Anyone can open their own business in the United States, even without being an American citizen and without a residence permit. The local government is very loyal to start-up entrepreneurs.
However, you need to decide on the form of ownership. After all, each of them has a different internal structure and legal status, size, and allowed areas of activity. All forms of ownership have both advantages and disadvantages, a degree of risk to owners, and certain benefits.
There is no fundamental difference in where exactly the company is registered. The registration fee itself differs in minor details and the procedure is approximately the same in any state. But it makes sense to register where the entrepreneur plans to live and do business. If for important reasons, this is inconvenient, then you can create a company in any state, and then register it for doing business in another. This method is often used when an entrepreneur is located outside the United States and the company is needed to resolve visa issues, but there is no certainty where exactly the immigrant will live. In this case, the company is registered in the state where, for example, the office of an immigration attorney is located, and the registration certificate will be sent there. Or where there are acquaintances who are ready to provide their address for correspondence.
Forms of the enterprise. In the USA, they are divided into several types:
Forms of enterprises that are allowed for non-residents:
- partnerships;
- corporations such as C-Corporation;
- limited liability company LLC.
Not allowed or not effective for non-residents:
- corporations like S-Corps;
- Sole proprietorship private entrepreneur;
- professional limited liability company PLLC;
- non-profit organizations Non-profit corporations.
To begin with, we will consider the most common types of companies that even a non-resident can open.
Partnerships
Partnerships, as an organizational form of business, play a much greater role in the United States than their Russian counterpart, partnerships. Very widely, partnerships are used in international business and offshore schemes.
Partnerships are a convenient form of bringing together highly qualified specialists to engage in professional activities in the field of legal and financial services and medicine. Usually, these are small and medium-sized enterprises. However, there are cases when very large audit firms functioned in the form of partnerships.
Benefits:
- easy and inexpensive (partnerships are usually an inexpensive and easily formed business structure)
- general financial commitment (each partner invests equally in the success of the business. The advantage of a partnership is pooling resources to raise capital. This can be beneficial in terms of securing a loan or simply doubling the initial financial needs)
- complementary skills (a good partnership should benefit from being able to leverage the strengths, resources, and expertise of each partner)
- partner incentives for employees (partnerships have an employment advantage over other organizations if they provide employees with the opportunity to become partners. Partner incentives often attract highly motivated and qualified employees).
Corporations like C-Corporation
A widespread and universal form of business is a corporation. This form of enterprise is suitable for those who plan to attract investments, open accounts in the USA (personal, investment, and corporate), receive an official salary, and subsequently have long-term visas with the prospect of obtaining permanent resident status (Green Card), and after 5 years – a citizen ( citizen) the USA. The corporation is suitable for medium to large-sized companies, as well as companies with many shareholders.
Benefits:
- limited liability (personal assets of shareholders are protected when it comes to taking responsibility for business debts and corporate actions, personal assets of shareholders are protected)
- the ability to generate capital to raise funds through the sale of shares)
- Corporate Tax Treatment (corporations file taxes separately from their owners. Corporation owners only pay taxes on corporate profits paid to them in the form of wages, bonuses, and dividends, while any additional income is provided by the corporate tax rate, which is usually lower personal income tax rate)
- the attraction of potential employees (corporations attract highly qualified employees because they offer competitive advantages and the possibility of partial ownership through stock options).
Limited Liability Company LLC
LLC is suitable for small businesses with a small number of shareholders. In terms of taxation, it combines the advantages of both a corporation and a partnership. If you are not going to work in the United States, but intend to use the company as an offshore mechanism or a mechanism for reinvesting money in the CIS countries, then an LLC is best suited.
Benefits:
- limited liability (shareholders are protected from personal liability for the business decisions or actions of the LLC. This means that if the LLC incurs a debt, or is issued, the personal assets of the members are usually released).
- fewer registration documents and lower start-up costs.
- profit-sharing (there are fewer restrictions on the distribution of profits within an LLC since members distribute profits at their discretion. The participants themselves must decide who earned what percentage of profits or losses)
According to the law, the constituent documents, in addition to the certificate of registration of the enterprise, are kept by the founder and may not be shown to anyone. In practice, most small businesses do not have any documents other than the minimum required. However, for immigration plans, this minimalism will not work. A businessman needs to take care of collecting all the necessary “papers”, orders, and contracts from the moment the company was established. The immigration authorities love this very much.
