Hello,
I am a foreign national. While situated outside of the United States, I developed a software product in collaboration with a group based in the US. Initially there was no discussion of compensation (it was simply an interesting academic project I wanted to be part of). However, the group recently acquired grant funding, and they wanted to pay me for the work i had done.
After sending a back-dated invoice, I was asked by the (highly reputable) institute managing the grant money to complete a W8-BEN form. Later I received a cheque by mail. I should note that I did work in the United States under OPT on an F1 visa after graduation in the US, and therefore had an SSN. However, i was a resident of my home country at the time i performed this work.
I simply want to be 100% sure that it is lawful for me to receive payment from this institution. I may be being paranoid, but i very much hope to return to the US one day and wouldn't want any legal issues to prevent this.
I am a foreign national. While situated outside of the United States, I developed a software product in collaboration with a group based in the US. Initially there was no discussion of compensation (it was simply an interesting academic project I wanted to be part of). However, the group recently acquired grant funding, and they wanted to pay me for the work i had done.
After sending a back-dated invoice, I was asked by the (highly reputable) institute managing the grant money to complete a W8-BEN form. Later I received a cheque by mail. I should note that I did work in the United States under OPT on an F1 visa after graduation in the US, and therefore had an SSN. However, i was a resident of my home country at the time i performed this work.
I simply want to be 100% sure that it is lawful for me to receive payment from this institution. I may be being paranoid, but i very much hope to return to the US one day and wouldn't want any legal issues to prevent this.
