Yes, you can generally keep your Texas home as a passive rental investment, but personally operating the rental can require work authorization that your H-1B and approved I-140 alone do not provide.
“I am on an H-1B visa with an approved I-140 and recently moved from Texas to Washington. Can my spouse and I rent out the home we still own in Texas without violating our status or affecting our green card process, and does using a property manager instead of managing it ourselves make a difference?”
摘要
A full-service property manager is the lower-risk setup because you can remain owners without doing the day-to-day rental work. The concern for your green-card process is unauthorized work—not simply receiving rent—but the cited rules do not guarantee clearance for every owner activity.
The important choice is who will actually operate the rental, not simply whose names are on the deed.
This is the lower-risk arrangement if neither of you has authorization covering rental-business work. Have the manager perform the day-to-day services while you receive the investment income. The immigration rule focuses on services or labor and limits you to authorized employment; hiring a manager helps by separating you from that work, not by creating a special exemption. (USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Ch. 6(A)(1); 8 CFR 214.1(e)(2).)
If your spouse has a valid H-4 , or another authorization that permits self-employment, your spouse can take the operating role. If your spouse is H-4 without an EAD, your approved I-140 supports an application using Form I-765, but eligibility or a pending application is not permission to start. Your spouse’s authorization does not authorize you to perform the same work. (USCIS, Employment Authorization for Certain H-4 Dependent Spouses; USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 10, Part A, Ch. 2; 8 CFR 214.1(e)(2).)
Your H-1B and approved I-140 alone do not authorize a separate rental-business job. The same concern applies if your spouse has only H-4 status without an EAD, or employer-specific work permission that does not cover this activity. Self-employment can count as employment; owning the business does not remove that restriction. This does not establish that every incidental owner action is prohibited—the unresolved boundary is important. (8 CFR 214.1(e)(2); USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 10, Part A, Ch. 2; Matter of Tong, 16 I&N Dec. 593.)
The passive-owner conclusion applies the general work-authorization rules; it is not an express USCIS rental-property exemption.
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Watch out for
下一步
Use these steps to address your move first, then assign the rental work to someone authorized to perform it.
Within 10 days of moving
Report your Washington address to USCIS
Each of you who is required to report an address change should submit it through a USCIS online account at https://myaccount.uscis.gov/ using the change-of-address service described at https://www.uscis.gov/addresschange. If 10 days have already passed, submit it now rather than delaying further. Keep the confirmation; changing your address with USPS is not a substitute. (USCIS, How to Change Your Address.)
条件要求
Before assigning rental duties
Separate each person’s work permission
Use your spouse’s actual authorization—not your I-140 approval—to decide whether your spouse can perform rental-business work. A valid H-4 EAD or other authorization permitting self-employment supports that role; H-4 status without an EAD does not. If your spouse is eligible but has not obtained the EAD, use the manager arrangement while authorization is absent. (USCIS H-4 Employment Authorization; USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 10, Part A, Ch. 2.)
条件要求
Before rental operations begin
Delegate the operating work in writing
For the manager route, put tenant communications, advertising and leasing, rent collection, and maintenance coordination in the manager’s written scope. Keep management statements and records showing who actually performed those duties. If an authorized spouse operates the rental, keep your own role separate: your spouse’s EAD does not cover your work. These are risk-reduction measures, not a USCIS-approved safe-harbor checklist. (8 CFR 214.1(e)(2); USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Ch. 6.)
条件要求
From the start of the rental
Keep rental income and expense records
Maintain a separate record of rent received and rental expenses paid. Ordinary real-estate rental income and expenses generally belong on Schedule E (Form 1040), as explained at https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc414. Do not use the IRS’s passive-activity classification as proof that your personal rental duties are authorized under immigration law. (IRS Topic 414; IRS Publication 527; USCIS Policy Manual, Vol. 7, Part B, Ch. 6.)
条件要求
法律依据
This answer draws on DHS regulations, USCIS employment-authorization and adjustment guidance, the Justice Department’s self-employment decision, and IRS rental-income guidance.
8 CFR 214.1(e)(2)
Your immigration status permits only authorized work, and unauthorized work can violate that status.
(e)(2)
A nonimmigrant who is permitted to engage in employment may engage only in such employment as has been authorized. Any unauthorized employment by a nonimmigrant constitutes a failure to maintain status within the meaning of section 241(a)(1)(C)(i) of the Act.
USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 7 Pt. B Ch. 6
The immigration question concerns the work you perform, rather than simply receiving rental income.
A.1, Unauthorized Employment
Unauthorized employment is any service or labor performed for an employer within the United States by an alien who is not authorized by the INA or USCIS to accept employment or who exceeds the scope or period of the alien’s employment authorization.
Matter of Tong, 16 I&N Dec. 593 (BIA 1978)
Working for yourself can be employment, although this decision does not decide the boundaries of your rental arrangement.
Page 593, headnote (1)
The word "employment" is a common one, generally used with relation to the most common pursuits, and therefore ought to be received as understood in common parlance and includes the act of being employed for one's self.
USCIS H-4 Employment Authorization
An eligible H-4 spouse must obtain the EAD before beginning work.
How to Apply
You must receive an Employment Authorization Document (EAD/Form I-766) from USCIS before you may begin working.
USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 10 Pt. A Ch. 2
Employer-specific authorization does not give general permission to operate another business.
Employment authorization limited to a specific employer
Generally, they are only allowed to work for the employer named in their respective nonimmigrant petition or parole application and only allowed to perform the type of work specified in their petition or application.
USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 10 Pt. A Ch. 2
USCIS distinguishes application-based unrestricted work authorization from employer-specific permission.
Employment authorization requiring an application
Upon approval of Form I-765, the alien’s type and location of employment is unrestricted.
USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 7 Pt. B Ch. 8(E)
Qualifying employment-based applicants have a limited exception to certain adjustment bars, not advance permission to work.
E, Employment-Based Exemption under INA 245(k)
This exemption applies to an applicant who has not failed to maintain a lawful status, engaged in unauthorized employment, or violated the terms and conditions of his or her admission for an aggregate period exceeding 180 days. When determining whether an applicant is eligible for the exemption, USCIS only considers the time period following the applicant’s most recent lawful admission.
8 CFR 274a.13(d)–(e)
A new H-4 EAD renewal filing does not itself extend work permission under the post-October 2025 rule.
(e), Renewal application filed on or after October 30, 2025
Except as otherwise provided by law, paragraph (d) of this section, or in an applicable Federal Register notice regarding procedures for renewing TPS-related employment documentation, the validity period of an expired or expiring Employment Authorization Document and, for aliens who are not employment authorized incident to status, also the attendant employment authorization, will not be automatically extended by a request for renewal.
8 CFR 214.2(h)(2)(i)(E)(2)
A qualifying change in your actual work location creates a separate H-1B petition obligation.
(h)(2)(i)(E)(2)
Any change in the place of employment to a geographical area that requires a corresponding labor condition application to be certified to USCIS is considered a material change and requires an amended or new petition to be filed with USCIS before the H-1B worker may begin work at the new place of employment.
USCIS, How to Change Your Address
The Washington move requires a timely USCIS address update independently of your rental plans.
Additionally, all aliens in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving.
IRS Publication 527 (2025)
The IRS generally treats rental real estate as passive for tax purposes; that is a different test from immigration work authorization.
Passive Activity Limits
In most cases, all rental real estate activities (except those of certain real estate professionals, discussed later) are passive activities.
IRS Topic 414
Ordinary real-estate rental income and expenses generally use Schedule E.
Reporting rental income and expenses
You can generally use Schedule E (Form 1040), Supplemental Income and Loss to report income and expenses related to real estate rentals.
These are the official rules in the cited sources as of the dates shown where available; rules can change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice, and SettleKit is not a law firm.
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