The gap, named · our reading of the rule

Asking whether you may "work for your own company" combines two separate legal acts into a single unanswerable question. Owning is holding equity in a corporate legal entity. Working is performing active services or labor for compensation. Immigration rules govern the second intensely, while treating passive equity ownership far more permissively. Collapsing them ensures that any public forum advice you receive will be wrong for one of the two halves.

The Regulatory Framework

Under 8 CFR § 274a, employment authorization attaches to a physical person performing specific services for remuneration. Holding shares, receiving distributions, being named on state formation documents, or attending shareholder meetings constitute passive ownership. In contrast, managing staff, writing production code, selling to clients, or operating a commercial register constitute employment. The law tests what actions you physically performed and who held control over those actions.

How entrepreneurs prepare for this conversation

• Step 1: Audit & Separate Planned Actions: Create an operational ledger. List all intended tasks in two columns: Column A (Owner/Investor: attending annual shareholder meetings, reviewing high-level financial reports, voting on board members) and Column B (Worker/Operator: writing code, managing employees, negotiating vendor agreements, billing customers).
• Step 2: Isolate Capital Distributions from Salaries: Ensure company profits flow strictly through formal equity distributions proportional to shareholding, rather than payroll or informal cash draws.
• Step 3: Document Operational Governance: Draft clear corporate resolutions confirming that all operational work in Column B is handled by authorized U.S. workers or independent contractor entities.

What to ask your attorney and CPA

1. Given my specific nonimmigrant visa status, do any items in Column B cross into unauthorized labor under 8 CFR § 274a?
2. How should my profit distributions be structured to ensure the IRS and USCIS treat them purely as return on equity rather than wage compensation?

What this is not This piece quotes the published rule and says plainly where we are reading it rather than quoting it. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice, it creates no attorney–client relationship, and neither you nor we can apply it to your facts. Rules also move — check the date above, then take the questions in this piece to your own licensed attorney and CPA, who are the only people who can advise you.

Sources · primary law first, our own notes labelled as such

8 CFR 274a — employment authorisation, general framework

USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2 — nonimmigrant classifications

Own Yourself Now practice note, August 2026

Ownership and work authorisation are treated differently in the rules, and that difference is what this library is about. Everything here is written for people keeping the job that holds their status.

Put a number on it. Readiness Check

Then choose your route. The Immigrant Entrepreneur Cohort is four weeks, while employed, and it starts with exactly this question. See the next run →