Can you open an LLC on an H1B visa?
That one distinction decides whether your LLC is safe or a problem, and it is where most H1B holders are given bad advice. We go through your situation before anything is filed, tell you what it will really cost in year one and every year after, and say plainly when your case needs an immigration attorney instead of us.
No payment to ask. We reply in a few hours, in English, Telugu or Hindi.
Owning a company and working in one are two different things
Most bad advice about starting an LLC on an H1B comes from mixing these up. Here is the line, as clearly as we can draw it.
Generally accepted
- Holding a membership share in the LLC
- Receiving profit as an owner
- Appointing a manager who runs the business
- Signing documents as a passive owner
- Putting your own money into the company
Where H1B holders get into trouble
- Doing the billable work yourself
- Taking a salary from your own LLC
- Running day-to-day operations
- Presenting yourself publicly as the operator
- Serving your LLC's clients directly
Why this matters more than the paperwork. The filing itself is routine. What is not routine is how involved you plan to be, whether you have a PERM or I-140 in progress, and whether your employment contract has an outside-business clause. We ask those questions first. If your answers put you near the line, we will tell you to speak to an immigration attorney before we file anything.
What we handle for you
You send us six details on WhatsApp. Everything below is ours to do, from the H1B review through to your EIN letter.
- Check your name is freeWe search the state register before filing. A taken name means a rejected filing and a lost week, so we ask for two or three options upfront.
- Review your visa positionYour visa type, how involved you intend to be, and anything pending on your green card timeline.
- File with the stateArticles of organisation prepared and submitted in the state you choose, with the filing fee shown to you at cost.
- Apply for your EINYour federal tax ID, filed online if you have an SSN and on the paper route with the IRS if you do not.
- Act as your registered agent for a yearOur address goes on the public filing instead of your home address, and we accept legal mail on the company's behalf.
- Scan whatever the state sendsAnything that arrives for your company is scanned to your account and forwarded to you, usually within a day.
- Sit down with you after formationA tax strategy call once the company exists and the EIN has arrived, when you have real questions instead of hypothetical ones.
- File your first business tax returnYour company’s first federal return is prepared and filed by the qualified firm we work with, and included in your plan. We stay your point of contact throughout.
- Stay reachableThirty days of WhatsApp access to us, in English, Telugu or Hindi.
What this actually costs
A US LLC has three separate costs, and most formation services only show you the first one. Here are all three, in the order you will pay them.
Our fee
One payment, covering everything in the previous section. It does not change based on which state you pick.
The state's filing fee
Set by the state, not by us, and passed to you at cost with no markup. It varies by state and by how fast you want it processed.
Every year after that
Your state charges an annual fee or franchise tax for as long as the company exists, and registered agent service renews. This is the cost nobody mentions at the start.
A worked example: Delaware, client with an SSN
Real numbers, so you can see exactly where the money goes.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Our fee: formation, EIN, registered agent for a year, visa review, tax call | $1,199 |
| Delaware filing fee, standard processing of around ten days | $110 |
| Total to get started | $1,309 |
Want it faster? Delaware charges $210 instead of $110 for one-day processing, which takes the total to $1,409. That extra $100 goes to the state, not to us.
From year two, Delaware charges a flat annual franchise tax and registered agent service renews. We confirm current figures with you in writing before you file, because state fees change.
About the "48-hour LLC" you have seen advertised
Nobody can promise that for every state, because the state processes the filing. Delaware standard is around ten days. Paying for expedited processing brings it down to one or two. Then the EIN is a separate wait: a few days if you have an SSN, several weeks if you do not. We will tell you the honest date for your situation and let you decide whether the faster state fee is worth it.
Wyoming or Delaware?
This is the first real decision you make, and the yearly cost matters more than the one-off filing fee.
| Wyoming | Delaware | |
|---|---|---|
| Best suited to | Consultants, freelancers and small operating businesses | Businesses that intend to raise money from investors |
| Yearly cost to keep open | Generally lower | Flat annual franchise tax, higher than Wyoming |
| Owner privacy on filings | Strong. Member names are not required on the public filing | Strong for LLCs. Members are not listed publicly |
| What investors expect | Unfamiliar to most US venture investors | The default they are used to |
| Our usual advice | Start here if you are invoicing clients | Worth the extra cost only if funding is a real plan |
One thing worth knowing about timing
Annual state fees are usually not split for part of a year. Forming in December can mean paying a full year's fee for a few weeks of existence. If you are not in a hurry and it is late in the year, waiting until January can save you an entire year's cost. We will tell you when that applies to you.
Three steps, done on WhatsApp
No office visit, no portal to learn, no state forms to work out yourself.
You send six details
Your name, your visa status, the state you are leaning towards, two or three business name ideas, what the business will do, and your email.
About two minutesWe check, quote and file
We go through your visa position, confirm your name is available, and send you the exact total including the state fee. Nothing is filed until you have seen that number and agreed to it.
Same day, usuallyYour documents arrive
Articles of organisation, EIN letter and registered agent details, sent to you digitally. Then we book your tax strategy call and tell you what the company owes each year from here.
Depends on the state and the EIN routePlans
One fee per plan, plus the state’s own filing fee at cost. We tell you that number before you pay anything. Which plan fits depends on one thing: whether you have a US Social Security Number. Every plan includes your first year’s business tax return, filed by the qualified firm we work with.
Essential
On H1B, L1, OPT or F1 and already living in the US.
plus state filing fee, at cost
- LLC formed in the state you choose
- Visa position reviewed before filing
- EIN applied for online
- Registered agent for one year
- Our address on the filing, not your home
- Mail scanned and forwarded
- Business name availability check
- Tax strategy call after formation
- First year’s business tax return filed
- 30 days of WhatsApp support
- Website, hosting and business email
Essential, no SSN
Based in India, or in the US without a Social Security Number.
plus state filing fee, at cost
- Everything in Essential
- EIN filed on the paper route with the IRS
- We handle the longer IRS process for you
- Realistic bank account timeline explained upfront
- Registered agent for one year
- Our address on the filing
- Mail scanned and forwarded
- Tax strategy call after formation
- First year’s business tax return filed
- 30 days of WhatsApp support
- Website, hosting and business email
Complete
You want to be able to invoice and send clients a real website.
plus state filing fee, at cost
- Everything in Essential
- Business website built and launched
- Domain registered in your name
- Hosting and SSL for a year
- Business email on your own domain
- First year’s business tax return filed
- India and US income guidance
- Help opening a business bank account
- Quarterly tax estimate calls
- 90 days of priority WhatsApp support
Year two onwards
Your LLC keeps costing money every year. You can handle the renewals yourself and we will tell you what is due and when, or we can look after it.
Annual Care
Registered agent renewed, your annual state report filed on time, deadlines tracked so you do not miss one, and a yearly review call. State fees billed at cost.
Annual Care Plus
Everything above, plus website hosting, SSL, domain renewal, business email and four content updates a year. For Complete plan clients.
About your tax return. Your first year is included in every plan. Your LLC then files a return every year it exists, and we quote that separately each year before the deadline. We would rather tell you that now than let you find out next spring.
If we cannot form your LLC, you get a full refund. Asking us questions costs nothing.
Questions people actually ask us
Including the ones with uncomfortable answers.
Yes, and this is the single biggest difference in how long your setup takes.
If the responsible party has an SSN, the IRS lets us apply online and the number usually comes back within a few days. Without an SSN, that online route is closed. The application goes to the IRS by fax or mail and a person processes it, which takes several weeks.
Why this matters: you cannot open a US business bank account until the EIN arrives. So for clients without an SSN, the EIN is the real timeline, not the formation date.
It depends on the state, and we do not control their queue.
Delaware standard processing is around ten days. Expedited is two days, and one-day processing is available, both at higher state fees. Other states differ. Then add the EIN wait on top.
Anyone advertising a fixed 48 hours for every state is either paying for the fastest expedited option and not telling you, or guessing. We quote you the real date and the real fee for each speed, and you choose.
This is the question most services avoid, so here it is plainly.
Your state charges an annual fee or franchise tax for as long as the company exists, whether it earned anything or not. Delaware charges a flat annual franchise tax. Wyoming is generally lower. California is considerably higher. Registered agent service also renews each year; year one is included in your plan.
The part that catches people: if you stop using the LLC but never formally dissolve it, those fees keep adding up along with penalties. Closing a company is a filing you have to make.
There is no automatic notification to your employer when you form an LLC. But that is not the whole answer, and you should have the whole answer.
State LLC filings are public records. If you put your home address on the filing, anyone can search and find where you live. That is a real privacy problem, and it is why we put our registered agent address on the filing instead.
Separately: many employment contracts contain outside-business or conflict-of-interest clauses, and some require you to disclose or get approval. Keeping your address out of a public database is a privacy measure. It is not a substitute for reading your own contract and complying with it.
It depends entirely on their work authorisation, and the difference is significant.
An H4 spouse holding a valid EAD has open-market work authorisation and can generally run a business, including doing the work and drawing a salary. An H4 spouse without an EAD has no work authorisation at all. Putting the company in their name does not change that, and having them do the work would be a problem regardless of the ownership documents.
This is a common structure and it can work well. It is also one where we would want you to confirm the specifics with an immigration attorney before filing.
A single-member LLC is a pass-through by default. The company does not pay tax separately; profit lands on your personal return.
If the business becomes consistently profitable, an S-corporation election can reduce self-employment tax. It also adds payroll obligations and accounting cost, so it only makes sense above a certain profit level. We will tell you honestly when you are not there yet.
If you hold Indian bank accounts over the reporting threshold, you have an FBAR obligation separate from your tax return. Your plan includes a strategy call covering all of this, and your first year’s business return is filed for you by the qualified firm we work with, so it is done by people licensed to do it. After year one we quote each return separately.
No visit is needed at any point. You talk to us on WhatsApp, we file on your behalf, and your documents come to you digitally.
Clients based in India go through the same process as clients already in America. The only difference is the EIN route, which is slower without an SSN.
A fair question, and the honest answer is that sometimes you should not.
If you hold a green card, have no visa constraints, and just want a company filed as cheaply as possible, an automated platform will do that fine. We would be poor value for you.
What we are for is the situation where the filing is the easy part and the questions around it are not: whether your involvement is safe on an H1B or H4, what happens to your LLC taxes alongside your Indian income, what you owe the state every year, and having someone who will answer you in Telugu at 11pm when you are worried about something.
Something not covered here? Ask us on WhatsApp and we will answer even if you never become a client.
Start with a straight conversation
Tell us your visa status and what you want to build. We will tell you whether it is safe, what it costs in year one, and what it costs every year after that. Then you decide.