Hey all,

I'm fortunate enough to have freelance work (from Canadian clients) lined up already when I quit my job here in Toronto and move to the U.S. (whenever my petition is approved, interview granted & passed, etc.).

Has anyone else been in the same situation of being self-employed prior to receiving an EAD or AOS? I no longer have a personal GST number (used previously to declare business income) but I still have a corporation and GST number for that. I've never used the corporation though for freelance/consulting work since it was way more complicated tax-wise.

I'm going to talk to my accountant here about it but I'd like to talk to you about how you handled it as far as where the money was deposited (Canada or US), etc. and whether you set up a business in the U.S. or just did it like here in Canadian where you declare it as business income along with your personal taxes (does it work that way there?).

Oh one more question: Can you get a US bank account before receiving a SSN?

You can not be self employed here in the US until you have EAD... as far as taxes and business set-up you should discuss these things with an accountant...

Kez

Like I said, I do plan on having a chat with an accountant about this but wanted to hear from people from Canada who have been in a similar situation and whether they kept their business here in Canada or not, etc., etc.

Good to know that I can't technically be self-employed until EAD though.

Dunno about the self-employment, but as for tha bank account, it depends on the bank and the kind of account. You can definitely open a joint account with your spouse before getting the SSN. Then as soon as you get your number you let them know and they update the account info. My fiance and I did this when I was visiting the USA (Bank of America) before I even got my visa. Following a similar idea, you may be able to go to a bank and open up an account if you have the receipt from your application for SSN, show them this, and update the account info with your SSN number when you get it (you should apply for SSN about 2 weeks after entering the USA). However I don't remember ever hearing of this being done, but this doesn't mean it's not worth trying. Most banks, however, will let you open a joint account with your spouse before you get an SSN like I said, especially if your spouse already has an account with them. Good luck with your journey!
-Eli-

After you get your EAD, you can become a freelance. Really simple. On 1099, no need to have your own corporation. Less paperwork! Good luck!

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to either let those cheques pile up before EAD or talk to my accountant about the possibility of having them deposited into my Canadian bank account until then (and I'd be prepared to file both Cdn & US tax returns, etc., etc.).

Oh... I found a thread that talks about this too: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46849

Eli, thanks for the bank info. I'll check with my husband's bank (a credit union) next time I am there to see if I can open an account prior to SSN. He knows the bank manager well since he used to work there a few years ago. If I can get some sort of account set up now, that would be one less thing to worry about.

I'm still in Canada, but when I was in the US for 2 months this fall, I was able to get a chequing...I mean checking account and a Visa account with NationalCity. There were some extra security steps because I'm not a US resident. I just remember showing them my passport and signing an extra paper.

However, because I don't have a SSN, I can't use online banking or use the automated phone banking system. But I've been able to get account balances and pay my Visa while back in Canada by talking to a real person. And when I'm in the US, I can do banking transactions in the branch in person and use ATMs.

Could you expand on this? I'm self-employed; I work from home at my computer for various clients. When I was visiting my fiance in the US, I continued working as I do at home. After my K-1 visa is approved and I can join him permanently, is there any reason that I couldn't continue doing the same work without any interruption?

You're in the same situation as me then. What I gather from the other thread is that you can keep doing it but just put your money aside for taxes. If you declare all your income from when you entered the country, the IRS will still getting 100% of what you put aside. I don't see what difference it makes as long as all the income is declared at the end of the year, because I will either be putting the money in my US account when my invoices to clients are paid or let the cheques pile up until EAD and then deposit it at the same time. It makes no difference in the end to the IRS as far as I can tell since I'll still be declaring it all at the end of the taxation year.

Maybe I'm missing something too?