Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 125 posts

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#31

Post by flurp »

will_brown wrote: post #23
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

Not knowing what YC actually does, my first 2 thoughts were: O-1 and J-1 Visas (certainly there could be other solutions) O-1: Typically I would think of athletes/entertainers, in the US for competition/show/tour/etc... It may not apply to some young founder getting into YC who has no other track record of success; however, YC/Tech are politically connected so the mere fact one is accepted into YC, it might = extraor…

I think J-1 would be the most legally correct (IANAL and all but I have some J-1 experience). YC should be able to bring founders on board. Since J-1 is for education and the program is basically an education.

J-1 is also quite openly (ab)used to bring employees over who do not qualify for a H1B or O-1.

Only important thing to remember is to pay the J-1 "student" otherwise they are (depending on origin country, but most I think) subject to a rule preventing said person from returning to the US within two years.

I think J-1's are 18 months max. Plenty of time to get a business up and running. By that time if the founder is successful (e.g. take on more investment) they could probably employ themselves with a H1B or E-2 ("investor") visa.

But I'm sure the J-1 has a bunch of issues concerning founding legal entities - this part I have no experience or knowledge of.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#32

Post by asmithmd1 »

will_brown wrote: post #23
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

Not knowing what YC actually does, my first 2 thoughts were: O-1 and J-1 Visas (certainly there could be other solutions) O-1: Typically I would think of athletes/entertainers, in the US for competition/show/tour/etc... It may not apply to some young founder getting into YC who has no other track record of success; however, YC/Tech are politically connected so the mere fact one is accepted into YC, it might = extraor…

There are companies who are identified as providing J-1 visas and they charge $5k - $6k for the service

http://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/sponsor-se...

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#33

Post by garethsprice »

titomc wrote: post #27

US immigration system is broken & is a joke. H1B "skilled" visas are based on your luck (lottery) and not on your skills (surprise). They change the rules every now and then and its a nightmare to be on H1B worrying whether you are in legal status and the fear of being deported. Now LCA is not enough to change your work location. H1B amendment is needed which is another nightmare. You can go for an investor visa opti…

Not sure why this is getting downvoted, as someone who came into the US under an E-2 visa I can attest that the system is horribly flawed* & foreign investors/founders definitely should exercise extreme caution.

* - for example, rules of the E-2 state you have to invest your capital, then apply for the visa, which may or may not be granted. If you do it 100% by the book you also have to leave the country while it's under consideration (and leave your investment to run itself). They don't give any guidelines for specific dollar amounts. It then has to be renewed every 2-5 years (again, arbitrary decision) and does not lead to any permanent residency.

It's a mess and I would not recommend it as a long term path to living in the US.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#34

Post by geobmx540 »

rdtsc wrote: post #30
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

Calls for O-1aaS startup. Setup an organization that will: * Generate awards and prizes in computer science and its sub-fields. * It will have a journal that will be populated by a deep learning nn. Seeded by a few areas of interest a user will put in, it will then auto-generate articles. * Setup a contracting service where you invest in it initially, then it pays it back to you as salary for whatever minimum amount…

I'd work with you.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#35

Post by garethsprice »

rdtsc wrote: post #30
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

Calls for O-1aaS startup. Setup an organization that will: * Generate awards and prizes in computer science and its sub-fields. * It will have a journal that will be populated by a deep learning nn. Seeded by a few areas of interest a user will put in, it will then auto-generate articles. * Setup a contracting service where you invest in it initially, then it pays it back to you as salary for whatever minimum amount…

There's a number of EB-5aaS services out there, mostly targeted at rich Chinese/Russians/Saudis - invest $500k into a property development that is tenuously linked to a depressed area (eg. a condo on Park Ave that is dubiously associated with a low income project in Harlem) and the developer will help you with your visa.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#36

Post by graeme »

yurisagalov wrote: post #17
graeme wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I hear that O-1 review has become less favourable to founders over the last 1-2 years. Is this because it wasn't intended for that purpose and the system is cracking down on founder's using it as such? I've looked into the O-1 based on the fact that I'm (legitimately) a top expert on a very niche field. If I ever move to the states I think it's my only possibility since I work for myself.

From what immigration lawyers have described to me, USCIS is cracking down and making the requirements for an O-1 (And EB-1, by proxy) more strict. What they want is "objectively verifiable" evidence in the form of press, recognition, awards, earnings, etc. What they value much less now than they used to is famous people telling them how awesome you are (e.g. getting your famous investor to write you a letter is less…

Yeah, I'd get a lawyer if I ever had to do it. In my case the field is very narrow, so there's basically no press. But I'd be able to get letters from all the major players saying I was major. A couple of them have scattered press mentions.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#37

Post by adrianmacneil »

zensavona wrote: post #28
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

I (Australian) had never heard of the E3 visa until just now - Interesting that it defines "Speciality work" as anything that requires a degree in the job description. I don't have one, but have been working professionally in this field for 4 years (I'm 22), and thus would not be eligible. To qualify for experience in lieu of a degree you require 3 years of work for each one year of university, so when I've been work…

The E3 has basically the same requirements as the H1B (regular work visa), the main difference is that there is no cap (whereas H1Bs are capped and it's basically a lottery whether you get one or not).

IIRC there is some way to avoid the degree requirement if you have a skilled job and an equivalent # of years work experience.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#38

Post by anigbrowl »

rdtsc wrote: post #30
yurisagalov wrote: post #2

Regardless of whether you're a YC founder or not, in general unless you're Canadian/Mexican and can qualify for a TN, or Australian and can qualify for an E-3, your only viable real option is an O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary ability). It's not an unachievable visa, and there are many founders who use it, but the requirements to demonstrate extraordinary ability are onerous. From USCIS: * Receipt of nationally or intern…

Calls for O-1aaS startup. Setup an organization that will: * Generate awards and prizes in computer science and its sub-fields. * It will have a journal that will be populated by a deep learning nn. Seeded by a few areas of interest a user will put in, it will then auto-generate articles. * Setup a contracting service where you invest in it initially, then it pays it back to you as salary for whatever minimum amount…

I'd advise tempering your sense of humor on this topic, since attempts to do more-or-less what you're talking about above tend to culminate in long prison sentences for both operators and customers of such a service, unless it's based in a jurisdiction that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US. since 'securing the border' is one of those fundamentally unattainable political goals prosecutors tend to throw the book at anyone they find engaged in this kind of activity because it plays well at oversight hearings. If you want to make money by disrupting the immigration system, set up a fake law firm to scam immigrants with paperwork problems - you can run that one for ages because your erstwhile customers are afraid of the police and you won't get too heavy of a sentence if you do get caught since the lives you ruined don't belong to registered voters.

Read a lot of immigration law news and you too can develop a jaundiced attitude! Seriously, it seems like things may be improving somewhat under Loretta Lynch's administration of the DoJ but it's a bit early to tell. http://trac.syr.edu is probably the best resource that doesn't require some sort of professional or academic subscription.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#39

Post by adrianmacneil »

Since no one has pointed it out yet, I'll also mention the Diversity Visa (a.k.a. Green Card lottery). This allows you to gain permanent residence in the US (if you are eligible).

It opens every year in October, and is free to apply. There are lots of scam sites that will offer to enter you in the lottery for payment, but you can do it free here: https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

If you get accepted, it takes around 18 months from entering the lottery to actually entering the US, so you have to not be in a hurry.

The allocation of visas is quite odd, a bunch of countries are not eligible to enter (including UK, Canada, Mexico). Other countries have different quotas based on their region. As a result, those applying from Australia/NZ have a much higher chance of winning than those applying from Europe or Africa.

Re: Ask HN: What visa do foreign YC founders use to stay in US beyond 3 months?

#40

Post by anigbrowl »

garethsprice wrote: post #35
rdtsc wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calls for O-1aaS startup. Setup an organization that will: * Generate awards and prizes in computer science and its sub-fields. * It will have a journal that will be populated by a deep learning nn. Seeded by a few areas of interest a user will put in, it will then auto-generate articles. * Setup a contracting service where you invest in it initially, then it pays it back to you as salary for whatever minimum amount…

There's a number of EB-5aaS services out there, mostly targeted at rich Chinese/Russians/Saudis - invest $500k into a property development that is tenuously linked to a depressed area (eg. a condo on Park Ave that is dubiously associated with a low income project in Harlem) and the developer will help you with your visa.

Be very careful before patronizing such a service: http://www.law360.com/articles/710485/eb-5-investors-plead-t...

Incidentally I heard the court just ruled for the investors on that one but the only link I have so far is Lexis-Nexis paywalled.

Post reply on HN