Hi Peter !
How hard is it to get the O1 visa for young PhD graduates ? If I am correct, the O1 visa doesn't not permitted the spouse to work in the US. What would be the solution for the spouse to follow and work ?
Thank you,
I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
101–110 of 273 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#102First of all, I want to say that I really appreciate the work you do in helping people to navigate a complex and evolving legal landscape. Now, for my question: Is a nonimmigrant considered to be "out of status" between steps (3) and (4) in the following timeline? 1. Arrive to the US with B-2 Visa 2. Apply for F-1 Visa 3. B-2 Visa expires 4. F-1 Visa granted Additionally, is this considered a violation of the terms o…
i am not a lawyer but have moved from the UK to the USA. The visa is permission to cross the border, but there's the i-94 stamp which is visitor residency, so if your visa expires but you are still good with i-94 dates, you're fine i believe (just you can't return if you leave). Obviously it's more complicated, i had a different visa to the one you mention.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#103Hi Peter,
Many thanks for doing this.
My father filed for my GC in Nov 2017 when he was LPR and he got naturalized in Oct 2018. In previous AMA, you had kindly advised me that USCIS needs to be informed. I reached out to my immigration attorney and below is the response she sent →
"Per my last email to you back in November, nothing needs to be done at this time. Nothing will change the processing times, and we will just need to notify the NVC once the I-130 is approved, to update the category at that time, because USCIS requires these requests to be made in writing via letter, and they never actually act on the case anyways.
You will be fine, and once we get the I-130 approval is when we’ll take action on this."
I am unsure how should I take her advise. Is there something my attorney is missing? Is there something you can think of I should request her to do?
Also, last time we had speculated that I may get my GC in 2022/23. Do you think the current pandemic may prolong my GC? My father said my file must be in cold storage now, albeit I am not entirely sure what it means.
I am 31, unmarried, born and raised in India, bachelors degree holder with 4.5 years of workex in IT.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#104I am Canadian and living in Canada, do I need a Visa to work for a US company remotely from Canada? If yes what is the best option?
Not a lawyer but as a Canadian working in Canada you don't. You will want one when you travel to the states to meet your team, but you can do that on a TN issued at the border provided you have a degree and you don't intend to move to the US permanently
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#105I'm a co-founder of Startup that is operating in the US for the last 5 years, we started it with my other co-founder (who is a US National)while i was on J1 visa, my visa expired and i had to come back to my country luckily for me i am the technical founder so most of my work can be done remotely, how ever we've been thinking on my relocation but we do not know the steps to follow can you give us any advice or resource we can follow?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#106Hi Peter,
Do you have any advice for what folks should be looking for when choosing an immigration attorney? Are there any reputable lists you could recommend? It seems like there are a lot of horror stories out there, but for the average person it feels like picking an attorney is something of a dice roll
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#107I'm sure you saw the article recently about the H1B visa program requiring significantly higher pay for visa holders. How do you think this will affect current visa holders? Obviously it varies case by case but I'm hoping you'll have insight into this that I don't have. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-administration-announces-...
The higher prevailing wages don't impact the present wages of those currently in H-1B status; they will only apply to extensions and new filings.
It looks like prevailing wage data isn't available in flcdatacenter.com. Any idea if that's intentional or is it expected to be available sometime later?
Thanks!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#108Would you recommend changing an EB2 application for an Indian to an EB3, given that the priority dates have jumped to 2014? My priority date is Sept 2011. Or would you recommend sticking with an EB2 whose priority date is only 6 months away from the new EB2 priority date limit, May 2011?
I think your dates are like a decade in the past.
That seems right. There's a huge backlog in the process.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#109I have a question about EB-2 NIW.
I have a Ph.D. (Elec. Eng.) from a non-U.S. university and have lived in the U.S. on a J-2 (dependent) visa; my spouse was working as a researcher at a U.S. university. During that time, I worked (on an EAD) for a U.S.-based R&D company, serving as a principal investigator on Govt. (DoD) funded research projects. I have publications, have served as reviewer for intl. academic journals, etc., but have not won any internationally recognized prizes.
(1) Given my background, do I currently stand a chance of getting an EB-2 visa via NIW?
(2) Would it all come down to the letters supporting my applications?
(3) Does my prior J-2 status (2-year home stay requirement; visa expired 1.5 years ago) have any effect on possibly getting an EB-2 visa via NIW?
(4) Would the prior J-1 status of my spouse affect her ability to join me on an E-21?
(5) Would applying to the Diversity Visa Program interfere with also applying for an EB-2 visa via NIW?
Thanks!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#110We’ve used Peter and he & his team are GREAT!
Background: They worked on an O-1 for one of our employees.