this.Visible is not working in Windows Forms

It seems you can use the following:

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    this.Opacity = 0;
    this.ShowInTaskbar = false;
}

I just tested it in a winforms app and it worked.

(Also just found this: Single Form Hide on Startup)

Use this.Opacity = 0;

Yes, the Visible property is a big deal in Windows Forms, that's what actually gets the handle created and causes OnLoad() to run. In other words, the window doesn't exist until it gets visible. And it will ignore attempts to undo this.

It is pretty common to want to still create the handle but not make the window visible if you use a NotifyIcon. You can achieve this by overriding SetVisibleCore:

protected override void SetVisibleCore(bool value) {
    if (!this.IsHandleCreated) {
        value = false;
        CreateHandle();
    }
    base.SetVisibleCore(value);
}

Beware that OnLoad still won't run until the window actually gets visible so move code into the constructor if necessary. Just call Show() in the NotifyIcon's context menu event handler to make the window visible.

I think it is not good idea to set visibility from form's Load event. Instead, I would do it by add a public method:

public void LoadForm(...)
{
   // do the all the initializations
}

and call the method to load the form. The form should be not visible unless you explicitly show it:

MyForm instance = new MyForm();
instance.LoadForm(...);
// instance.Show(); or ShowDialog() for dialog form not sure exactly the syntax.