Any adsense publisher with H1-B visa here?

Is it legal to get extra income from adsense?

[conjo_guam]

I am going to receive my PIN in a week.
I would like to know, whether it is legal to accept payment other than your employee?
thanks

[senlogan]

I'm an Indian in US, let me share my understanding.

INS and IRS are different bodies with different laws.

IRS treats H1b people just like US citizens.All income needs to be declared including the income in India as Indian law does not require an H1b holder (NRI status) to file tax returns.

INS doesnt care about your income but requires your pay stups and W2 from your employer for verifying your H1b status.

Also INS has tracking systems that can check H1b employment status by checking your IRS systems and also your financial cheatings, if any.

Currently it is possible to earn income in US, but any INS query or green card query that requires you w2 and pay stubs submissions for verification can deport you.

Currently the DMV is getting integrated with INS (Real Id act), very soon INS will integrate with IRS.
It might be a problem in future if not now.

ALL because of fundamenatlist Mullahs who attacked USA.

[Chndru]

Just listen what gopi says.

[conjo_guam]

Hi all,
Thanks for contributing to this untouched grey area so far on adsense forum.
As i see, there are many people here, who are in the same boat as i am.

I am going to talk to a lawyer tomorrow.
So, please let me know, your concerns and questions. I may put it to my laywer.

My question would be
1) Can i make money out of adsense?

I would only pick bext 3 questions, if you guys have any.
thanks
again
conjo guam.

[rish]

I've worked in the US on four month J1 and H2B visas.

For convenience and to avoid any tax hassles I simply continued having Adsense checks sent to my home country and had family bank them.

I had a visa agency prepare all my taxes (refunds!) and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have known what to do if I told them about Adsense. The J1 visa you can work any job you like so I'm sure Adsense wouldn't be a problem but on an H2B (and I'm guessing H1B) you can only work for your visa sponsor which suggests to me that having Adsense checks sent to you in the states would be a no-no.

I still maintain a US bank account and have thought about trying to set up direct deposit but it's likely more hassle than it's worth (changing publisher country).

[rish]

I was also going to add that once you require attorneys and accountants involved it's probably more hassle than it's worth. My suggestion would be to have adsense checks sent to someone you trust in your home country and they can then bank them to your account or wire (paypal, etc) you the money.

[conjo_guam]

I have opened adsense account with united states address. How can i change it to India address?
I have emailed adsense support the same.
Hopefully, i will receive a response soon.
thanks

[jomaxx]

So instead of simply asking the INS themselves what the policy is, or asking a qualified immigration attorney how to handle things so that you're not in violation of your visa, you're going to hide the business from the INS and also not pay any taxes on the income?

Do you really think this is a wise approach? Especially since you have probably already filled out a declaration giving your SSN and stating that you are liable for US taxes?

[DavidDeprice]

Obviously, you've never had to deal with INS - you can't even get a live person to talk to you on the phone. You can't send them an e-mail and get it answered. And the INS reply is generally "No", even if you ask "What time is it now?"
This is how immigration lawyers work 95% off the time - they file paperwork with INS, wait for the application to be denied and file appeal or take them to court to prove their case. Back when I lived in Sacramento there was in interesting case - a young immigrant (22 or so) married an American woman of Fillippino heritage. She was 45 or so. INS immediately decided to stonewall the application because they thought that the marriage was fake because of the age difference. So what the lawyer had to do was to take a picture of her and ask the judge (or some other official, since I am not 100% sure if the case was settled in or outside the court) - "How old do you think this person is?" Because the woman looked like she was 30, not 45, the person finally did get his permament resident status, but the thing is, INS generally don't really want to look into anything.