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International Students and Entrepreneurship

In October 2011, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced the Entrepreneurs in Residence initiative. This initiative will help “harness industry expertise from the public and private sectors and increase the job creation potential of employment-based and high-skilled visa categories” by allowing F-1 students to start a business that is directly related to their major area of study and giving them a financial stake in its success.

Because starting your own business constitutes work, while in F-1 status a student must qualify and apply for optional practical training (OPT) if they plan to do so. OPT, and thus the business, must relate to a student’s program of study and can occur either before (pre-completion OPT) or after the completion of a program of study (post-completion OPT).

 

Related Tags: Employment

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