B1 to H1B vs AOS

[chelseafc 0]

Hey, recently I brought a worker from China. He is here on a B1 visa. We were going to plan a tech company, but he started coding after a few days, part of the interview process, and since then we have not stopped. Now he is basically the most important person in my tech company. I want to keep him here, he was planning on going back to China but I think it is best if he stays.

Can we try to keep him here via a AOS? or should i just apply for a H1B visa? Are there any alternatives?

Thanks so much

[Boiler 43,437]

First thing he needs to do is stop working illegally.

Do you have an Immigration Lawyer?

Are you a non profit?

[chelseafc 0]

I am not a non profit. I have a hotel company which owns hotels and I have a tech company which has not made any revenue yet. I did not speak to a lawyer yet since I did my wife's visa (from japan) without any assistance. I could contact a lawyer but I am just trying to get some direction.

I am not paying him, so he is not really "working" as much as he is showing me his ability.

[Boiler 43,437]

Please, it does not matter if you are paying him. He has no EAD.

You said in your first post he was working and breaching the terms of his B1.

Work Visas are handled by Lawyers, the usual one in this sort of case is a H1b, petition 1st April, if you get a visa in the lottery start 1st October.

[chelseafc 0]

well that would be too late for us. Can we apply for an AOS?

[Boiler 43,437]

What to?

[chelseafc 0]

i really dont know what to do. i thought if he was the right candidate we could do a h1b visa, now that appears as though that is not possible.

[Boiler 43,437]

You can, well if you get lucky in the lottery.

Seems odd that you would bring somebody all this way at some cost without considering the visa situation.

Work remotely seems the obvious solution.

[chelseafc 0]

No I will buy his greencard if i have to, E5 or whatever it takes. Thanks for letting me know.

[Boiler 43,437]

EB5 China is not current.

[canadian_wife 1,791]

Buy his green card? Seriously?

Anyway, why can't he work remotely? If he is coding, can't that be done from home?

What does your worker want? Does he want to return to his home country like you suggested earlier in your post?

When does his authorized stay in the US end?

good luck

[chelseafc 0]

I think he would like to stay here, he has family back home including wife and child. He prefers the usa for education for his son, but coding is much better when we are together. Remote workers are not an option after having and in house team. I will try to to do a I-140 I think.

[CowBoE 429]

Not trying to be negative here but...

If he's in US, obviously he needs money to survive,

and I'm sure he's not working for free and paying his expensive living cost in US

out of his own pocket...so he must be somehow compensated with living expenses???

In any case, I've been in software industry for 30 years,

and if you pay $120~180K/salary (based on different locations in US), $40K (in India), $50K (in China),

you can pretty much find a top talent programmer for whatever industry

you are trying to develop to.

Unless you have emotional attachment to this person to keep him here,

sounds like letting him work from China while you sort out the proper immigration path

would be both legally and financially best for him.

You also have to think about his quality of life too.

I'm sure he can't drive in US, and he doesn't have legal status to freely move around.

And if he's caught by police for whatever the bad luck reason,

he could be detained and sent back...and that could potentially affect his future visa processing.

Besides, doesn't EB5 cost at least .5M to 1M?

If he's really really good, and you pay him $50K (about 300,000 yuan) while he works in China,

that would be more than what he can make in China and I'm sure he will continue to crank out code.

Good luck...

[chelseafc 0]

He's good, I will go for the EB2 path I think. I know it seems like he is replaceable at 50,000 a year but actually he is not I think it would cost several million per year to replace him, and that with a great hassle. I'd rather just bring him here then find someone else, I have worked with him for about 6 months and he is the real deal.

[aaron2020 11,651]

No I will buy his greencard if i have to, E5 or whatever it takes. Thanks for letting me know.

USCIS requires him to have the $500,000 to invest. It can't be an unsecured loan. Good luck getting the $500,000 back in 5 years (since no one seems to get it back).