Forum Moderators: martinibuster
Starting a website is not starting a business. You aren't getting another job or starting a company or getting self employed. It does not violate any immigration rules so enjoy your extra income and the fact that you are living in this country.
[edited by: Woz at 2:15 am (utc) on June 20, 2005]
[edit reason] TOS#4 [/edit]
I suggest you seek advice from an immigration attorney. It's clear that DavidDeprice is not one. Although it's true you might 'get away with it', his advice is wrong. I also question his motives with the reference to 'a mythical country'.
Immigration law says you are NOT allowed to earn additional income while on an H-1B visa. As with most things, there are a few exceptions to this - some examples are foreign earned INVESTMENT income, income from a trust fund, royalties on a book that you perhaps wrote a couple of years ago.
In addition to reading the US governments immigration site (uscis), you might also want to read through the discussion forum on the site in my profile. There are plenty of qualified attorneys there.
[edited by: Woz at 2:16 am (utc) on June 20, 2005]
[edit reason] Tidying up. [/edit]
You are only allowed to receive renumeration for work authorized under your approved petition
and visa... even if you do it for free. This also prevents you from starting your own LLC / LLP.
"A person on an H1B is allowed to invest money in ANY business. HOWEVER, s/he is not allowed to start working for the business or do any work on behalf of a separate entity unless and until s/he obtains an H1B approval for the other entity. The legal entity that the foreign national helps to create is different in law than the foreign national as an individual. Assuming that the foreign national complies with the state requirements for a Corporation, Partnership, or LLC, the foreign national can create a legal entity. However, in order to work for the company in any fashion whatsoever, the applicant will require a work visa (H-1 or other relevant work status) since a nonresident alien cannot work without prior INS or DOL permission. Generally, it is better to work closely with a U.S. citizen or permanent resident who can actively develop the business to the extent necessary to obtain an H-1 or L-1 approval."
But as in any other area there are some *grey* workarounds :) ...One idea would be to start a C-corp ,receive adsense income thro it and keep the money in the company without redistributing to yourself . This way this extra income dont show up in your personal tax return and there is no way for INS to find it. Once you get a EAD or GreenCard , take the money out of the company and pay yourself...another idea would be to simply run adsense thro your loved ones in your home country!.
[edited by: eelixduppy at 9:46 pm (utc) on Feb. 18, 2009]
For the past 3 years, i was heavily into stocks (14 hrs a day). Lost $50K. I did file taxes on gans and losses for the past three years. If i can invest in stocks and i can buy/sell on eBay, then why can't i make some money on adsense?
I am inclined to believe that we can.
In anycase, if INS wants to screw me UP, he can do it anytime. Even a Cop can screw me for speeding.
Thanks for all your cooperation.
conjo
Very True , so its not that big of a problem if you trade stocks or flip houses because its all capital gain so you can argue its passive investment income .But business income is very different!.
Said all that if your adsense income is less say like 6-7k/yr then it should be ok but something like 20k may sure get into the eye of an INS officer looking your tax return during a visa revalidation or during your GC process.
But thanks to all those aho responded.
At present I am in India working for an IT firm. I have applied for H1-B and may get it in the coming months. I run Adsense on my hobby website and receive the check for a small sum.
What if I move to US on H1-B in the coming months? Should I inform Google about this? or will it be OK to use the same mailing address in India for check delivery? My wife can deposit the check in Bank. However I may login to adsense account from US to maintain website and ads. Is it OK if I do like this?
or Google will have any problem as mailing address is different from the Adsense account login IP address?
but something like 20k may sure get into the eye of an INS officer looking your tax return during a visa revalidation or during your GC process.
So if i make more than 20k per year, i should file a report? But the tax season was over and i guess i could not do anything except to wait for next year, is that right?
You should report your income to IRS regardless of how much you make ...Google will send you a 1099 to you and IRS ,so uncle sam know how much you make!
I feel a true story coming on::
A few years ago the wife of a Multi, Multi millionaire set up a pitch in 5th Ave to sell Xmas trees for a Childrens charity.
She got picked up, arrested for working without the neccessary papers, and then deported. So Think about this before you make rash decisions!
Your example with a wife of a multimillionare sound fishy to me, too. You mean she volunteered for the charity and got deported? Ha-ha and you expect me to believe that?
Because if she did not volunteer but obtained a job she was paid for, well, that's a clear violation of her status if she did not have a work permit and it's a clearcut case.
The funny thing is that nobody can come up with a precedent when a person with H1-B got deported for receiving income from AdSense or eBay, nor quote H1-B regulation that would clearly ban that type of income.
What are we talking here about then?
I will see lawyers advise, if i reach or exceed 7K, which i feel is not even remotely possible for me at this stage.
That $7,000 figure is not gospel; Gopi just pulled it out of the air. I strongly advise you ignore DavidDeprice's posts and get a legal opinion before accepting any payments. If the amount isn't large enough to justify seeing a lawyer, then it can't be large enough to risk your immigration status over.
In the UK, to answer the question, If a U.S person visited or lived in the UK, without permission to work, and he or She, started making money with his or her computer,in particular using UK facilities, and made money, that could be considered working, which would be liable to income tax in the UK, and the possibility of being deported. That is the law as it stands, whether or not somebody would impose it is another matter, ( But it would be unwise to test them on the point).
In the States I would guess legal advice from an attorney experienced in the field, could cost $1000-$1500 by the time he is finished.
May I suggest based on the somewhat cocky way DavidDeprice replies to this thread, he would be a prime candidate for causing himself a problem with the authorities should he be interviewed by them. They just love such a, "Know it all", attitude. All I am saying is that the rules are very complex, both in the UK and the U.S, and professional advice should be taken, and not listen to people like DavidDeprice in such matters.
"If a U.S person visited or lived in the UK, without permission to work, and he or She, started making money with his or her computer,in particular using UK facilities, and made money, that could be considered working, which would be liable to income tax in the UK, and the possibility of being deported."
I said using his computer to make money whilst in the UK.
If the adsense business was simply running in the background with no UK intervention, for example editing etc, then possibly the webmaster would only answer to the IRS, but if he is in the UK as you said for months, and actively working on the websites, in an attempt to increase the revenue for instance, then....He could well be liable for tax in the UK.
The UK and the IRS can very easily put up a case if they wanted to,to show the website owner owes them money, and most small website owners have not got the financial resources to mount a full defence to rebut it.
I don't intend to continue this discussion save to say, don't play with their nerves in the U.S or the UK, they can have a very sharp bite if they want to ( Remember Al capone?).
As I mentioned in my previous post, I may go to US on H1B in the coming months/years.
In that case what should I do?
Should I remove Adsense from my websites while I am US as I should not earn any other income other than salary? or Should I continue to use Adsense and continue to receive checks at Indian address?
If I choose the second option, will Google object it? To avoid problems will it be better to not login into Adsense account from US ata all? (This would be the last option)
Please advise.
