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Can I get a work visa if I work out of my house
By Jim Nolan | July 19, 2010
A common question we get from people needing a visa and setting up a new business in the U.S. is if they can use their home for their business office. This is usually for people applying for L-1 or E-2 visas.
There are two parts to answer this question.
First, there is nothing which prohibits a new company from using someone’s home for their business and successfully sponsoring a visa.
Second, Immigration is very suspicious of this and it usually doesn’t work.
If someone list their business address as their home Immigration will usually ask for one of the following documents:
- A copy of their lease showing that the landlord has approved using the apartment for commercial purposes. Most residential leases, particularly in NY, specifically say it is only to be used for residential purposes and when Immigration sees this they will not approve the visa.
- If the lease does say commercial purposes are permitted or the business person owns a home, Immigration will often ask for proof that the zone that the building is in permits commercial uses. You will have to get something from the city government to show the permit uses for this space under government law and this can be very difficult to do. If the zone permits commercial use then Immigration may approve the visa if the owner can explain it is only temporary. If the zone does not, the visa will be denied.
My experience is that it would be better for a new office to have a separate space, even in an executive suite-style space, on a month-to-month basis, than use a home office.
The best option from an immigration perspective is to rent a normal office with a commercial lease. Of course, for many new business this is cost-prohibitive for a while, and we have found Immigration will approve visas with an executive style office lease at least for the first year.
Topics: Business work visas, Company Green Card, Practical Immigration Tips, Work Visas | 2 Comments »
Japanese
German
July 28th, 2010 at 8:13 am
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I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
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August 9th, 2010 at 1:11 am
I would appreciate you quoting my post. My Twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/jimnolannyc