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

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

#191

Post by michwill » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:47 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #162

michwill wrote: post #147

Hi Peter! I am a citizen of Australia and I am going to switch on ZeroDB [ http://www.zerodb.io/ ] fulltime pretty much now. For that, I have to leave my employer with whom I have an E3 visa (and I have a wife on E3D). Also I need to travel right after that. Would there be any problem for us to enter back under Visa Waiver? Should we just fill an ESTA form online and have back out-of-US tickets on hand when we enter…

If you enter under ESTA, you won't be able to work for the company and you will need to leave and reenter again in E-3 status to work for the company. And yes, if you recently have been in E-3 status and then seek to reenter under ESTA, you could have problems because CBP could conclude that you are coming to stay and/or work.

Ok, actually the situation is following. We have some pilots with banks emerging in London where we need to work closely with them. I actually will go there and my wife will go to the US under visa waiver.

Seems like employment is going to be terminated at December 16, re-entry time - January 3.

Would there be any problems with this?

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

#192

Post by patrickddaniel » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:47 PM UTC

Can you get a J-1 visa even if you have already had 2 OPTs and studied for undergrad and grad in US?

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

#193

Post by ancarda » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:47 PM UTC

winter_blue wrote: post #172

ancarda wrote: post #122

I live in the United Kingdom but I've always wanted to move to America. I don't know much about the process as I find it very hard to go through the volume of information online. Do I need to apply for a visa, then find a company in the U.S. to hire me? Is there a good website for finding green card jobs? I'd be grateful for a pointer on doing this or even just an FAQ as a starting point.

In the US, generally, the company applies for your visa. So you need to get a job offer first from a company that loves you so much that they'll apply for a visa for you, and wait the typical 6 months it takes for the visa to get processed. The best US work visa right now is the H1B. It lets you change jobs to any company (in your field), provided that company is willing to do a small amount of work to "transfer" the…

Thank you so much!

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

#194

Post by RohrerCarlos » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:48 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #171

RohrerCarlos wrote: post #166

Thanks for you time. I'm a chilean entrepreneur developing a startup here in SF. I'm one of the founders and we have already incorporated as an LLC. 1-What's the easiest path for me to get a visa that will allow me to work and receive a salary here in the US? 2-Can I do that through the company we just established? I'm fully dedicated and focused on our company and growing as fast as we can and I need to come to a so…

You probably have several options but these will depend on the ownership of the company, the amount and source of funding if any, and your background. The options that come to mind are the H-1B1, the E-1 and E-2, and the O-1.

Thanks Peter. I own 30% of the company and we have bootstrapped the company. We haven't used more than $3,000 on it. My background: I'm an trilingual Industrial Engineer graduated from Chile with more than 11 years of experience. Does this information helps to have a more clear focus on what's the best solution for my case?

Thank you very much Peter.

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

#195

Post by CAThrowAway » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:49 PM UTC

Hi Peter,

Thanks for taking two full hours to do this - I've learned a lot.

I am a US/Canadian dual citizen, my cofounder is Canadian. We're currently running our business as a Canadian corporation, but would like to set up shop in San Francisco full time over the next year or two, preferably incorporating in Delaware.

My cofounder has a BSc and has done some impressive things in her career, but the O-1 looks difficult from the outside. We're in a position to raise ~1M of funding from US investors over the next 6m - would that make her eligible for an E-2? The L-1 looks like a reasonable fallback if we can get nothing else setup over the next year, but we've been told not reincorporating as a Delaware corp will make fundraising more difficult.

Is there an obvious standout option here? Are there any that I'm missing?

Thanks!

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

#196

Post by proberts » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:49 PM UTC

hpagey wrote: post #100

a-zA-Z0-9 wrote: post #70

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.

That's right. You have the option of not being counted against the cap.

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

#197

Post by h1b_transfer » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:50 PM UTC

Thanks for doing this! I have a question regarding time off between jobs while on an H1B.

I've been working at a startup for 2 years that sponsored my H1B. I've just accepted an offer at a big tech company, and they are transferring the H1B in the coming weeks. In the meantime, is it OK if I take 2-4 weeks off in between the two jobs without pay?

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

#198

Post by angelbob » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:52 PM UTC

beachstartup wrote: post #164

mtrpcic wrote: post #142

I'm currently on an H-1B in California working at a startup. In my spare time, I work on side projects that might provide value to somebody somewhere, but have an operating cost that I would have to cover if I wanted to offer the project as a free service. I'd like to be able to charge for this (or at least provide the option of a "Premium" plan) to supplant the money that I will lose in hosting the platform. I am NO…

i'm deleting this comment because it was a bunch of practical (as in non-legal advice) info about running an LLC that could potentially get someone in trouble if taken as advice.

In California, an employer specifically does not own your side work assuming you don't use any of their physical assets, protected know-how or paid-for time.

In other words, if it's genuinely side work.

There's a specific statute to that effect, and they're required to inform you of same.

(I'm not a lawyer either, but I've worked in CA for a long time.)

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

#199

Post by edko » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:52 PM UTC

I had an H1B visa granted to me in 1998, but have never used it. Would that have any influence, either positive or negative, on me getting a new H1B?

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

#200

Post by msvan » Fri, Dec 11, 2015, 8:52 PM UTC

I'm told that it's easier for musicians/artists to get O-1 visas than for software engineers. Are software engineers disadvantaged from getting the O-1, simply because the visa wasn't designed for software talent?