Hi Peter, thank you so much for this! I have questions about the O1 visa.
1. If a startup sponsors an O1 for a founder, will there be any issues with 1/ the O1 founder having the CEO title 2/ the O1 founder owning between 30-50% equity in the company? Is it effectively the same as if I was on a green card?
2. If the startup that sponsors the O1 substantially pivots to a new idea, what are the implications for visa status? Does it require an entirely new application?
Regarding your first question, both are generally non-issues. Regarding your second question, the answer depends less on changes to the company's business model or more on changes to the O-1's job duties but generally a new O-1 petition shouldn't be required.
Piggybacking on this, if they are employed as an engineer and not explicitly as a founder, can they still be issued a significant (>30%, <50%) nonmajority equity share in a company?
USCIS and CBP will deny TN applications based on significant ownership alone even if the employee is truly working as an engineer and owns less than 50%.
1. If a startup sponsors an O1 for a founder, will there be any issues with 1/ the O1 founder having the CEO title 2/ the O1 founder owning between 30-50% equity in the company? Is it effectively the same as if I was on a green card?
2. If the startup that sponsors the O1 substantially pivots to a new idea, what are the implications for visa status? Does it require an entirely new application?
Thanks so much!