Live data from Hacker News

I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

91–100 of 334 posts

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#91
post #5

Can I sell my own software as a H1B worker? E.g. my own apps in App Store?

Another excellent question. Any compensation for services rendered - for productive work - must be specifically work authorized, so as a general rule selling a product created by you - whether it's an application or a widget - requires work authorization.

With the new laws re: H4 EAD, can I use my spouse's EAD to sell apps instead?

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#92
Is getting a visa to work at a U.S at startup something unique to the YC program? I am/was under the impression that the company had to be accredited to be able to employ foreign nationals.

Is there any advise you can give for a current undergrad (for me personally citizen of NZ and UK if that matters) to improve the odds of being able to accept a job or PHD study in the US (on the visa side of things), both at application time and now til then (~2 years away).

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#93

Say for the sake of argument we're a seed-stage startup and we've identified an engineer with a very specific set of skills -- skills necessary for the growth of our company -- who would need an H1B to work here legally. All-in, about how much will it cost us to get that H1B visa processed through the system in a timely fashion?

Legal fees aside, the filing fees are $1575 for a company with less than 25 FT employees and $2325 for a company with 25 or more FT employees. These are the fees for regular processing which can take months at present, so premium processing is required for quick decision and this costs an additional $1125.

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#95

What are the options for an h1b who wants to start up? we can't lose our jobs to maintain the h1b status. will yc care that we are not working on the idea fulltime by the time of applying to yc? (will certainly quit the job if accepted to yc.) what are the common attitudes of companies, like google, microsoft, apple, facebook, toward employee moonlighting?

this. I'm in the process of co-founding a startup. My co-founder is on an H-1B and it's probably the thing that comes up the most in "how are we going to make this work?". What are the capital/other requirements necessary to transfer/file for their H-1B by the startup?

I would also like to see a discussion on this topic.

Folks with H1B, who wants to start

1. What is required, if the current company allows Moonlighting ?

2. If the second job is not allowed ?

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#96
post #23

Hi Peter – as H1B / E3 visa holders are only allowed to work for the company sponsoring them, are these holders able to provide contract work (separate to their regular work) to clients either in or out of the US provided the work is conducted and billed via a registered business entity in their home (or another non-US) country?

The short answer is no - although there can be exceptions when the only beneficiary of this work is outside the US.

Just to clarify: in this case it may be okay if you're doing work for a client outside of the US and they are billed by a business entity that is also outside the US? So the deal-breaker is doing work for US companies?

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#97

Say for the sake of argument we're a seed-stage startup and we've identified an engineer with a very specific set of skills -- skills necessary for the growth of our company -- who would need an H1B to work here legally. All-in, about how much will it cost us to get that H1B visa processed through the system in a timely fashion?

Legal fees aside, the filing fees are $1575 for a company with less than 25 FT employees and $2325 for a company with 25 or more FT employees. These are the fees for regular processing which can take months at present, so premium processing is required for quick decision and this costs an additional $1125.

Thank you! I know that mileage varies, but could you give a ballpark for what legal fees might be for a "plain vanilla" case? At the other end of the spectrum, what are the highest fees you've ever seen from one individual?

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#98
post #78

Is there a good source of information for Presidential candidates' proposed changes to immigration laws? If you were a betting man, what (if any) changes would you bet on post-election?

I would love an answer to this question! In this current election, it's unclear what candidates' positions are towards tech sector immigration.

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#99

Say for the sake of argument we're a seed-stage startup and we've identified an engineer with a very specific set of skills -- skills necessary for the growth of our company -- who would need an H1B to work here legally. All-in, about how much will it cost us to get that H1B visa processed through the system in a timely fashion?

Legal fees aside, the filing fees are $1575 for a company with less than 25 FT employees and $2325 for a company with 25 or more FT employees. These are the fees for regular processing which can take months at present, so premium processing is required for quick decision and this costs an additional $1125.

How quick is the premium processing?

Re: I am Peter Roberts, an immigration lawyer who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#100

Hi Peter, I'm a Canadian and I had an H-1B several years ago. I used about 2.5 years of it and left US in summer 2011 before using up the full 3 years. Am I eligible to come back on H-1B without lottery by claiming the remainder time? I read something about this online saying that I can come back on H-1B before 6 years past the date I left US? Thanks!

I was in similar situation. I think your new petition will not count against the quota if you were holding H1 within last 6 years.
Post reply on HN