Hi Peter,
Really appreciate you doing this!
For a non-American who gets a bachelors degree in the U.S., what are the best paths for starting your own company in the U.S. if you don't want to raise venture capital?
I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
31–40 of 322 posts
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#32I was a co-founder back in 2012 in India and we were running a e-commerce store. I am currently in h1-b working for big US company. Just wondering if I can use my past experience to move to eb1 instead of eb2 which I am currently petitioned in.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#33Hi Peter, Thank you for doing this AMA.
I am a student on F1 visa in STEM field, graduating in 2 months. I will be on OPT afterwards. What are some practical immigration paths for recent graduate founders?graduating? Please note that I don't qualify for EB.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#34Based on public statements by YC partners, appears possible the YC S20 batch will be 100% remote; as it relates to YC interaction with the batch.
As it relates to US immigration matters — what, if any, impact might this have on the S20 batch that prior non-remote batches were not subject to?
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#35I'm a Canadian applying for a green card under EB-3. My priority date of January 2020 was current, but in March it retrogressed to January 2017. How likely do you think it is I will become current again in October?
As a follow up, suppose I don't become current for many years and my TN Visa expires. Would I be able to keep renewing EAD/AP every year in order to keep working in the US until my I-485 is processed?
Yes. And October usually does see a big change, I just don't see it becoming current by then.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#36Thanks for doing this, Peter. I'm currently based in Bangladesh but planning to incorporate my B2B startup as a Delaware C-Corp in order to be able to process recurring payments from international customers. I had two questions:
1) What are your thoughts on services such as Stripe Atlas, Clerky and others? Which one would you recommend (if any)?
2) After I complete incorporation, what are my options for moving to the United States at some point in the future, preferably later this year?
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#37Hi Peter, thanks for doing this! I just got H1B lottery. The company is promising that they would apply for the green card as soon as I'm in US. My question is: is that possible for them to do that, generally and given the current scenario?
Legally, yes, but if the company was going to go the PERM application route, that process could be derailed by layoffs by the company and/or overall unemployment.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#38What sensible options there are to immigrate or be able to work 5+ years? I know of green card (lottery and marriage), L1-visa, H1B-visa, and OPT, are there any other sensible options?
Self-petitioning green card options (EB1A and NIW) but these are tough/high standards. Also, there are country-specific visas ((TN, E-3, and H-1B1) and depending on your country of citizenship, the E-2 investor visa.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#39Hi Peter thanks for doing this.
I'm currently working under a TN Visa which expires on May, but my I94 expires on 2021.
My question is, If I want to change employer (it will normally take me 1 week because I travel to Mexico and do the process in the US embassy there).
If it is possible to still get a TN Visa from US and without premium processing how long does it takes?
Thanks
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#40Thanks for doing this, Peter. I'm currently based in Bangladesh but planning to incorporate my B2B startup as a Delaware C-Corp in order to be able to process recurring payments from international customers. I had two questions: 1) What are your thoughts on services such as Stripe Atlas, Clerky and others? Which one would you recommend (if any)? 2) After I complete incorporation, what are my options for moving to the…
1) I can't comment personally but many of our clients use Clerky and Stripe and seem happy with them. I'm still of the mindset that it's still good to engage/establish a relationship with a corporate attorney. 2) The default options are the L-1, O-1, and E-1/E-2 visas.