What Opening an Office in the United States Will Provide You

After successfully registering a business in the U.S., you often find yourself asking the same questions: Do I really need an office? What obvious benefits will it bring me? Many entrepreneurs even have doubts about the feasibility of renting an office in America. There can be several reasons for this: the modern tendency to conduct business online and, to be frank, the shadowy aspects of doing business back home.

However, when it comes to the States, the question of whether I need an office for a successful business is typically not even up for debate, as the answer is clear: having an office is absolutely essential for long-term business success.

Now, we will try to convince you of this.

Main Reasons Why Renting an Office is Necessary for Organizing a Profitable Business

First Reason - Obvious

Business in the U.S. operates in such a way that having a legal address is a necessary condition for success. Many distributors, for instance, if it involves buying and selling products, will refuse to communicate with you even in the initial stages without a real office. Moreover, if your business is service-related, meeting with a potential client in an office instills much more trust than, say, in a café, despite the American culture's “dynamic” nature.

Even if having an office as a physical space isn’t relevant, stating a legal address is a mandatory condition when signing contracts.

Second Reason - Practical

All incoming correspondence for the company strictly arrives at a physical or legal address. And believe me, there will be plenty, not just in the initial stages.

Third Reason - Financial

Another reason supporting the need for an office is that when opening a corporate account, the bank will require you to provide the company's legal address.

Fourth Reason - Immigration

If your goal is mandatory business immigration or you’ve at least considered it, having an office is strictly necessary. The fact is that one year after opening your business, representatives from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will come to conduct an inspection. Any business immigration program, whether it’s L-1, EB5, or E2, requires the existence of an office. Even if it’s not an office in the traditional sense, at least a workspace is required. Having even a small working space will confirm the seriousness of your business intentions to the INS. Otherwise, if you cannot demonstrate your serious intentions, the agency may lead to a denial of your business visa extension or even your green card application. In this case, unfortunately, you may have to forget about immigration to the States.

Fifth Reason - Reputational

If you plan to hire employees, you definitely cannot do without an office, as people need a place to come, work with documents, meet clients, etc.

In short, we hope we have convinced you of the necessity of having an office as such. As for the types of offices, there are several options. Let's consider the main ones.

Main Types of Offices

Nominal Office is essentially just a physical address where all your correspondence will arrive. After receiving business correspondence, the employees of this “office” will simply forward it to you periodically. We can provide you with such a nominal office for receiving business documents. However, it will not have a secretary to answer your potential clients' questions, and only envelopes with letters can be sent there. Unfortunately, packages and even parcels cannot be forwarded there.

Virtual Office means having part of an office that will be shared with other companies. If it involves subletting space, a phone with a secretary will be provided, who will handle negotiations. You can either have “our secretary” or invite your own employee for this role. The forwarding of business correspondence remains in effect with this type of office. Here, significant savings (around $500) are also essential, and this type of office is fully legitimate for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As a bonus, this space can be used for client meetings twice a month. Therefore, if your business activities do not require a physical office, a virtual office is an excellent option.

Real Office is a standard office in the conventional sense. Its advantage is obvious: you alone will occupy it. The size, rental period, and cost are all carefully negotiated and selected individually. You can be assured that the employees of US Business Services Corp. will find the most suitable space to meet all your needs and preferences.

To give you an idea of costs, on average, the rent for an office in the U.S. is about $1200-2500 per month, which translates to $30-50 per square meter. The price is, of course, also influenced by the office location and its assigned class. Typically, offices are rented in Class A or B. Additionally, if necessary, we can offer you a secretary who speaks Russian and is computer literate. Their rate would be $25 per hour for full-time work. Moreover, besides the office space, you will also need office furniture, computers, printers, phones, internet access, stationery, etc. Overall, maintaining even a small office costs about $40,000 to $60,000 per year.

However, you can take a more advantageous step: purchase an existing business. In this case, the office space will be one of its components. In practice, an office often smoothly transitions into a warehouse and showroom or store. This is, of course, very convenient if your business allows for it. You can also convert part of the office space into a kitchen for employees or a meeting room.

The main thing to remember is that seeing a substantial office size psychologically prepares clients for signing serious contracts. This also applies to banks: if you need to obtain a loan from an American bank, a visit from its representatives to your office space will be mandatory.