The agency proposes eliminating the discretionary grace period of up to 60 days following employment termination for certain nonimmigrant workers.

Affected classifications include H-1B, O-1, L-1, TN, E-1, E-2, E-3 and H-1B1, along with affected dependents.

If finalized as proposed, the rule would substantially narrow the time available after employment ends to arrange a qualifying transition or departure.

This is not effective law. The existing discretionary grace-period regulation remains in place.

DHS identifies November 10, 2026, as the public-comment deadline. The relevant docket is USCIS-2026-0364. Federal Register

Read the proposed rule and submit comments

For H1B Founders, this is especially consequential because founder employment changes and startup transitions can be complicated.

Here are four developments worth separating. Three are proposals. The fourth finalizes a restriction already in force. They affect different people, so start with the one that applies to your status.

1. Prior approvals: DHS proposes removing deference

On October 14, DHS proposed removing the rule that generally requires USCIS to defer to an earlier eligibility determination when a Form I-129 petition involves the same parties and underlying facts. Exceptions already allow a fresh determination for material errors, changes or new material information.

This affects H-1B, O-1, L-1 and other worker classifications using the form.

The existing rule remains in place. This proposal does not invalidate existing approvals.

If finalized, it could make extensions less predictable. DHS acknowledges possible longer adjudications and additional preparation costs. Its analysis links the earlier withdrawal of deference to higher evidence-request rates, while acknowledging other changes may have contributed.

For a founder, an extension is also a company-planning question: how much time and money should we set aside for the next filing?

Comments close November 13, 2026, before midnight ET. Submit through Regulations.gov under docket USCIS-2026-0529.

Official deference proposal and comment instructions

2. Job loss: DHS proposes removing the 60-day grace period

On September 11, DHS proposed eliminating the discretionary grace period after employment ends for certain workers and their dependents, including H-1B, O-1 and L-1 holders.

The proposal has not removed the current protection. Today, that period is up to 60 consecutive days or the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, and remains subject to DHS discretion.

If finalized as proposed, the rule would remove that window to pursue another immigration option after employment ends, unless the person has another lawful basis to remain.

If you are considering leaving a job to build, bring the timing question to counsel before resigning. The grace period itself does not authorize work for your startup.

Comments close November 10, 2026, before midnight ET. Docket USCIS-2026-0364.

Official grace-period proposal

3. F-1 students: DHS proposes new OPT fees

On October 8, DHS proposed $70,000 for initial Optional Practical Training and $30,000 for subsequent OPT, including a STEM OPT extension.

These fees are proposed, not in force. The school would pay before its designated school official recommends OPT. DHS also contemplates schools passing costs to students or employers.

The transition language covers OPT already approved, or recommended by the school, before a final rule takes effect. A later OPT request could still trigger the fee. Check the recommendation and application dates with your school and attorney.

My concern for F-1 founders is access: what happens to the path from studying to building if a school cannot or will not pay?

Comments on the proposed rule close November 9, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Docket ICEB-2026-0100. December 7 is a separate information-collection deadline.

Official OPT fee proposal

4. EAD renewals: restrictions already in force are finalized

The October 14 final rule adopts the earlier restrictions on automatic extensions of certain Employment Authorization Documents without additional regulatory changes.

The key renewal filing date remains October 30, 2025. For affected categories, applications filed on or after that date generally no longer automatically extend work authorization for up to 540 days. This matters to some H-4 spouses and employment-based adjustment applicants.

Eligible renewals properly and timely filed before that date retain the earlier protection. Separately authorized extensions under law or Federal Register notices are preserved.

This is separate from the grace-period proposal above. Permission to remain after employment ends and authorization to keep working while an EAD renewal is pending are different questions.

Publication alone does not change the restrictions already operating. If you rely on an EAD, check your category, expiration date and renewal receipt date with counsel.

Official EAD final rule

Bring one specific question to counsel

“Given my status and filing timeline, which of these developments should we plan for, and does anything change what I need to do now?”

If you want background on founder H-1B petitions, my January 2025 conversation with Raghavan Nagarajan covers ownership, the job offer and extensions. Start at 6:02 for ownership, or 22:45 for approval periods. It reflects the rules discussed at the time; use the official sources above for these new developments.

H-1B, O-1 and F-1 founders can be building similar companies while facing very different rules. Your next step should come from your own filing timeline.

As of October 14, 2026. General information, not individual legal advice.

“We are cutting off the head of the snake.”

— Keith Sonderling, U.S. Secretary of Labor, October 8, 2026

Those were the words of Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling as the Trump administration announced the suspension of eight major technology and IT services companies from the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program.

Microsoft. Tata Consultancy Services. Infosys. Cognizant. Wipro. HCL. Capgemini. Adobe.

The administration alleges that these companies have misused employment-based immigration programs, including practices that disadvantage American workers. The allegations do not, by themselves, establish wrongdoing by every company or sponsored employee.

What You Need to Know

• What’s suspended: The Department of Labor will no longer accept new PERM applications or process pending applications involving these eight companies.

• What is PERM? A critical step in obtaining employment-based green cards, particularly through EB-2 and EB-3 sponsorship.

• What about H-1B workers? Existing H-1B visas are not automatically revoked. However, employees relying on these employers for green card sponsorship could face significant delays.

• What remains unclear? How long the suspension will last, whether companies can challenge it, and how existing applications will ultimately be handled.

For thousands of foreign professionals, particularly those already navigating lengthy green card backlogs, this creates another layer of uncertainty.

If you’re affected: Confirm your PERM/I-140 status with your employer’s immigration counsel, especially if you’re approaching your six-year H-1B limit.

This is a developing story. We’ll update this post as further details emerge.

Sources: Reuters · The Indian Express

Those were the exact words a Cohort 6 alum used. They had business ideas they’d been sitting on for a year. In week one, they incorporated.

A year of waiting. Then a company.

I think a lot of you know that feeling. I do. I’ve been there.

You want to build something, but every question leads to three more. You keep reading, keep researching, keep telling yourself you’ll start once you’ve figured it all out. Meanwhile, the idea is still sitting there.

Here’s a note from a Cohort 6 alum that stayed with me:

“Figure it out later” became a checklist they could actually work through. That’s a real shift. You can do something with a checklist.

We’ve seen the same pattern across cohorts. People come in with an idea and a lot of questions, then take the step to start their companies. I love seeing it.

And then the next set of questions shows up.

This is the slide I use to describe that feeling:

Most people come to Launch Club before they have a company. They’ve been sitting on an idea, sometimes for a long time. Can I even start this on my visa? What structure makes sense? What does compliance actually involve? They don’t know where to begin.

I walk through it with them. We work through how to incorporate, why the structure matters, and what they’re signing up to maintain. I explain what I learned building my own company and help them identify the questions to take to their attorney. They take a step, come back with questions, and we work through the next one. That’s how an idea they’ve been sitting on starts becoming a company.

One alum registered their company and got their DUNS number. They talked about the check-ins that kept them moving. Another described finally putting their attention into building instead of overthinking. Those steps matter. They give you something to build on.

I built my own business while figuring this stuff out. Sponsored my own H-1B. I share what I did, what I learned, and how I think through the next problem. I’m still building too.

There’s a business to run after the paperwork. Customers to find. Something useful to put into the world. That’s the work I want us doing.

To the alums doing it, and helping each other along the way: keep going. This is why I do it.

And if you’ve been watching from the sidelines, sitting on an idea for a year: what are you waiting for? What’s the next step you can actually take?

Go take it.

- Sid

I’ve put a fuller picture of what we work on in Launch Club on the site. Cohort 7 starts Wednesday, September 23. If you want to join us, apply here.

There is a particular kind of frustration I see over and over in talented immigrants. You have a good job. You make good money. Your career is objectively going well. And yet you know you want to build something. Then immigration enters the decision tree

That is why I wanted Soundarya Balasubramani on H1B Founders Live. Soundarya took a wonderfully non-standard path.

She had what many people would consider a dream job as a PM at Salesforce. But the status and money wore off quickly. Writing kept pulling her back. She tried books that went nowhere. She kept writing anyway.

Eventually she wrote Admitted, then Unshackled. She crowdfunded and raised grant money. She left the U.S. and spent much of 2023 in India. She built a company around her work, went through the O-1 process, came back to the U.S., built a substantial audience, and kept writing.

Her latest project is her first novel, 1000 Days of Love.

O-1 vs. founder H-1B is a tool choice

Soundarya built her path at a different time.

For her, O-1 offered flexibility that mattered: she wasn’t raising venture capital, she didn’t know when her business would generate enough money to support a conventional founder salary, and she wanted the freedom to build around writing.

Her petition was hundreds of pages and took months of documentation, letters, money and persistence.

Today, founder H-1B is also materially more explicit than it was when she began. There isn’t one magical “founder visa.” There are paths.

The useful question is: Given the company I actually want to build, which path creates the right constraints?

And, as always, work through your specific case with competent immigration counsel. This conversation is founders sharing lived experience, not legal advice.

The playbook itself is leverage

Simple things are only simple after someone has done them before.

Soundarya once spent about a week trying to figure out how to make a relatively simple change to an operating agreement.

Eventually someone who knew the answer essentially told her: change this language here. Done. That’s the thing about these systems.

That is also a large part of why I run Launch Club: a five-person cohort designed to get aspiring immigrant founders from stuck to building in three weeks.

Learn more and apply here.

The book is not necessarily the business

Another part I loved was hearing the economics of being an author.

Soundarya was remarkably straightforward: if your primary objective is making money, book royalties are probably not the cleverest business model.

Her writing became possible because she built an ecosystem around it: events, sponsorships, communities, crowdfunding, partnerships and other work.

That is founder thinking.

The artifact people see - a book, an app, a newsletter - does not necessarily have to be the entire business model. Sometimes the artifact is the center of gravity. The business forms around it.

Distribution is a system

Then we got to one of my favorite founder words: Distribution.

Technical founders are getting absurdly good at building quickly. AI has compressed the distance between idea and product dramatically. That makes the other side more obvious. Can anybody find you?

Soundarya has built an audience of hundreds of thousands, so I asked her what engineers and technical founders misunderstand about social media.

Her answer wasn’t “post constantly.”

It was systems.

A team can research ideas, watch what is happening, organize the pipeline, edit and handle operations. The founder keeps the thing that cannot really be outsourced:

taste.

Once that system exists, she said LinkedIn can take surprisingly little founder time.

She also gave the opposite advice, which I appreciated even more: Don’t become a content creator simply because Twitter told you every founder must become one.

Try it as an experiment. If you hate it, find another distribution system.

My takeaway

We spent about 50 minutes talking about immigration, writing, publishing, AI, social media, founder systems, O-1, H-1B and everything in between.

But I ended the episode with the thing I keep telling H1B founders:

Immigration is the easy part.

Building a business is harder. Building a profitable business is much harder.

The immigration problem is real. Learn it. Architect around it. Get good counsel. Build the right structure.

Then stop giving it 80% of your brain. Put your brain into the thing that actually determines whether you’re a founder:

Build something. Find customers. Get distribution. Make it profitable.

The rest has a funny way of becoming a solvable problem once there is something real on the other side.

Soundarya Balasubramani is a writer, entrepreneur, founder of Unshackled, and author of Admitted, Unshackled, and 1000 Days of Love. Find her at curiousmaverick.com and her LinkedIn. Support her book launch on the Kickstarter campagn.

Launch Club Application Here.

h1bfounders.com
It stays a little hidden by design.
If this is your problem, you’ll find your way in.

1. USCIS can deny weak filings without RFEs or NOIDs. Starting August 5, 2026, USCIS officers can reject cases outright if initial evidence is incomplete. This applies to H-1B, O-1, EB-1A, I-485, and similar filings. Treat your first submission as final. No second chances. USCIS

   Action: Have counsel re-check any upcoming filings for missing evidence, signatures, or weak arguments. For O-1/EB-1A, include all strong evidence upfront. Good attorney matters.
   

2. $4,000 “9/11 Biometric Fee” applies to some H-1B extensions. Effective September 9, 2026, DHS requires certain H-1B employers to pay this fee for extensions, even when the employee stays with the same company. Applies to employers with 50+ U.S. employees, where 50%+ are in H-1B or L-1 status. GovInfo

   Impact: Most small startups aren’t affected.
   

3. India EB-1 may run out before FY2026 ends. The August Visa Bulletin warns high demand could make India EB-1 unavailable “in the coming weeks” if annual limits are reached. Current cutoffs: Final Action - October 15, 2022; Dates for Filing - December 1, 2023. Broader retrogressions are possible. Travel.gov

   Pro Tip: Your existing EB2 priority date can be ported over to EB-1 adjustment of status. Get your priority date now, if not already. That’s what matters.

Starting a new podcast. Beyond H1B.

The name says it. Immigration is maybe 2% of the game. I've spent plenty of ink on that 2% (the actual law, if you missed it). This show is about the other 98%: building the business.

Three of us, jamming. Ercan Ozer, who builds Renovate AI with me. Harshdeep Gupta, a founder from this community. And me. We recorded the first episode and it was a lot of fun. That's the bar. I don't actually care if five people watch it.

The format for Season 01, every week:

• 15 minutes on AI news

• The rest: I and Ercan, walk our path with Harshdeep from 0 to $1M ARR, one month per episode. The whole first year.

First episode we revisit Jan and Feb 2023, the first two months of the Renovate AI launch. Oh man, weren't those good ol’ days.

The principles we wrote back in 2023 still hold:

We'll see how we want to invite guests down the road.

Trailer below. Full episode drops this week.

Open to topic ideas. Reply here or drop them in the WhatsApp group.

Achal Asawa spent 16 years in tech, Meta and then TikTok, leading a global team across London, Singapore, and China. Watching layoff after layoff hit good people convinced him his future couldn’t sit at the mercy of someone else’s decision. So he had his own company petition his H1B.

We talked through:

1. The proverbial handcuffs. FANG money and a great role that still grind you down, and why that comfort can trap you.

2. The line that started it: “My immigration future is no longer tied to an employer’s decision.”

3. The one free move. Write your goal on a whiteboard and read it every morning and every night. His says “I can outwork everyone.”

4. Can you legally start a company on H1B? Yes. The real nuance is the difference between owning a company and working for one, and the 2025 USCIS modernization rule that made the founder path cleaner.

5. Part-time, concurrent H1B. Keep the job for cash flow, build on the side, stay compliant. Preparatory work is generally permissible. Active work without authorization is not.

6. EB1A through a niche. You build the case in whatever domain you’re top of. Achal’s is skydiving, where he holds world records. What’s yours?

7. Why a peer group beats going alone. Find someone one step ahead of you. Both Launch Club and the new Inner Circle came up here.

The takeaway. You don’t need anyone’s permission. The shift comes first, then the tactics and the right people follow.

Your move, before you close this tab. Achal’s shift started with one line on a whiteboard. Write the one goal you’ve been waiting for permission to chase. Put it where you’ll see it tonight. Then DM me “I’m starting.” Saying it out loud is the moment the control moves to you.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Talk to an immigration attorney about your own situation.

If you want the 3-week cohort that walks you through company formation, compliance, and the attorney handoff, Launch Club is here

Sunday I broke down the new USCIS green card memo. People DM me the same question all the time: okay, but what do I actually DO?

Here's the answer I keep giving. You don't out-read the fear. You out-build it. The visa never feels safe enough. You file anyway, with an attorney, and you start the company.

That's what Launch Club is. A 3-week sprint for immigrant founders who are done waiting for permission. Entity setup, the foundation, and a handoff to an immigration attorney who has done this for founders before. Built for people on work visas, by someone who started a company on one.

You don't watch it. You move with a cohort, week to week. Four cohorts in, twenty-seven founders. Many have self-sponsored H1Bs approved through companies they own, in the cohort and across the wider community (with an attorney; this is not DIY).

Cohort 5 starts tomorrow. Wednesday, May 27, 6 PM ET. I keep cohorts to five, so everyone gets real attention. Four founders are in. If you've been circling this, there's a seat.

If you're ready, the form's here. If you're not, no worries. Get on the list for C6, links don't expire. Take your time. The work will still be there when you are.

And you're in Launch Club for life. The three weeks start it. The questions don't stop when the sessions do.

Sid

P.S. If you're in Boston this Saturday, I'm hosting a coffee. No agenda, no pitch, just immigrant founders hanging out. Come through.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney before acting on anything in this post.

If your group chat blew up this week with “green cards are dead, everyone has to leave the country,” breathe. I read the actual memo. Here’s the calm version.

On May 21, USCIS put out a memo (PM-602-0199) saying that adjusting your status inside the US, the green card step you do without flying home, is discretionary. Officers weigh your case, they don’t rubber-stamp it.

Here’s the part the panic skipped: this is not a new law. No new eligibility rules. Nobody’s filings are banned. It reaffirms a principle that was already there. As immigration attorney Ana Gabriela Urizar put it, the memo “does not necessarily signal a major shift in how most properly prepared adjustment of status cases are analyzed.”

If you’re on H-1B or L-1: dual intent still works with adjusting your status. The memo says so directly. But it also says your status alone isn’t enough to win the decision. Officers weigh the whole case now, so a clean, well-prepared one carries more weight than it used to. If you’re on valid status with a real case, nobody is automatically putting you on a plane.

USCIS’s own spokesman, after the backlash: people whose applications show “an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path.”

Now notice who’s selling the panic. A lot of the loudest “the system is closed, EB1A and NIW are dead” voices are influencers, not lawyers. To be clear, this memo covers green card adjustment across the board, H-1B, L-1, EB-1A, NIW, family based. Same answer for everyone: the system got tighter, it did not close. When you’re scared, read the firms doing the filings, not the guy farming your fear for views.

And here’s the founder read: the more discretion matters, the more the system rewards people who built something with obvious value. Economic benefit. National interest. That’s a company. Build it.

I’m not your lawyer. Talk to yours. This is where things stand as of May 2026, and lawyers expect court challenges, so it can shift. But don’t outsource your peace of mind to a viral post.

Khasim Shaik joined WIN CLUB in October 2025. Senior data engineer at Shopify. New father. Was thinking about moving to Canada because the green card line is 30 to 40 years.

We talked through:

• The energy audit. Mark every meeting red or green. Once you see the data, you can't lie to yourself.

• Two years since the gym. He signed off that week.

• The Canadian PR application that he actually filed.

• The break for his second child. Three months. Came back in April.

• Building the brand sentiment tool. Years of pipeline work going into one product.

• His first Jackson Spalding pilot. Closed.

• The Wolf of Wall Street myth. Why SaaS sales is process, not charisma.

• SPI. Situation, Pain, Impact. What it is and why it works.

The takeaway. Tactics on a broken foundation stay theoretical. Tactics on a healed foundation ship.

Two ways to go deeper with the H1B Founders community:

Launch Club Cohort 5 starts the week of May 18. Three weeks. Entity setup, foundation, attorney handoff with discount. Apply here: tally.so/r/pbx9Y1

Want long-term 1:1 mentorship like Khasim? Apply to WIN CLUB: tally.so/r/KYx92V

Join 1,081 H1B founders helping each other every day: https://h1bfounders.com

Subscribe for monthly episodes.

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A member in our WhatsApp group asked yesterday whether you can offer yourself a CEO job at your own company on H1B.

Multiple founders responded with evidence. The Modernization Rule (effective January 17, 2025) allows it. For founders who file an H1B through their own company, with an attorney. The old control test that required an independent board is gone. Lived examples in the group.

Hours later, the same belief re-surfaced from the same person. As if the rebuttals never happened.

That's the trap. Not the legal question. The pattern.

"I'll repeat my doubt until someone concedes."

It's a real thing. I see it daily in this community. A founder posts an objection. People answer. The founder doesn't engage with the answer. They restate the objection. Hoping someone will eventually agree with them. Hoping the doubt was right all along.

That's not learning. That's a vampire move. And it costs people years.

Most of what I hear is “shackled in chains” mentality. Lawyer said it's risky, you stopped reading. Waiting for permission. It doesn't come.

And some, bottom line, don't want to act. Entrepreneurship is hard. The limiting belief becomes a convenient ceiling.

This isn't new. It's the pattern.

I run Launch Club. A 3-week program for H1B-curious founders. Four cohorts in. Here's what happens when people decide to act.

Cohort 1 (November 2025). 10 founders. Three came in already ready: one with prediction-markets capital, one with a cybersecurity POC and an attorney telling him to incorporate yesterday, one with a prop trading firm ready to switch full-time. They didn't ask if they could. They asked how fast.

Cohort 2 (December 2025). One founder incorporated his C-corp during the cohort. Another joined with an LLC already filed. Cohort started early December. January 12. His message hit at 9:23 AM: "my H1B was approved last week, thank you for all guidance." Roughly five weeks from cohort start to visa landing.

Cohort 3 (January 2026). Five founders. One gave the cohort a 5-star review three weeks in. Another founder from this cohort got his self-sponsored H1B approved this week. Through a C-corp he created and owns (with an immigration attorney; this is not DIY). Four months from joining cohort to visa landing. His own message in the group: "everything I've done since then is because of the support and encouragement I received in that cohort."

Cohort 4 (February 2026). Five founders. Nine days into Session 1, four had concrete wins: incorporated, C-Corp filed, EIN received. One founder had been rejected from C3, came back, paid via Zelle, and incorporated inside the cohort window.

Four cohorts. Twenty-seven founders. Same pattern: read the evidence, file, build.

The member from yesterday heard the same evidence. He didn't.

I do this because I was alone.

Nobody had built this for immigrant founders when I was figuring out how to start a company on H1B. I wasted my first two years overthinking the legal stuff. The visa never feels safe. You build anyway. That's the answer to most of the fear.

H1B Founders exists for the people who want out of the loop.

Launch Club Cohort 5 starts the week of May 18. Three weeks. Entity setup, foundation, attorney handoff with discount. Want long-term mentorship? WIN CLUB. DM me.

If you want in, the form's here (or DM me). If not, no worries. Links don't expire. Take your time.

Sid

P.S. If you read this and your first reaction is "but actually I think the real reason X is..." that's the trap. Sit with that for a minute. It's free education.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. Consult a licensed immigration attorney before acting on anything in this post.

He filed his own H1B through his C-Corp. Got denied. Refiled. Got approved. Now he’s building BortleBuddy, an AI-powered astrophotography app.

In this episode:

• How he went from slamming his desk to filing his own petition

• The denial, the refile, and what his attorney did differently the second time

• Why he says “if you need innovation, you need freedom”

• The 70/30 role split under the modernization rule

• His advice: spend $500 on a real attorney, not $0 on Facebook opinions

Join 1,081 immigrant founders on WhatsApp: h1bfounders.com

Thinking about starting your own company on H1B? Start here:

https://h1bfounders.com/coaching

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I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. I used AI tools to help research publicly available federal law, then verified citations against primary sources. Before taking any action based on what you read here, consult a licensed immigration attorney. This post is independent public commentary and does not reflect or constitute any part of my paid coaching programs.

A founder I coach came to me with a problem. He’d talked to three immigration lawyers about filing a concurrent H1B through his own company. All three told him the same thing: you need a board of directors, complex bylaws, and a governance structure that proves someone else controls the company. Otherwise USCIS won’t approve it.

All three were quoting pre-2025 law.

In January 2025, a rule change made that entire requirement obsolete. No board needed. 100% ownership allowed. Cheaper path. Simpler filing. The H1B Modernization Rule killed the old employer-employee control test. But these three licensed attorneys were still building around a rule that no longer existed.

He was about to spend months and real money setting up a governance structure for nothing. One hour of reading the Federal Register would have caught it.

Here’s the thing. You can’t audit what you don’t understand. The credential tells you they passed the bar. It doesn’t tell you they read this year’s Federal Register. Immigration law moves fast. New rules, new guidance, policy shifts every year. The attorney who handled 500 cases in 2022 isn’t lying to you. They’re reaching for the answer they already know.

You have to know enough to interview them.

So I did what apparently nobody does anymore. I read the law.

Claude helped me surface the relevant clauses. Every citation below links to the original source. Verify it yourself.

Not a blog post about the law. The actual United States Code. The CFR. The USCIS Policy Manual. Federal court decisions.

Here’s what I found.

What the Law Actually Says

The regulation that governs what you can do on H1B is 8 CFR 274a.12(b)(9). It says:

“An alien in this status may be employed only by the petitioner through whom the status was obtained.”

Read that again. It restricts employment. Not “all activities.” Not “anything business-related.” Employment.

And what is “employment”? The regulation defines it at 8 CFR 274a.1:

“Any service or labor performed by an employee for an employer within the United States... for wages or other remuneration.”

Three things must exist for something to be employment:

1. Service or labor

2. For an employer

3. For wages or other remuneration

If any of those three is missing, the regulatory definition of employment is not met.

What the Law Does NOT Say

There is no statute, no regulation, and no USCIS policy manual section that says:

• You can’t own an LLC

• You can’t own a restaurant

• You can’t have a side project

• You can’t spend your own money on ads

• You can’t build things outside your 9-5

These prohibitions don’t exist in the law. They exist on immigration lawyer blogs. There is a difference.

The legal framework is built around regulating employment relationships. Employer hires employee. Employee performs labor. Employee receives wages. That’s what the law cares about.

Activities that don’t create an employment relationship? The law is silent.

The Case Everyone Cites (And Gets Wrong)

Every lawyer blog about this topic cites Wettasinghe v. INS from 1983. A guy bought ice cream trucks, stocked them daily, occasionally drove them, and collected rental payments plus a percentage of sales.

What the blogs don’t tell you: Wettasinghe was on an F-1 student visa. Not H1B.

The court’s reasoning was that F-1 restrictions exist “to insure that those who seek entry into the country to pursue educational opportunities in fact do so full time.” The purpose of F-1 restrictions is to ensure full-time study.

H1B is a completely different framework. You’re already authorized to work. The question isn’t whether you can work at all. It’s whether a specific activity constitutes unauthorized employment with someone other than your petitioner.

Using an F-1 case to interpret H1B restrictions is like using traffic law to argue about property rights. Same legal system, different body of law.

There are other administrative decisions (BIA rulings, AAO non-precedent decisions) that touch on self-employment in immigration contexts. The legal landscape is more complex than one inapplicable F-1 case. This is exactly why having an attorney who’s current matters. But Wettasinghe is not the H1B precedent the internet treats it as.

The December 2024 Rule That Changed Everything

In December 2024, USCIS published a final rule that most people haven’t read. It’s in the Federal Register (effective January 17, 2025) and it explicitly addresses H1B holders who own businesses.

The new provisions under 8 CFR 214.2(h), as amended by the December 2024 Modernization Rule, say beneficiary-owners can perform:

“Non-specialty occupation duties that are directly related to owning and directing your company, along with some incidental duties.”

What’s explicitly permitted:

• Signing leases

• Finding investors

• Negotiating contracts

• Developing business plans

• Engaging with suppliers and stakeholders

• Talent acquisition

The US government looked at H1B holders who own businesses and said: we know owning a business involves activities beyond your specialty occupation. That’s fine.

The catch: beneficiary-owner petitions have an 18-month validity cap on the initial petition and first extension. That’s not 3 years like standard H1B. For a founder planning a timeline around green card processing or company milestones, the 18-month increment is a real operational constraint. Factor it into your planning.

This is not my interpretation. This is the text of the regulation, published in the Federal Register, effective January 17, 2025.

Important scope note: The beneficiary-owner provisions apply specifically to H1B holders who petitioned through their own company. If your H1B is sponsored by an employer, these provisions do not change your side project analysis. They govern a different relationship: you as both owner and H1B beneficiary of the same petitioning entity.

The Real Risk Map

So what’s actually safe and what’s actually risky? As of early 2026:

You can do this. The law is clear:

• Own an LLC or C-Corp

• Get an EIN, open a business bank account

• Write a business plan

• Hire lawyers and accountants

• Make passive investments (stocks, real estate, crypto)

• Have someone else operate your business entirely

• Attend board meetings as an owner

• Do all the “non-specialty occupation duties” the 2024 rule allows

This is the gray zone. The law is silent:

• Running ads yourself (spending money, not receiving it)

• Building a side project or app

• Customer interviews and “market research”

• Hobby coding on your own time

These aren’t prohibited by any statute or regulation. But they’re also not explicitly blessed. The risk here isn’t legal certainty. It’s characterization. If USCIS looks at your activities and decides they constitute “employment,” you have a problem.

The practical risk for someone spending their own money on market validation with no revenue is low. But low risk and zero risk are different things. And “no wages” is not a settled legal shield. BIA decisions have found that future economic benefit, audience building, and equity accumulation can constitute remuneration even without a salary. Know the line.

There is also a separate legal concept the employment analysis does not cover: failure to maintain nonimmigrant status under INA 237(a)(1)(C)(i). You can violate your H1B status through activities USCIS deems inconsistent with your classification, even if those activities don’t technically qualify as “employment” under 8 CFR 274a.1. The employment test is not the only test. Keep that in mind.

Don’t do this. The law is clear:

• Receiving wages or revenue from a business you operate on H1B (without a filed petition)

• Working for any employer without a filed H1B petition

• Having an employment relationship (service + employer + wages) with someone other than your petitioner

Why Lawyer Blogs Get This Wrong

Immigration lawyers are conservative by design. Their job is to keep you out of trouble. If they tell you “everything is fine” and something goes wrong, they’re liable.

So they default to “don’t do anything.” They tell you running ads is unauthorized employment. They tell you having a side project is illegal.

I’m not saying ignore legal advice. I’m saying read the source material yourself. The statute is public. The CFR is searchable at ecfr.gov. The USCIS Policy Manual is at uscis.gov/policy-manual. Court decisions are on Google Scholar.

You’re smart enough to read a regulation. You’re on H1B, which means you have at least a bachelor’s degree and work in a specialty occupation. Act like it.

The Bottom Line

The law restricts employment. Employment requires service, an employer, and wages. Activities that don’t meet all three elements of that definition exist in a space the regulations don’t explicitly reach.

This doesn’t mean “do whatever you want.” It means the internet’s version of H1B restrictions is significantly more conservative than what the actual statute and regulations say. The fear is overblown. The risk is real but nuanced.

Read the law. Know the line. Then build.

I walked this path myself. Self-sponsored my H1B, built a SaaS company, went through the compliance maze. Now I coach other H1B founders through it.

Every week I answer questions like this in our 1,000+ member H1B founder community. If you’re on H1B and thinking about starting something, we’re here. WhatsApp Community | Newsletter

Tomorrow at noon ET, I’m hosting the first H1B Founders Live with a founder who self-sponsored his H1B through his own company. Join us.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. This is me reading publicly available federal law and sharing what I found. Your situation is unique. Consult an immigration attorney for advice specific to your case. But maybe read the statute yourself first. And when you meet with your lawyer, ask them specifically about the December 2024 Modernization Rule. That question alone tells you how current they are.

Sources (Primary Only)

8 USC 1101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) — The H1B statute

8 CFR 274a.12(b)(9) — “Employed only by the petitioner”

8 CFR 274a.1 — Definition of “employment”

USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 7, Part B, Ch. 6 — Unauthorized Employment

Wettasinghe v. INS, 702 F.2d 641 (6th Cir. 1983) — The ice cream truck case (F-1, not H1B)

December 2024 H-1B Final Rule — Beneficiary-owner provisions, effective January 17, 2025

8 CFR 214.2(h) — H1B regulations

Looking back? I left money on the table.

If I had this list when I started, I would have saved thousands. So I’m sharing what I’ve collected over 4 years of building—every link verified, with my honest takes on what’s worth your time.

Important: I got all of these without VC funding. We were fully bootstrapped. Most of these programs don’t require investors—just a real business.

Why this matters for H1B founders: Every dollar saved on infrastructure = more runway to prove your business model. More time = more revenue milestones = stronger case for your visa.

☁️ CLOUD & INFRASTRUCTURE

The big ones. This is where most of your early spend goes.

AWS Activate — $1K-$100K

Industry standard. Apply through partners for higher tiers.

Google Cloud for Startups — $2K-$350K

AI startups get the $350K tier.

Microsoft for Startups — $1K-$150K

Easy to get started with $1K, verify startup for $5K.

DigitalOcean Hatch — Up to $100K

⭐ I use this. Simple, developer-friendly. Great for getting started without AWS complexity. Use my referral for extra $200 credits.

Cloudflare for Startups — $5K-$250K

⭐ I use this. Best CDN/security. Use code “BOOTSTRAPPED” if self-funded.

📊 DATABASE & BACKEND

MongoDB for Startups — Up to $5K

Supabase — $300 via AWS Activate

🔧 DEVELOPER TOOLS

GitHub for Startups — 20 seats Enterprise free (1 yr)

Worth it if you have a team.

Atlassian for Startups — Premium free (1 yr, 50 users)

Jira, Confluence, Loom included.

Linear for Startups — 6 months free

My favorite project management tool. Clean, fast.

Notion for Startups — 3-6 months free

Use partner code for 6 months.

Retool for Startups — Up to $60K (1 year free)

Internal tools builder. Huge savings.

📈 ANALYTICS & PRODUCT

PostHog for Startups — $50K for 1 year

⭐ I use this. Open source, self-hostable, feature flags + analytics + session replay. Best value.

Twilio Segment Startup — Up to $50K (2 years)

CDP if you need data routing.

Mixpanel for Startups — Free Growth plan

Via partners

Amplitude for Startups — Free Growth plan

Via partners

🤖 AI & ML

OpenAI for Startups — Up to $2,500

⭐ I use this. Essential if building with LLMs.

OpenAI Researcher Access — Up to $1K

Reviewed quarterly (Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec).

Note: OpenAI is no longer included in Microsoft for Startups. Apply directly.

💰 FINTECH & BANKING

Mercury — $250 credit + perks

⭐ I use this. Great startup bank. $250 with $10K deposit. Use my referral

Brex for Startups — $350K+ in partner perks

Good if you have VC funding.

Ramp — Partner discounts + credits

⭐ I use this. Best expense management. 1.5% cashback, no personal guarantee. Use my referral

Stripe Atlas — $100K+ in partner perks

⭐ I recommend this for incorporation. After you incorporate, check the Perks tab—$5K AWS, up to $100K GCP, $3K waived Stripe fees.

Gusto — Payroll & HR

⭐ I use this. Simple payroll for founders. Use my referral

📣 MARKETING & SALES

Attio — Modern CRM

⭐ I use this. Like Linear but for CRM. AI-native, clean, fast. Use my referral

HubSpot for Startups — 30-90% off

🚫 I don’t use this. Bloated, overcomplicated. If you want CRM, use Attio instead. But if you need enterprise CRM, the discount is real.

HubSpot tiers (if you must):

• Seed stage (<$2M funding): 90% off Year 1

• Series A (>$2M): 50% off Year 1

• Accelerator members: 30% off Year 1

Intercom for Startups — 90% discount

Via partners. Good customer support tool.

🔗 THE META-PLAY: My Stack

Here’s what I run Trial and Error on: Stripe Atlas, Mercury, Ramp, Gusto, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare, OpenAI, PostHog, Linear, Attio.

If you want help setting it up, that’s what we do in Launch Club.

Real math (no VCs required): A founder in Launch Club got ~$20K in Year 1 credits while fully bootstrapped—AWS Activate, Microsoft for Startups, DigitalOcean Hatch, plus free Notion, Linear, and GitHub.

⚠️ WATCH OUT FOR

Eligibility requirements vary:

• Most require <$5M raised, <2 years old

• Some require VC backing or accelerator affiliation (but most don’t)

• Some only work for new customers (not existing accounts)

Credits expire:

• AWS: Usually 1-2 years

• Azure: 90-180 days

• Most others: 12 months

Use business email:

Gmail or generic providers like iCloud or Yahoo = instant rejection at some programs. Use your company domain.

Lock-in risk:

Yes, some of these can lock you in. But honestly? That’s a problem you want to have. It means you’re generating revenue and have scale. Worry about migration when you’re successful enough for it to matter.

🎯 FOR H1B FOUNDERS

If you’re on H1B thinking about starting:

1. These credits extend runway - More time to prove your business model

2. Track record matters - Revenue milestones help H1B/O-1/EB-1A cases

3. Legitimate business expenses - Credits = real operations = real case

4. No VC required - I got all of these while bootstrapped

The goal: Build enough momentum that your immigration case becomes obvious.

Bookmark this. Come back when you’re ready.

Which programs have you used?

Leave a comment

PS: When I started in 2022, I found maybe 3-4 of these by accident. You now have 50+. Use them.

That question stuck with me. Because most founders I talk to know what to do. The knowledge isn’t the problem. Something else is.

So I started WIN CLUB. Small by design - just 5 founders. Weekly check-ins, 30 minutes, 1:1.

Q4 2025 was the first cohort. Three founders.

None of them wanted to stop.

That’s the only thing I need to say about whether it works.

What actually happens in WIN CLUB?

The point is what’s hiding in your head.

The patterns you can’t see because you’ve lived with them so long. The mental habits that feel like “just how I am” but are actually running the show. The same loops that produce the same results, every time.

If you’ve ever wondered why you keep ending up in the same place despite knowing better - that’s the territory.

This isn’t a formula. I meet you where you are. Personal. Tailored. For you.

This isn’t gentle encouragement. It’s closer to psychoanalysis with tough love sprinkled in. Some people need a cheerleader. This isn’t that.

The three founders from Q4 are continuing.

I’m opening two more spots. I take new founders each quarter.

If you’ve tried soft accountability and it hasn’t worked - if you suspect there’s something you’re not seeing - tell me what you’re building and why you’re stuck.

I'm Interested

I’ll tell you honestly if this is the right fit.

2 spots.

A member from Cohort 1 messaged me this morning:

Entity to H1B approval. About a month. He joined mid-cohort with an urgent timeline. Did the work. Serotte Law delivered.

Last week I wrapped up Cohort 2. Six founders walked through the entire process - from “should I incorporate?” to “here’s my business plan for my immigration attorney.”

Wed May 27 I start Cohort 5.

If you’ve been sitting on the idea of starting something while on H1B, this is for people ready to stop researching and start doing.

What actually happens in 3 weeks:

Here is full path we walk through:

One WIN CLUB member saw this and said “That infographic itself is worth $$$”

Week 1: You understand exactly what to set up 🏛️

• W-2 vs 1099 reality check (yes, you can)

• Three hats: Employee → Shareholder → Director

• Concurrent employment: exactly what to document

• Business addresses, EIN, bank accounts

• The paperwork your attorney will actually need

• Common mistakes that waste months

Week 2: Everything is in place 🔧

• Business addresses, EIN, bank accounts

• The paperwork your attorney will actually need

• Common mistakes that waste month

Week 3: You’re ready for your attorney 📋

• Business plan structure for O-1/EB-1

• Live Q&A (I’ll bring answers from my own visa journey). Experts (attorney, cpa) may join the call.

• You leave ready to schedule your attorney call

What makes this different:

Small cohort (C2 was 5 founders) means I answer YOUR specific questions live. This isn’t a course you watch - it’s coaching with peers who are in the exact same situation.

You also get:

• DM access to me throughout (I respond within hours)

• Templates for every step

• Lifetime access to the founder WhatsApp community (1000+ members)

Pricing

$997 - full 3-week cohort + templates + community

Optional add-on: Serotte Law warm intro for a small fee

• Gets you $1,000 off their standard rate

• Net: you’re $700 ahead

• Add anytime - discount doesn’t expire

  Apply Now

Who this is for

You’re employed on H1B or similar visa. You’ve been thinking about starting something for months (maybe years). You want to do it right - legally, cleanly, without the anxiety of “am I going to mess up my status?”

This isn’t a course you watch. It’s a very small group (C2 was capped at 5) where you actually get your questions answered.

Cohort 5: May 27 - June 17, 2026 (every Wed 6 PM ET)

Three sessions. Every question answered.

If you’re ready:

Apply Now

Past member testimonials: testimonial.to/h1-founders/all

PS: I do this outside of my full time job as a founder as I remember being alone with these questions for years. 14 years from F1 to green card. I’ve been where you are.

PPS: I find this community self selects for the aspirational folks I would like to meet. Those ready to act.

NEXT Insurance quoted me $412/month.

I paid $18.67/month.

Same coverage. Same carrier (The Hartford). Same employee.

The dark pattern:

Search “workers comp” → Land on their site → Every flow funnels to $400/month “Business Insurance Bundle.”

That bundle includes professional liability, general liability, errors & omissions, and workers’ comp buried inside.

Standalone workers’ comp for one office employee? $15-30/month.

They make a 10x margin on bundles vs. commodity WC.

22x markup for coverage you don’t need.

The fix:

Your payroll provider already has standalone workers’ comp. Gusto, ADP, Paychex - they all offer it. No upsell. Real rates. Same carriers.

I clicked one button in Gusto. Policy active. Done.

While I was at it, CorpNet (compliance provider I had used to business registration in MA) tried to sell me this:

• “Annual Meeting Minutes” - $205

Actual cost: $0. Written consent replaces formal minutes. The consent IS the record.

• Delaware Annual Report - $352

Actual cost: $50-225. File direct at corp.delaware.gov.

• MA Annual Report - $259 (on top of $500 state fee)

You file direct, you just pay the state fee

The compliance industry makes money by wrapping simple tasks in scary language.

A few more things while we’re here:

Owner exemption (Form 153)

If you own 25%+ of your C-Corp, you can exempt yourself from workers’ comp.

File Form 153 with your state. MA founders: email DIAForm153@mass.gov.

You’re required to cover employees, not yourself as an owner. This saved me from paying double.

Labor law posters

Gusto wants $12/mo to email you poster PDFs. $144/year for something you can do yourself in 5 minutes.

For remote employees, emailing PDF posters satisfies the DOL requirement.

Download federal posters (dol.gov/agencies/whd/posters) and your state posters, email to your team, save in your HR folder.

Cost: $0.

The irony: Gusto is great for workers’ comp (no upsell, real rates). Then they turn around and try to sell you a poster subscription. Everyone’s got their margin game.

The math on why standalone WC is so cheap

Software/office work = class code 8810 = $0.04 per $100 payroll.

A $100K employee = $40/year in actual risk premium.

Minimum premium floors push it to $200-500/year.

Still nowhere near $412/month.

The bundle sites know this. That’s why they bury standalone WC and funnel you to bundles.

For H1B founders specifically:

You’re a W-2 employee of your own company on an H1B. But you’re also 25%+ owner = you can exempt yourself with Form 153.

Your first hire (even H1B sponsored) MUST be covered. No exceptions.

Don’t restructure your cap table to make your spouse exempt. $300/year for coverage isn’t worth 25% equity dilution. Just pay it.

The numbers:

What I almost paid: ~$5,000/year

What I actually paid: ~$600/year1

Savings: $4,400/year

The fix: Your payroll provider already has standalone workers’ comp. Use that.

My Gusto Referral

You shouldn’t have to learn this the expensive way.

I recorded myself going through it - my lens as a bootstrapped AI founder who’s betting on a future that might not arrive. When you’re not backed by billions, you see the hype differently.

What’s in Part 1:

• Why I’d short Perplexity

• The $400B circular money machine (House of Cards)

• “I am the fucking moat” - what actually matters as a founder

• 50% have never used a chatbot in 2025

• Where value capture really lives (hint: iteration speed)

Watch on Youtube

Part 2 coming next - we’ll cover Outside Tech.

—Sid Sarasvati

Founder @ RenovateAI (bootstrapped), H1Founders community

PS: The money is real. The structure is real. But House of Cards is still House of Cards.

10 founders committed in 3 hours on Saturday.

December and January applications open now.

What Happened Saturday

I posted Launch Club to our WhatsApp community at 11:24 AM.

By 2:00 PM, I had 10+ founders committed. In 3 hours.

One founder already has a product live. Clients want to buy his SaaS. He just needs an entity to close deals.

Another founder has been “researching incorporation” for 6 months.

That’s the pattern. You don’t have an information problem. You have an execution problem.

What Is Launch Club

4 weeks. Wednesdays 6-7 PM ET. Incorporate + validate your business.

Week 1: Situational awareness

• Where are you? (Visa status, business stage, biggest blocker)

• Stack decisions (LLC vs C-Corp, Delaware vs not, what actually matters)

• Group Q&A (5-10 founders, real conversations)

Week 2-3: Entity setup + vetted connections

• CPA and attorney connections

• State filings, EIN, bank account, payment setup

• Get incorporated properly

Week 4: First customer validation

• How to find your first 3 paying customers

• Not friends/family (those don’t validate)

• Real money changes hands

Bonus: Lifetime access to founder community.

Investment: $197 one-time.

Why This Matters

This work is forcing me to formally curate what I call our Compliance Avengers team.

I club all this into “Compliance”: Incorporation. Accounting. Immigration. The stuff you need taken care of so you can just BUILD.

Think of compliance as a chore. You want it done well. Peace of mind. Then you focus on actual business.

Other big piece: Business Stack (banking, payroll, accounting software). My standards are ultra high when it comes to software. So my stack comes with strong recommendation. Cheaper, faster, founder friendly.

Launch Club gets you both. Right compliance + right stack.

Who This Is For

You have an idea but you’re stuck in “research mode” for months.

Or you built a prototype. Clients are waiting. You need an entity to close deals.

Or you’re already incorporated but need visa-compliant structure review. Did you sign non-competes? Is your IP assignment clean? Can you contract on H1B without jeopardizing status?

You need both: Right structure AND immigration compliance. Not some random attorney who doesn’t understand H1B. Someone who’s done concurrent filings, knows contract boundaries, and won’t ghost you.

November cohort is full. December and January are open

Apply for Launch Club C2/C3

Join Cohort 2 (Mid-December) or Cohort 3 (Mid-January)

C1 starts Wednesday (Nov 12). Already full.

Apply now

Apply for Launch Club C2/C3

You fill the form. I review within 24 hours. We DM to confirm fit.

Same format. Same price ($197 one-time). Same vetted network.

Wednesdays 6-7 PM ET. 4 weeks. Let’s ship.

Questions? DM me on WhatsApp or email sid@h1founders.com

PS: November filled before I even posted to Substack. December and January won’t last long either. If you’ve been “researching” for 6+ months, you don’t have an information problem. You have an execution problem. 4 weeks to fix it.