The internet is a fairly recent invention and has seen extremely rapid expansion in recent years. While 5 years ago, the idea of working from home seemed like a joke to many people, the reality nowadays is that many people are able to (and prefer to) run their legitimate businesses from the comfort of their own homes. The question relating to working from home and how it works with a U.S. visa is starting to come up more and more often. If you are setting up your own home business, and are applying for an E-2 or L-1 visa, you may be curious if you can use your home office as a business address. There is a bit of good news, as well as a bit of bad news. There are no laws expressly prohibiting a home office from being used as a business office, but (and this is a big but), Immigration is extremely suspicious of these cases, and do not often approve them. If an applicant claims that their home address is their business address, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services will almost always ask for a lease which proves that the landlord has approved the residence for business purposes. Most residential leases specifically say that the residences are not to be used for any business purposes. If your landlord does approve, however, you will also be required to obtain permission from the local city government stating that the residence is in a zone permitting commercial uses as well. While both of those criteria are technically possible, they are rarely both met, and as such, it is a good idea to simply find a commercial space to rent for a business. While this is definitely not as cost-efficient, it can be the difference between an immigration application being approved and denied.