Hey everybody, I get a question all the time by H1B owners, it’s a very simple question: Can I own a business? Let me try to give you a quick answer to that with some details as well. Simple answer is, yes, you can. H1B holders are allowed to live and work in the United States and their visa gives them permission to work for a specific employer as an employee. Employee means, under the IRS definition, controlled hourly, salary, location, but H1B holders can own stock, they can own companies on the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ and at the same time you can own a private small company, for example an LLC or other company. Owning those companies is not bad, it’s not being employed, because H1B’s are allowed to live and work and be employed, but passive ownership of a company is not illegal. Last point would be: owning a weed stock or a weed company, two different things, if you own a weed company online that’s okay, but owning a weed business might not work for you if you have an H1B. Hope that helps. Thanks.
