Thank you for such a helpful forum. I have spent many hours reading and researching the various topics and feel slightly more informed.
A few outstanding questions though so figured i would post here and get some general advice and then follow up with a lawyer.
I am a single young female Canadian born citizen who is the sole owner of two Canadian federally registered corporations. Both are involved with web design and webpages or affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is basically selling banners and ad space on webpages.
Most of the money(98%) I make through this comes from various US advertising companies in US dollars. They send me checks in the mail and get deposited into my US business accounts in Canada. I do a couple of hours of work a week updating ads, answering emails and maintaining the various webpages. I can work pretty much anywhere there is internet.
I originally thought i would be able to acquire the b-2 "snowbird" visa, move to sunny california, work via email for a few hours enjoy a nice holiday during canadian winters and come back before 6 months was up. I have since read in several places that teleworking was not allowed under this visa, so then switched more towards a b-1 visa. These generally seem to be for short.. specific trips.. like a meeting, tradeshow etc.. not really a "go rent a nice house in cali and stay there, answer emails, come back"...
TN seems to be ruled out, even though i assume it would not be hard for me to get a graphic design sponsorship position with my skill set and i have the required years of experience. But i wont be giving up my companies and will still need to be doing some updates on them, even if I was contract employed by a company in the states.
From what i can tell it also seems highly frowned upon for TN if you own any kind of corporation in Canada or are self employed in any way.
Which brought me to the e-2 visa or the l-1 visa... I would not be against an american office, but with a one person company, this seems unlikely to be approved. I actually hope to someday open a branch office in the states as it would fit with my business plan, but currently I am not at the up to 500k in the bank point. I am considering going the route of implying for angel investing or funding to get this accomplished and then getting a branch company in the states functioning where i would be require to go and get employees to help manage these webpages in the states.
I realize none of you are experts but saw quite a few posts about 'telecomuting' or those who are self employed with no real answers on the options that work best for people in these situations so hope that someone can point me in the right direction on the best steps.
I *will* move to the states.. even if it will take a few years
-- Sat Feb 13, 2010 5:04 pm --
was really hoping for some advice from the experts in here...
If there is any lawyer who is an expert in this area reading can they contact me?
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