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I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

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251–260 of 414 posts

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#251

Hi Peter. Do you have any experience with MTR for O-1 visas? Once filed, how long the response from USCIS could take? What are the odds of visa approval at this point?

Yes, we do but oftentimes the better approach is simply to refile the O-1 since MTRs can take a while to be reviewed.

Since an MTR can take an indefinite time to get processed, I wonder what's the benefit of going this route vs refiling an O-1?

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#252

Hi Peter, Thank you for taking the time to answer the questions. Mine is: how long should a Green Card holder stay with the company that sponsored the GC to avoid future problems with USCIS?

There's really no minimum amount of time if the green card was obtained in good faith. I've never seen an issue when this is true.

When you say in goid faith, you mean obtained for purpose of living in usa right? Contrary to obtaining it for some sort of terrorist/troublemaking reasons? Is that what good faith means?

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#253
Hi Peter,

I'll finish my PhD in ECE around May 2018 and look for employment in the Bay Area. Do you think I should apply for NIW (I have over 300 citations and 10+ peer reviewed publications) or go through the process with H1B?

My wife and our son are on F2 visa right now. My wife is a computer engineer and was not allowed to work on F2 visa during my PhD. Can she work as an H1B dependent? Do you think it is worth to spend $10K to obtain NIW?

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#254
post #70

What advice do you have for someone who's on a H1B visa, wants to co-found a startup, incorporate it, work on it part-time until it receives VC funding, and continue working at their H1B "day job" in the interim? My understanding is that the H1B visa does not allow you to do any work for anyone apart from your visa sponsor. If a co-founder were to spend his evenings working on his startup which has been incorporated,…

I have the same question as well.

That's right, in the H-1B context, there needs to be an employer-employee relationship between the petitioning company and the sponsored worker and this (in the eyes of USCIS) ultimately means the ability of the petitioning company to fire the sponsored worker and otherwise control his or her employment.

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#255
post #124

If I'm aware that a member of my company is an illegal immigrant, what can I do to protect them and the company?

What can I do to report and deport said illegal immigrant? Also, which legal authorities can be notified to punish said company?

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#256
I won the green card diversity lottery and will finalize the process in about a month when I land in the USA. After that I'll be a permanent resident. I'll stay for a few months to set things up, leave for a few more months to sell some property and then move there permanently.

If things don't go very well and I decide to relinquish the green card and return, will I be subject to any kind of exit tax?

Also, I'm having a lot of trouble setting up an address to receive the physical card. A PO Box or mail aggregator is not acceptable and I can only change the address up to the point of entry. This is a major concern for me because I don't have anyone in the USA that could receive it on my behalf.

Is it possible to use "General delivery" near my arrival airport to get the card? I ask because up to 2 weeks ago I didn't even know about that concept so I'm still exploring that possibility.

Thank you for your time.

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#257

I've used up all 6 yrs on H1b (including recapture) and currently transitioning to F1, I'm exploring the O-1 visa. I'm an Indian citizen, born in India. Question 1: Can I qualify for an O-1 visa if I'm part of a company as a co-founder/CXO that's been accepted in Y-Combinator or similar programs? (does that satisfy the "attained membership in associations that require outstanding achievements....."?) Question 2: In t…

Regarding your first question, acceptance into YC definitely carries a lot of weight and can go a long way toward supporting an O-1 petition. Regarding your second question, as long as you are not receiving any value for your work (with value not being limited to cash compensation), then I see no issue with your release of a free app to help others.

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#258
post #256

I won the green card diversity lottery and will finalize the process in about a month when I land in the USA. After that I'll be a permanent resident. I'll stay for a few months to set things up, leave for a few more months to sell some property and then move there permanently. If things don't go very well and I decide to relinquish the green card and return, will I be subject to any kind of exit tax? Also, I'm havin…

Regarding your first question, you should consult a tax accountant but the short answer is that the penalty provision doesn't apply unless and until you have been a permanent resident for at least 8 years. Regarding your second question, this can be a real issue and one option is to hire an attorney for the sole purpose of having your green card delivered to him or her. Whoever this is should charge you next to nothing so this might make sense.

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#259
post #234

Please all H1Bs of Indian nationality. Do not waste your time, age, money and family life waiting for H1B based GreenCard. Its a lost cause. Move to Canada, Australia or somewhere else. Live a good life rather than being indentured servants for US corporations for a good chunk of your productive age. I moved to Canada some years back and I am really happy about my decision.

You are only an "indentured servant" if you're not good enough in your field to demand a competitive salary. Please don't put everyone in the same bucket as you.

With your skills can you get an H1B ? or is it luck ? Say you are an exceptional skilled worker. Do you have any priority for getting a greencard ? If you are EB1 I agree you are exceptional. But with EB2, can you with your skills get a greencard or do you have to be under the mercy of your employer & wait 10 years ? Hence the indentured servitude.

Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Green Card is a visa with permanent intent. A TN visa has temporary or limited intent. At best, such a transfer would signal that your TN was not pursued with temporary intent. In my IANAL experience as a Canadian who immigrated to the US, you need to transfer to a permanent intent visa like an H1-B from which the conversion to Green Card is more straightforward. Alternatively, marry an American.

Again, not correct and a common misunderstanding. One can go from a TN directly to a green card.

How does one start this process? I work at a YC company fwiw on a TN visa.
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