Yes. Most Indian founders accepted into Y Combinator or a comparable accelerator attend the batch on a B-1, usually the combined B-1/B-2 visa they already hold or apply for. Group office hours, the weekly dinners, partner meetings, investor conversations and the Demo Day pitch all sit inside what the State Department and CBP treat as business visitor activity.
The trouble is the rest of what a founder does in those three months.
CBP draws the line at what you produce and for whom. Attending, consulting, negotiating and raising money is visiting. Writing production code for your Delaware company from a sublet in the Mission, hiring, running your team day to day, or drawing a salary from the US entity is work, and a visitor visa does not cover it. CBP guidance updated in January 2026 says a B-1 visitor seeking investment may do so "as long as you are not performing productive labor or actively participating in the management of a business."
So my answer is yes for the batch, with conditions. You travel as the founder of an operating business whose team and payroll sit in India, coming to attend a program and raise capital. You come home. And you treat the batch as the bridge to a work visa, usually an O-1. A quiet three-month relocation on a visitor stamp is how founders end up with a refusal on their record.
Which founders this fits, and which it does not
This is written for an Indian founder who has been accepted into YC, or is in the final round, and has no US work authorization. There are two very different starting points.
If you already hold a valid B-1/B-2, the consulate is behind you and the whole test happens at the port of entry, usually SFO. Your risk is a CBP officer who reads your LinkedIn before reading your letter.
If you do not, timing becomes the first problem. State Department data published in September 2026 put B1/B2 interview waits in India at roughly 6.5 months in Kolkata to 12 months in Hyderabad (as of October 2026, and these move weekly). Since September 2025 you must apply in your country of nationality or residence, so flying to Bangkok or Frankfurt for a faster slot is mostly off the table. An expedite request backed by the acceptance letter is the realistic route. Posts decide those case by case.
The application fee for a B visa is USD 185. The USD 250 Visa Integrity Fee was written into law in July 2025 and its collection has been uneven, so check what you are charged at the time you pay (both as of October 2026).
This piece does not cover founders already in the US on H-1B or F-1, who face different problems, or anyone who already holds an O-1. If your company is still an Indian private limited, YC will ask for a parent in the US, Canada, Singapore or the Cayman Islands. Most Indian founders flip to Delaware, and that flip changes how your trip reads. We cover it separately in incorporating a Delaware C-corp on a B-1.
The rule the consulate applies, and the rule CBP applies at SFO
At the consulate, the officer works from 9 FAM 402.2. Section 402.2-5(B) lists what makes someone a business visitor. Negotiating contracts, consulting with business associates, attending conferences or seminars and undertaking independent research are all on it. Section 402.2-5(C)(7) says plainly that someone seeking investment in the United States is not ineligible for a B visa on that basis alone. A board member of a US corporation attending board meetings is covered too.
The deeper test sits in 402.2-5(A), which cites Matter of Hira. The question there is where the principal place of business is, and where the profits accrue. If the honest answer is India, your US activity looks incidental to work done abroad. That is the frame a founder's file has to fit.
Money is the hard line. Under 402.2-5(F)(1), a B-1 visitor may not receive a salary from a US source for services in the United States. Reimbursement of reasonable travel and living costs is allowed.
At the airport the officer applies the statute itself: a residence abroad you have no intention of abandoning, and a temporary visit. CBP's B-1 permissible activities sheet adds two lines that matter for founders. You cannot be admitted on a B visa to start or be employed in a new branch, subsidiary or affiliate. And seeking investment is fine so long as you are not doing productive labor or managing the business. USCIS describes the usual B-1 admission as one to six months, at the officer's discretion.
Attending versus working, activity by activity
| What you do in San Francisco | How it reads | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Kickoff retreat, group office hours, batch talks, dinners | Attending | Seminars and consultation with business associates, 402.2-5(B) |
| Investor meetings, negotiating a SAFE, the Demo Day pitch | Attending | Seeking investment and negotiating, 402.2-5(C)(7) and CBP guidance |
| Signing incorporation papers, a board meeting of your own company | Usually attending | Board functions are listed. Keep it to signing, deciding and leaving |
| Customer discovery calls and sales meetings | Defensible if the selling entity and revenue sit in India | The Hira logic. Weaker once the customers and contracts are American |
| Writing production code eight hours a day | Working | Productive labor, whoever pays for it |
| Hiring and managing US staff, running daily operations | Working | Active management of a business |
| Salary paid by the Delaware entity | Prohibited | US-source salary, 402.2-5(F)(1) |
Most founders read that table and decide they are fine because they are unpaid. That is the most common mistake we see. A June 2026 note from the law firm Grossman Young & Hammond says they have seen a rise in scrutiny of founders in accelerators on visitor status, at consulates and at the border. Their point is the one I make to every founder. Officers look at whether the activity is ordinarily paid and benefits a commercial enterprise. Sweat equity is still work.
Where founders actually get caught
Rarely at the window in Mumbai. Far more often at SFO, in secondary, when an officer has already looked you up.
The same law firm describes a founder arriving for a startup program whose online profiles described an active role in a US startup. He was admitted, after a long conversation he did not enjoy. That is the common outcome. The bad outcome is a refusal of admission, which then sits on every application you ever make, including the O-1 you will want in six months.
What sets it off is usually boring. A LinkedIn headline that says "Building in SF". A tweet announcing the team has moved. A one-way ticket. A six-month lease. An accelerator bio calling you "San Francisco-based". Telling the officer you are "joining YC" or "working out of the YC office", which is how founders talk and exactly how an inspector hears employment.
Then there is the technical co-founder. If one of you is the CEO who will spend the batch with partners and investors, the B-1 fits that person well. A CTO whose real plan is twelve weeks of shipping code from a San Francisco flat is the hardest version of this file. I would send the CTO for the kickoff, a few weeks in the middle and Demo Day, keep the build anchored in Bengaluru, and start that person's O-1 work early.
The sequence I would set before you book a flight
- Decide who goes and for how long. Plan for the batch plus a few days, with a dated return ticket.
- Keep salaries on the Indian company's payroll. The US entity reimburses actual expenses only. Write that down.
- Align your public footprint with what you will say at the counter. Location, headlines, pinned posts and the accelerator profile.
- Brief yourself on the four questions you will be asked: what you will do, who pays you, where your company is, and when you leave.
- Line up the O-1 to start after Demo Day, once you have the round and the press. Our O-1, L-1 or E-2 decision for Indian founders covers the choice, and travelling on a B-1 while an O-1 is pending covers the awkward middle.
The Delaware question deserves an honest answer at the counter. Yes, the parent is American. The operating company and its team are in India, and that is where you work. Saying this calmly lands better than pretending the flip never happened, because the officer may already have seen your YC page.
How we would build this file
The document that carries the most weight is the purpose letter, and it has two readers. The consular officer reads it against 9 FAM to decide if you are a visitor at all. The CBP officer may read it months later, in secondary, against your LinkedIn and whatever you just said. One letter has to survive both, so we write it for the stricter reader.
We put it on the Indian company's letterhead, signed by a director other than you where possible, and attach YC's acceptance or invitation.
The letter says what the Indian company does, how many people it employs and where, where revenue is earned, and your role. It then names the US activities by type (program sessions, investor meetings, a board meeting if there is one, Demo Day), gives dates and a return, and states that your salary continues from India with no US compensation beyond expenses. It avoids words like join, relocate, base and work, because those words get quoted back to you.
The DS-160 has to match it line for line. Employer is the Indian company. Purpose is business. The US address is where you will actually stay. Then we run a mock interview built around the questions that trip founders up, especially "Is your company American?" and "Who pays you?"
A founder we worked with earlier this year had flipped to Delaware before a batch and wanted the whole team in San Francisco for the full three months. We split it. The CEO stayed through the batch, the CTO came for kickoff and Demo Day, and both were admitted without drama. The O-1 for the CEO went in shortly after the round closed.
When you should not do this on your own
Get help if any of these is true.
You have a past refusal under section 214(b) (see reapplying after a US visa refusal). You have no visa and the batch starts in under eight weeks, because the expedite request is your only realistic path and it needs to be right the first time. You have spent long stretches in the US on visitor status before. Your company already has US customers or US contractors, because the Hira argument gets thin fast. Or you are privately planning to stay on after Demo Day and keep building.
That last one is the founder I worry about most. Investor meetings after Demo Day are legitimate B-1 activity. Six months in San Francisco running the company is work, however it is described.
Questions founders ask about doing the batch on a B-1
Can I attend YC on a tourist visa or on ESTA?
Indian passport holders cannot use ESTA. A B-2 alone does not permit business, and CBP's guidance says so directly. Almost every Indian visitor visa is issued as a combined B-1/B-2, so check the annotation on yours. If it reads B1/B2, you are covered for the business side.
Can I pay myself from the YC money during the batch?
Do not take a salary from the US company while you are in the US on a B-1. The FAM bars US-source salary for services performed in the United States. Reimbursing your actual travel and living costs is permitted. Keep your salary on the Indian payroll if you draw one, and keep the receipts.
Can I stay after Demo Day to keep fundraising?
For a few weeks, with real meetings on the calendar, usually yes. The longer you stay, the less your trip reads as a visit, and every month in the US makes the next entry harder. Raise what you can, go home, and come back on the O-1 or for a short, defined trip. If you have a fundraising trip planned, read our note on raising in San Francisco on a B-1 before you book.