what are my options here?

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Submitted Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:12pm GMT
sigurros 1 post

Hi,
I'm a student living in the US and I'm NOT a US Citizen. I'm working as a freelancer and am about to receive my first payment through odesk. My visa does not permit me to work in US, however the freelance work that I do is for a US company. I'm thinking of using paypal for withdrawing my money, here's the real question. Do I

a) Withdraw the money to my PayPal account and debit it to my account in my home country and wire the money from my home country to US bank?

- or -

b) Is it legal to transfer money from PayPal to my US bank account directly (i think paypal provides a feature to add an US account). In other words, will I be violating my visa rules, if so, would the govt be monitoring such kinds of transactions? and Since its through paypal and not odesk, would they come to know that it was originally from a US firm?

In any case, I want the money in my US account and option [b] seems to be the fastest. I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Thanks.

Vote Result

Score: 5.5, Votes: 2

First you need to make sure Submitted Mon, Nov 02, 2009 at 3:09pm GMT
suzannedavis

2 posts - United States - Joined Dec 03 2008

First you need to make sure that you can accept Paypal payments. Then, check with Paypal about adding a US bank account to a non US account. If Paypal will allow that then the fastest way for you may be to withdraw your oDesk funds to Paypal and then send to your bank account. I do not know about Visa issues and government things but you may want to check into this as soon as possible. The decision is entirely up to you.

This is very tricky legal Submitted Mon, Nov 02, 2009 at 9:50pm GMT
jpittenger

3730 posts - United States - Joined Jan 07 2008

This is very tricky legal territory. Sounds to me like working on oDesk is a violation of the terms of your visa (and I suspect this is why your account now shows as inactive).

If you're not legally allowed to work while you're in the US, that includes doing freelance work through oDesk - no matter what country the buyer is in. oDesk is in the US, so you are a contractor for a US company regardless of where the actual buyer is (it's oDesk that actually pays you, not the buyer).

However, there's lots of types of visas and some have more wiggle room than others. If you're still considered a tax-paying resident of your home country, you may be able register as a resident of your home country, send your earnings there, pay your taxes there and be OK. But I'd talk to a visa-knowledgable lawyer and account about it. The gov't is almost certainly monitoring your US bank accounts and you will be deported if you violate the terms of your visa.

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Go for Option A Submitted Tue, Nov 03, 2009 at 1:24am GMT
pkalimuthu 474 posts - India - Joined Mar 07 2008

I'd suggest you to go with option a which is slow and costly. If you'd like to consider the other option, I don't think any of the oDesk community users could help you as it involves understanding of the legal formalities of your home country (that nobody knows here).

I can help you out in some Submitted Wed, Nov 04, 2009 at 7:32am GMT
ruletheworld 3 posts - India - Joined Mar 21 2009

I can help you out in some issues -

If you are on an F-1 or J-1 visa, then you are allowed to work ONLY when affiliated with the university. This means you can work in your library but not in the public library; in your university cafe, but not in an outside restaurant; as a teaching assistant, but not as a private tutor. If you do, you are violating the US norms.

Now freelancing is quite a tricky gray area legally. Transferring money from Paypal to your bank account is in no way illegal. However, if the source of the money is by any work that you performed on the US soil and not worked legally as defined by your immigration status, then it is illegal. However, if you only want to use paypal for money transfer, and not for earning money (say you earned the money while you were in your home country, and now need to transfer money), then it is certainly legal.

One more issue you might face is with paypal. If you already have an account, then you cannot change your country of residence in paypal. You can still add a US bank account I think, but the charges might apply. You may need to close your paypal account and open a new one (you can do this with the same email id too). You may also want to talk to their help desk at paypal.

Hope something here helps!