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

Post by stefek99 » Sat, Oct 17, 2015, 10:40 AM UTC

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…

Post by braindead_in » Sat, Oct 17, 2015, 1:02 PM UTC

sparkzilla wrote: post #10

Finbarr wrote: post #9

If you have been running your company for a year or more outside of the US, you may have some luck with the L-1 Visa for intra-company transfer[1]. The visa is for managers/executives who are coming to the US to work for a US arm of a foreign company. Seems like it can be used for establishing US based offices as well. [1] http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/l-1-intracompany-transfe...

I was on this visa. You must have been running the business in your home country for at least one year, and you must continue to keep the business running in your home country while you are in the U.S. (The U.S. office is supposed to be a branch). You also need sufficient funds (at least $100K, but $150K is safer). However once you get it, you can renew it for up to seven years, and, unlike the E-2, it has a path to…

Post by mikekchar » Sat, Oct 17, 2015, 2:24 PM UTC

mananm wrote: post #95

Hope this doesn't sound like a shameless plug, but this topic is really why Unshackled exists and why we are on a mission to enable as many immigrant founded companies in the US as we can. As one of the founding partners of Unshackled (www.unshackled.co) I hope that we've been able to help immigrant founders build towards their dreams. It's still early, but in the past 7 months, we've supported 30 founders, across 13…

Post by sparkzilla » Sat, Oct 17, 2015, 5:32 PM UTC

braindead_in wrote: post #113

sparkzilla wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was on this visa. You must have been running the business in your home country for at least one year, and you must continue to keep the business running in your home country while you are in the U.S. (The U.S. office is supposed to be a branch). You also need sufficient funds (at least $100K, but $150K is safer). However once you get it, you can renew it for up to seven years, and, unlike the E-2, it has a path to…

How long did the L1 application take for you? I filed my petition 2 months ago and am still waiting to hear back from USCIS. Keeping my fingers crossed; 50-50 chance that it'll be approved I guess.

Post by dotBen » Sun, Oct 18, 2015, 5:46 AM UTC

gozo wrote: post #108

dotBen wrote: post #22

Technically it isn't clear what visa foreign YC founders should use to stay in the US during the 3 months. Visa waiver[0] only allows for meetings, attending a conference, attend short-term unpaid training or negotiate a contract. Anything that really is 'working' - such as performing software engineering for a company (even your own) - is arguably outside of the visa waiver. I'm assuming YC doesn't want founders to…

At least from what I've heard YCs position on this has been "not our problem". Frankly that has seemingly been their position on many concerns of founders e.g. housing. YC only leaves you 6 weeks or so from acceptance to start of the program which obviously isn't enough to get a work permit. http://benmetcalfe.com/blog/2012/02/what-visa-type-do-you-ne...