Check with Sophie: Can a bootstrapping solo founder get an O-1A?

Sophie Alcorn, legal professional, writer and founder of Alcorn Immigration Law in Silicon Valley, California, is an award-successful Licensed Professional Legal professional in Immigration and Nationality Legislation by the Point out Bar Board of Authorized Specialization. Sophie is passionate about transcending borders, growing possibility, and connecting the planet by training compassionate, visionary, and pro immigration legislation. Link with Sophie on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Dear Sophie,

I am a solo founder who is bootstrapping my startup to the place of traction right before I even take into consideration increasing funding. It appears like you need to have VC funding to get an O-1A — is that true? Is it even probable for me to take into account finding an O-1A at this stage?

 — Daring Bootstrapper

Pricey Daring,

Terrific questions! It was just one of the most frequently requested issues I acquired at Disrupt.  There are several courageous solopreneurs and bootstrapping founders like you turning their daring desires into fact and a visa is absolutely possible even if you never elevate funding!

Early-stage worldwide founders want to know how they can qualify for an O-1A amazing capability visa if they haven’t acquired any angel or enterprise funding nonetheless. Quite a few are thinking if they will ever even will need to elevate cash, as they could possibly be in a position to accomplish traction and scale by reinventing their revenue.

These concerns mark a profound change in the world wide startup fundraising ecosystem. Even just a year back, VCs selected founding groups composed of a complex co-founder and a income co-founder to build a minimum practical product or service, start, and iterate to products-marketplace fit. Now the trend is for founders to function heads-down for months to construct and start an MVP, finding first traction as they quest for the holy grail of product or service-sector fit. They get started trying to find undertaking funding afterwards, when they are at the position of needing to promptly scale.

So, back again to your dilemma: You completely can qualify for an O-1A when you are bootstrapping, and VC funding is not essential for the O-1A! We have helped lots of startup founders as effectively as students get an O-1A even just before their startup was creating income.

Let us take a deep dive into how founders can beef up their skills for the O-1A to create their startup, access traction, and scale.

O-1A fundamental principles

The O-1A is a nonimmigrant visa that is initially legitimate for three a long time and can be prolonged an limitless range of situations. Whilst the O-1A is not officially a twin-intent visa, which allows you to go after a environmentally friendly card (immigrant position) whilst on nonimmigrant status, the O-1A functions like a person. In other words and phrases, you do not have to preserve a home in your residence country as is required for other nonimmigrant function visas, and pursuing a green card is high-quality. (Not like the H-1B and L-1, which are entirely twin intent, after your I-485 is filed, you will have to have Progress Parole to go away and reenter the U.S.)

One more matter that sets the O-1A aside from other nonimmigrant function visas is that most work visas are tied to a distinct employer that sponsors you for the visa by presenting you a job and submitting an application on your behalf. For the O-1A, possibly an employer or a U.S. agent acting as your employer or representing numerous businesses can sponsor you, which tends to make the O-1A the only single nonimmigrant doing the job visa that would make freelance get the job done doable. A colleague in your area or a official agent from an agency (imagine Hollywood) can act as your U.S. agent, but your O-1A petition have to offer particulars of the romance in between you as the O-1 beneficiary and the U.S. agent.