hey guys,
I am an undergrad student here and I have been talking to my friends about the possibility of starting a business on an idea that we happened to hit upon a little while ago. Since I have an F1 visa, I am worried if that will make me ineligible to have the business(we are thinking of a PLC) registered on my name. I went through all the requisite forms, but none of them said anything about one's eligibilty to register a business. I would be grateful if you guys could enlighten me on the legal implications of such a move.

Thanks

You can not do any income generating stuff while on F-1 status. And BCIS clearly states that line. You might have to change your visa status to business one, and that is a whole different ball game. Good Luck.

As far as I know, you don't need to be a citizen or a permanent resident to become a member of an LLC (Limited Liability Company). Since LLCs are registered with your state, they won't stop you from doing it as long as you have a SSN and you pay Taxes (In case of an LLC, it will be reported in your individual 1040 as a passthrough income).About BCIS not letting you do that, I am not sure.
DP.

As someone in F-1 status, you are not allow ed to hold any job that does not directly serve your respective coll/univ. I am pretty sure about that.

This is the example my intnl advisor used to give me:

Working in Macdonald's within the university : Allowed, since you are primarily serving the univ although Macdonalds is not owned by the univ.

Working for a professor on his book. Not allowed if the book is a memoir or a journal not related to university.

Hope that helps.