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

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

#51
A few questions:

1) Have you or your firm ever submitted an O-1 application that did not get approved?

2) Have you worked with clients that after not getting picked in the H1-B lottery solved their need by increasing pay and hiring a citizen?

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

#52

Don't know if this is the forum to ask or you have the knowledge but i'll ask anyway. Is there a reason why India alone receives more than 70% of all H1b visa (more than twice every other country combined)? Is this by design or accident? (Also I find most immigration question forums tend to be dominated/overwhelmed by Indians and their specific immigration questions) *update with relevant link: https://www.recode.net…

Statistics.

Imagine 70% of all applicants being Indian nationals. Randomly sample all the applicants and with a big enough sample size, the distribution will be the same, i.e. ~70% of your samples will be Indian nationals.

Countries that have the most people in the world have the most people in the H-1B application process as well. China and India are my guesses, without looking at the publicly available data on H-1B applications. You don't see as many Chinese people speaking about it online because they, on average, don't speak English as well as people from India.

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

#54

Hi Peter, Thanks for doing this. I'm on an H-1B visa and my employment with my current employer ends on the 31st of December. I'm interviewing with other companies and am close to offer from one, but most of my interviews are scheduled for after the holidays. I was wondering if I could: 1. accept the outstanding offer, get my visa transferred, but then accept another offer should I get a better one? 2. How long can I…

There is now a 60-day grace period after the end of H-1B employment so you would be considered in valid status and "portable" to a new company until the end of February, meaning that as long as the new employer files the H-1B petition before the end of February, you can remain in the U.S. while the petition is pending and even commence employment upon the receipt of the petition. And yes, different companies can file H-1B petitions at the same time but this might cause USCIS to question - if it is made aware of this - the bona fides of the various job offers.

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

#55

A few questions: 1) Have you or your firm ever submitted an O-1 application that did not get approved? 2) Have you worked with clients that after not getting picked in the H1-B lottery solved their need by increasing pay and hiring a citizen?

Unfortunately, yes to the first and I suspect yes to the second but this is not necessarily something that our clients would advise us of.

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

#57

How would you recommend the government address HB1 fraud, where people on HB1s are hired by temp agencies, and thus have a much lower prevailing wage than US employees?

Probably the current approach, which is to conduct site visits.

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

#58

I work for a US-based startup from India. The company was started in January 2016 and I joined in June 2016. The company applied for my H1B and I got into the lottery and I gave my interview in September 2017. The CEO of the company I work for is same as the CEO of the previous company I worked for. He left and started a new company and I joined him. It's now 3 months since I gave the interview. USCIS gave me the 221…

But you will still be coming to the U.S. to work for the sponsoring H-1B company? If so, then you should be fine even though your employment in India has changed.

Yes. I will be working for the sponsoring company. The USCIS has not got back to me after the h1b interview(3.5 months ago). Is the scrutiny on startup employees more than multinational companies? I am the first employee of my employer to sponsor an h1b.

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

#60

having worked 5 months on an H1-B and quitting. Is it necessary to go through the lottery again if I find employment once more? If not, how long before having to go through the lottery again?

Was your previous H1B counted against quota, if yes, you don't need to go through lottery again.
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