I am on H1B work visa.Can I invest in RE legally? - Posted by JT

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Posted by Peekay on March 28, 2002 at 14:32:31:

Your H1B visa is for employment purpose. What that means is that U cannot be employed elsewhere. As long as U are in real estate as an investor–that is not working, thus not “employed”-- then thre is no problem; for your activity will be considered as an investor but not as an employee of your investment firm.

However should you start as a business entity and employ yourself as a regular employee the U will be in violation of your INS status.

In short, U are free to do anything legal with your earned money.

Good Luck.

Peekay

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I am on H1B work visa.Can I invest in RE legally? - Posted by JT

Posted by JT on March 28, 2002 at 12:51:28:

Hi,
I’m a foreign national working in the US on an H1B work visa. One of the limitations people like me face is that I cannot receive income from any other work except the job I was issued the work visa for.

Now, from what I’ve found online and from a lawyer I spoke to, when it comes to real estate, there is a fine line between investing and working a business. This is important because if the INS determines that I am working a RE investing business on the side, it is considered unauthorised work and I will be deported. Even if I don’t pay myself, working the business is a violation of the regulations.

Before I pay a few lawyers to see if I can start investing legally, I wanted to see if there were people out there who are facing/ have faced the same situation.

I would appreciate any information/ insight that you might have to share.

Thanks.
Jacques

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Re: I am on H1B work visa.Can I invest in RE? - Posted by David H

Posted by David H on March 28, 2002 at 14:47:13:

This question is probably better answered on an immigration forum - such as www.grasmick.com

You should be able to, for example, buy and hold a rental without a problem. However, you’d probably run into trouble if it looks too much like self-employment or employment.