The Independent Contractor Agreement: Using it at the early formation stage

Note: This Workshop was held on October 8, 2012 at  Eastside Incubator at their workspace in Redmond.

We worked through a form Independent Contractor Agreement that you can download here.  Deniz Kiral’s slide deck on the the tax rules that govern whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee can be downloaded here.

Most startups or pre-startup founders hire independent contractors at one time or another.   The independent contractor agreement is necessary to protect the company’s ownership of software or other contractor work product.  It also governs other important matters such as specification of deliverables, contractor warranties and allocation of risk.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the workshop, please feel free to contact: [email protected] .  

Entrepreneurs in Residence Program By USCIS

As Congress ponders on what to do to keep entrepreneurs in the US on legal visas, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has started their own efforts to improve the current immigration system.  To this end, USCIS launched “Entrepreneurs in Residence” (EIR) program in February 2012.  The USCIS invited business mogals, think-tanks and practitioners to discuss the current system and how to improve existing laws and regulations (that do not require approval from Congress).  Here is a link to information on the EIR launch.

Since the launch, there has been steady information towards the hope of real progress. In April 2012, USCIS introduced their tactical team. On July 30th, there will be conference in Atlanta, GA on this matter where USCIS Director Mr. Alejandro Majorkas will provide an update to their findings so far.

It is hoped that USCIS will offer ways to make the current immigration visa options entrepreneur friendly.  For example, an H1b visa has strict rules for proving that the beneficiary (the immigrant) will be paid a minimum prevailing wage. Yet, many start-up companies cannot afford to pay that amount of money. So, what other alternatives might suffice to fullfill those visa requirements?

I am monitoring this topic closely and will provide updates in due course.

What is Start-Up Act 2.0? (Immigration Bill for Entrepreneurs)

Passport

Immigration law is undoubtedly a controversial subject. As a start-up business owner who is not a US citizen, you must first think of an appropriate visa that will allow you to legally work in the US.  Currently, there is no perfect visa for start-up owners (I will write about options available at the moment at a later date). Congress is aware of this problem and there are several bills of interest pending.

The bill of most interest for entrepreneurs is called the Start-Up Visa Act 2.0 which was introduced in May 2012. It is based upon the Start-Up Act introduced by Sen. Moran and Warner last year. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) along with Steve Case, Revolution LLC CEO and member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and Robert Litan of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, unveiled this bipartisan legislation.
Among other things, the Start-Up Act 2.0 aims to do the following:
1. Create an Entrepreneur’s Visa for legal immigrants.
2. create a new STEM visa so that U.S.-educated foreign students who graduate with a master’s or a doctorate in science, technology, engineering or mathematics can receive a green card and stay in this country, launch businesses and create jobs.
3. It eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based immigrant visas.

Here is a link to what the senators said about the bill when it was introduced. We will update you as more information becomes available. Watch this space!

 

Welcome to Start-Up Law Talk!

Welcome to Start-Up Law Talk.   On this website you will find much useful information about starting your new business from three lawyers and one certified public accountant, all who specialize in counseling startups. We will be posting information on various topics that are important to you and your business. You will also find information about our regular workshops. We look forward to helping you, hearing from you and seeing you at our workshops!