A F1 visa generally prohibits an international student from working even for his/her own startup, which can grow into the next Google or SpaceX, which are founded by immigrants, some day. This repo compiles information for F1 students to build their dreams legally in the US.

• CPT/OPT: Just like an ordinary F1 students working for any employer
• International Entreprenuer Parole (IEP): It will NOT give you a green card.
• on-campus employment workaround: It's common for a university to do contracted R&D for companies. So your company may contract the work to your university who can then hire you legally as, for example, a research assistant (RA), a research associate/scientist, or a postdoc. This usually involves a professor acting as the primary investigator (PI) of the project. The professor is your direct supervisor on campus.
• Getting a green card early, if you have some reseach papers (or other sharp skills):
  • NIW (a special type under EB2): you can apply as a person without an employer. Usually a few papers and dozens of citations suffice.
  • EB1-A: you can apply as a person without an employer. EB1A has much higher bars than NIW.

• H1b (visa): if you have a bachelor's degree and your company qualifies
• EB1-B (green card): You company will apply for you. But your company needs to have 3+ full-time researchers. Many people at industry research labs go through EB1B.
• EB1-C (green card): if your company is multi-national.

Here is a a decision tree based on our understanding to CPT/OPT/IEP.

• My Journey — Green Card With EB-1 as a New Startup Founder In The U.S

• TechCrunch+, Dear Sophie: How long does it take to get International Entrepreneur Parole?
• Green and Spiegel, EB-1-C Multinational Executives and Managers Green Card

• Quara, Do Startup Founders/Entrepreneurs Also get EB1 Visa?

Contributors of this repo are NOT lawyers. This is NOT legal advice. Contributors do NOT verify whether some information sources are really lawyers.

Congress should really work their butts off to pass laws for international talents to build the next Google or Apple in the US! Canada and France are doing much better on that.

God bless America, land of opportunities!