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

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

#221

Post by visa_1293 » Fri, Sep 06, 2019, 11:56 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #198

visa_1293 wrote: post #197

Can I work from another country under a H1B1 visa? Example: I get the visa but then I work remotely from my country, or for example I renew it but I never go back to the US.

Without knowing all the facts, as a general matter yes but why would you since you don't need a work visa to work for a US company if you are working while outside the US?

You are right that it seems weird, but a friend did it for many years!

- In his case the company wanted it to make it easier administratively for them.

- It might make it easier to go back to the US.

- Might make it easier to take advantage of 401k matching and other benefits.

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

#222

Post by satya71 » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 12:27 AM UTC

godelmachine wrote: post #127

Hi Peter I have been checking for this thread for almost weeks now. Glad you are back :) My father is a naturalized US citizen. He got naturalized in October 2018 but he had filed for my Green Card in November 2017 itself. He told me I should get my GC by mid-2022, if everything goes right. Based on current wait times, do you think I would get my GC by mid 2022? I would like to know your estimate. Can you think of an…

USCIS has quite a bit of information here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...

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

#223

Post by laurieg » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 12:32 AM UTC

A slightly frivolous question but I'd like to hear your opinion.

If you were to design an immigration system from the ground up, how would you do it? How would you decide who gets work visas etc?

I deal with immigration to Japan a fair amount and while I feel the system is relatively favourable for workers it can be extremely capricious and opaque.

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

#224

Post by godelmachine » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 12:53 AM UTC

pkaye wrote: post #148

godelmachine wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this brilliant info. Is there an official government website to check wait times?

The visa bulletin shows wait times and is updated on a monthly basis. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v... And here is general information on the how to figure out your priority dates. https://www.uscis.gov/greencard/visa-availability-priority-d... I'd suggest you also scope out visajourney.com though it is not official. https://www.visajourney.com/content/times/ But if you have a lawyer th…

Thanks a lot, mate :) Much appreciated

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

#225

Post by mattieuga » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 1:12 AM UTC

Will vouch for Peter! Wouldn't have started a company without his help.

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

#226

Post by buttershrimp » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 1:59 AM UTC

my husband is an amercian, i'm canadian, we've been separated for a while and we've been living in our respective countries, but still married. i want to move to the US, and he's willing to sponsor me as a spouse. a lot of our relationship difficulties have been resolved and we could definitely tolerate each other enough to live together for several years, and all of our close family and friends know that we love each other. do you think that if i lived in the us with him for a year and then applied for the gc that it would make sense to immigration? i don't think i could apply right away after moving because i want to justly portray our relationship as a strong one

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

#227

Post by mikekchar » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 2:12 AM UTC

laurieg wrote: post #223

A slightly frivolous question but I'd like to hear your opinion. If you were to design an immigration system from the ground up, how would you do it? How would you decide who gets work visas etc? I deal with immigration to Japan a fair amount and while I feel the system is relatively favourable for workers it can be extremely capricious and opaque.

I'm curious what problems you've seen with the Japanese immigration system. Every time I've had to do anything it's been literally a rubber stamp type affair. I admit to not having to deal with any grey areas, though. I've always obviously fit the criteria for the visa.

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

#228

Post by brd529 » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 2:13 AM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #128

dmix wrote: post #100

Do I need to visit the US border day-of to get a TN-1 visa as a Canadian citizen? My immigration attorney in SF said I did but I've had other people tell me they got it ahead of time. This sounded a bit crazy to me, I'd have to pack all of my stuff in my apartment and hope I get a T1 when I arrive at Pearson airport in Toronto? And if not I'll have to find some place to stay.

I'm not Peter Roberts, but I have received pre-approval on a TN-1 before. My company's lawyers went through all the "yes this person does deserve a visa" stuff for me ahead of time. When I got to the border crossing (also at YYZ Pearson) I had paperwork that made it a much faster process. I'm comparing this to the previous TN-1 I had which required a lot of questioning, waiting around, etc. If you've got the extra ti…

There is a large fee (~$5k iirc) to apply for a TN by mail. The fee for applying at the border is around ~$100.

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

#229

Post by gnulinux » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 2:20 AM UTC

proberts wrote: post #10

neivin wrote: post #9

What do you think of the "country of origin" segregation vs. citizenship. I was born in India and raised in Canada. I'm never going to get permanent residency in the US based on employment. Is the best bet just to get married to an American?

Yes, that is fastest way since there are no quotas but I'd also recommend looking at the EB1 category because even though it is significantly backed up for Indian nationals, it's still a lot faster than the EB2 and EB3 categories and oftentimes within reach of talented professionals.

Wouldn't one need a PhD or a similar degree for EB1?

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

#230

Post by mikekchar » Sat, Sep 07, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

buttershrimp wrote: post #226

my husband is an amercian, i'm canadian, we've been separated for a while and we've been living in our respective countries, but still married. i want to move to the US, and he's willing to sponsor me as a spouse. a lot of our relationship difficulties have been resolved and we could definitely tolerate each other enough to live together for several years, and all of our close family and friends know that we love eac…

I'm not a lawyer and I don't know much about US immigration law. However, I've moved around the world a fair amount and had to get lots of visas. One of the things that's super important with a visa is to make sure that you qualify for that visa. For the US, I believe that it's actually illegal to apply for a visa knowing that you don't intend to follow its rules. For example, you might be able to get visa A easily, but you really want visa B. You apply for visa A with the intent of finding a way to get visa B. Most of the time that's not allowed and if you do it knowingly you may get in big trouble.

From that perspective, a spousal visa usually exists for the sole purpose that you can live with your spouse. It's not a visa whose intent is to give you access to the country for other reasons. So if you go into the process with the knowledge that you do not want to live with your spouse, you are almost certainly going to be going against the terms of the visa -- you almost certainly must intend to live with your spouse indefinitely. You can't go into the situation with the idea that you are going to live with your spouse until you can get a different visa/residency status. Doing so could probably land you in a lot of hot water if it came out (How could it come out? Usual route: Have an argument late at night with your spouse. Really pissy neighbours get miffed and want to get rid out you. They call the immigration people. You may find it hard to believe, but I know more than one person deported from a country that way!)

Anyway, if your intent is to patch up your relationship with your spouse then my (not legal!) advise is to just concentrate on that. Inter-personal relationships are hard and if you aren't going all-in then it's unlikely to work out well. Similarly, I would not rely on a spouse that wasn't invested in rebuilding the relationship but is only doing you a favour so that you can get a visa. That puts a big burden on your spouse because they may want to get on with their life and your visa status will be holding them back. It's an incredibly dicey situation and very, very unlikely to turn out well.