigration Companies.” She connects individuals with the companies and alternatives that increase their lives.
Extra posts by this contributor
Ask Sophie: How real looking are my probabilities of hiring H-1B candidates at my startup?
Ask Sophie: Any steerage for altering jobs whereas on an H-1B?
Right here’s one other version of “Ask Sophie,” the recommendation column that solutions immigration-related questions on working at know-how corporations.
“Your questions are very important to the unfold of information that permits individuals everywhere in the world to rise above borders and pursue their desires,” says Sophie Alcorn, a Silicon Valley immigration lawyer. “Whether or not you’re in individuals ops, a founder or searching for a job in Silicon Valley, I’d like to reply your questions in my subsequent column.”
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Pricey Sophie,
I’m from Georgia however I reside in Poland. I created my startup in Delaware a couple of years in the past. To understand it and develop it, I want to maneuver to the U.S.
I’ve a marketing strategy and a market plan, however no immigration plan. What’s your recommendation? Which visa ought to I apply for?
— International Georgian
Pricey International,
Congratulations on making a plan and following by to increase your startup in the US! I’m dedicated to serving to founders such as you make the world a greater place by coming to the U.S. to realize your desires. Thanks for reaching out!
Earlier than I dive into your visa choices, let me move alongside some recommendation that Daniel Zawarczynski, the Austrian Commerce Commissioner to the U.S. and co-director of Open Austria, provided to startup founders throughout our current podcast. “Use all of the sources you will have on the bottom and construct your native community,” he suggested. “Information may be acquired so simply by Google and YouTube movies, however realizing the correct individuals to belief and who trusts you is absolutely the trail to success.”
To start out constructing that community of trusted people, I recommend consulting with an immigration lawyer to assist information you in your immigration journey to the US primarily based in your marketing strategy, timing, your long-term targets, your schooling, your {qualifications} and your distinctive scenario.
Now, let’s lay out your immigration choices!
“Transferring” to the U.S.
The L-1A visa for intracompany transferee executives and managers presents an important possibility for worldwide founders who’ve been working for his or her startup overseas for at the least one of many previous three years and need to open an workplace within the U.S. When you’ve got been working for a authorized entity in Poland that’s associated to your startup, your Delaware entity may sponsor you for an L-1A visa to come back to the U.S. to open an workplace right here. You’ll have to present proof that you’ve got been on the payroll of your startup for at the least a 12 months by pay slips or tax paperwork.
The L-1A visa utility would require you to submit paperwork reminiscent of enterprise plans, progress fashions and group charts. You have to to point out that you’ve got secured an workplace within the U.S. and that the U.S. workplace will assist your place inside one 12 months of the L-1A visa being accredited. Despite the fact that extra individuals are working remotely within the U.S., the L-1A requires your organization to have a bodily workplace, which can also be thought-about an indication that your organization is severe, viable, rising and even hiring. We’ve been profitable in getting L-1 visas accredited for corporations located in a co-working area, however I’d nonetheless suggest a stand-alone workplace inside it.