H1B Visa Holder Doing Real Estate Investment

[Andrew Yu]

I'm currently a H1B visa (Temporary Worker) holder working full time in the states, trying to start my real estate investment. My current employer is sponsoring my green card application, but the whole process will take another 4 years to complete. According to immigration law, I'm not authorized to work for unsponsored employer currently, which includes myself in this case if I start my business on the side. Also to my knowledge, all my income outside of sponsored job has to be passive income. I can also form a LLC but can't operate or engage in any business activity. I'm wondering anyone had same experience before, and know how to get around this limitation and do real estate investment. My goal is to do rentals since that's passive income nature. But I'm pretty sure as I do more deals, there will be wholesale and flipping come up every now and then. Eventually when I am at final stage of green card application (I-485 Adjustment of Status), the USCIS will look at my past 3 years tax return. So I don't want to raise suspicion, which could lead them to deny my application. Help me out here fellow BG investors. Thank you!

[Percy N.]

Andrew Y. - not a lawyer but I know someone in a similar position who acted as a private money lender (silent partner) on a rehab to generate passive income.

You could also look into the many turnkey providers to sites like Realtyshares, Honemestors, etc who will provide you with a K1 for passive income.