Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

191–200 of 273 posts

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

#191
post #2

A bit of a basic question but, if an individual working in the US on an H1B Visa decides to marry a US Citizen, how will it affect their job status? Will they have to quit their job, go back to their country of origin and return to the US on a Marriage/Fiance visa once that process is approved?

I did this. I was on H1B and wife is American. For starters, you don't have to leave the country for anything. You and your wife will apply for Green card and Change of status. But this is after marriage.

You actually can't leave the country after filing for the GC, unless you get a special travel waiver (or your GC request will be considered abandoned).

Anyone in this situation is strongly encouraged to consult an immigration lawyer and spend the time to give them all the information you have, and listen to all the caveats they list. Yes, it will cost you a kilobuck, but potentially save you a lot more kilobucks, a lot of time and a lot of anxiety.

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

#192

I am a regular Software Engineer at a FAANG company. I have a Bachelor's degree in CS and no papers or patents. What's a reliable route for me to file a successful EB-1 application? What kind of hackathons I can judge/other industry events can I speak at/be in the press to satisfy the requirements of EB-1? How can I get those opportunities?

> I am a regular Software Engineer at a FAANG company.

If you're at a FAANG then you're probably already far far better than you think you are.

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

#193
Hi,

I'm graduating next spring with a B.S. in Physics/Computer Science and currently have work authorization through DACA. With the recent challenges the current administration have imposed on DACA it's not clear what will happen with DACA in the next year. Do you suggest I seek an employer that can sponsor for h1 visa? Are DACA recipients eligible for h1 visa? Are there other pathways you suggests I explore?

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

#194

Hello Peter, many thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! Q1) What are the options for an EU freelancer (geographically based and registered in EU e.g. Germany, France, Poland) to contract with an US based company via homeoffice?

That's not an immigration issue, that would be more of a contracting issue and then making sure you're filling the requirements in the country you're in.

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

#195
post #14

I'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.

Just got informed of this change/regulation. My first extension after first 3 years of H1B is coming up next July.

Do we currently know any ballpark numbers for the wages for the regulation?

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

#196

Microsoft recently announced that their employees can permanently work from home. Several other companies have announced similar policies and this trend will likely become widely adopted very soon. So far, geographical proximity to a job has so far been an important factor for several employment based visa types like the h1-b. With this quickly changing, can you share some thoughts on how the diminishing importance o…

I'm sorry it's behind a paywall, but it's worth reading the following article that polls various CEOs across the usual industries/companies about their views on remote work. I think it's a good moderator to some of the news around MSFT as a lot of these are huge tech employers.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-ceos-really-think-about-re...

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

#197
post #96

I 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?

No, you can setup a Canadian company, and subcontract as a consultant. The downside is your company is responsible for paying taxes (GST, EI, etc), in addition to your personal taxes. Also, obviously, the US company won't provide benefits.

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

#198
Hi Peter,

I understand that E-3 visas for Australians are easier to obtain than other types of visas. In your experience, does this mean startups will welcome applications from Australians where the job advert does not mention visa sponsorship? Or should we only apply for jobs mentioning H-1B etc?

Thank you very much for your time.

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

#199
post #183

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this again. I'm a startup founder from India who'd love to learn more about how to gain access to US capital markets and startup ecosystem. (e.g. Annual VC deal volume in US is typically 25x that of India). I'd love to know what you think are some practical ways of going about this, any common gotchas etc.: 1. Opening a delaware c corp via stripe atlas, any common mistakes you've seen? 2. F…

if you're looking for a less expensive option - check out Blook.io - we help global founders register their businesses in the US and provide a free EIN/bank account :)

You have an asterisk next to the bank account and yet you provide no details on the website. I'd say most people are doing this mainly for the bank account (and payment processing). So you might want to expand on that in the website to avoid me sending you an email to ask about it.
Post reply on HN