Offered a job but don't have visa/ead yet!

[Aubrey 10]

I'm not sure if this will help you regarding the independent contractor route but there is a way around the whole EAD requirement for some fields. Where as you can't technically "work" the government can not stop you from buying and selling goods. IE. you buy say a tree for $1000 and broker it to someone else for $1500.

So how can this apply to certain fields? Well as far as I know as long as your work is sold as a product and not a service your in the clear. A good example of this is Graphic Design. If you sell your work as a product where you transfer the full the rights to them on completion and get paid in a lump sum then legally you didn't work for them but sold a product. Unfortunately, I only see this working in creative fields so if this is an accounting job you would be doing then it doesn't work as you'll be providing a service.

But I'd find it hard for USCIS to go after a painter who sell's his painting or a web designer who sells completed websites etc.

Basically the USCIS rules are very rigid and unadaptive. They have holes etc. and in my opinion were designed to only control your standard employment. I think with the right contract between you and your "buyer" you can dance circles around their laws.

Be careful in that assumption. I know that your example, Graphic Design, that your example in particular has been under close scrutiny in many states. If you're buying/selling products, then you're required to add SALES TAX as someone living and operating within the U.S. Same if you're selling a painting, or whatever. So operating your business, you're self-employed, but again, still in the U.S. and required to pay self-employment taxes as a U.S.-based operation. Which you can't very well do without a proper tax id. And a SSN. Either way, if you're regularly buying and selling goods, you're required to report it and pay taxes just as if you were employed to someone else.

So you're still going to be illegal, but in a slightly different way. Don't do this.

Bottom-line: The EAD wait stinks, but we're all subject to it. My fiance is still sitting in Germany working to have money for the EAD wait. This is just reality with immigration, and you should just accept it and prepare the best you can.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

In California for instance you have to include sales tax on anything that is sold...that has nothing to do with working...this includes selling property on ebay (no one does it of course) this however neither implies a business or work.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

Also, when applying for a tax ID no questions are asked regarding residency status on SS 4. Here is a good example. Mr. F runs a company from Mexico that is also incorporated in the USA. Mr. F marries Ms. R and moves to the USA. Is Mr. F supposed to shutdown his established business until he gets an EAD? See what i'm saying now about how the rules are too rigid for a globalized world? They seem to be designed to stop that standard job.

(I should add that in my prior post i was wrong when i said selling all property requires sales tax (though high end items are ie a car).

Edited June 8, 2009 by lancer1655