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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

#171

Post by vertis »

academia_hack wrote: post #163

I have always been curious about the concept of "digital nomadism" and remote working while traveling to many countries around the world. Most people I know living this lifestyle have a very lax viewpoint on the concept that remote working around the world incurs special tax liabilities/visa requirements. I'm not sure if that's actually true or if living in countries for 2 months at a time for the purpose of remote w…

IANAL but I have been DN for a few years, albeit not a US one. In my reading, US citizens are responsible for US income tax regardless of where they are in the world. Some of that is balanced by double taxation treaties, but this doesn't apply if you're floating from one place to the next.

While it's possible for some digital nomads to become a (tax) resident of nowhere, falling into a loop hole, it was my impression that this was not the case with US citizens. It's anyone's guess as to how long this will last, especially with this years uptick in remote work (if that is coupled with a return to the ability to travel after COVID).

In the case of self employed digital nomads it's possible to structure your businesses to legally minimize taxes. I run my business out of Estonia, which may not be the cheapest tax wise but has the benefit of being an EU country, and somewhat transparent about tax.

Estonia has flat 20% tax on share distributions. This is also great for startups. Money that comes into the business and stays in the business isn't taxed, simplifying growing your business.

https://nomadcapitalist.com has some good reading on the subject, both blog or book. Regardless of whether or not you agree with his observations on certain things.

I'm far from an expert, but if anyone wants to talk about my experiences, my email is on my profile.

Edit: Is it allowed to add answers in AMAs, I'm not across the etiquette.

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

#173

Post by proberts »

eb1-qun wrote: post #135

I'm from a country with a large EB2 backlog, and I'm at a principal/staff level at a FAANG, currently somewhere on the EB2 backlog. What are my chances of getting an EB1 if I self sponsor (with help from a law firm)? I have about 15y of professional experience but everything I've done has been very proprietary, albeit on well known household-name products. I haven't blogged or published either under my own name or fo…

It's going to be tough because the EB1A standard has gone up considerably and is tough where there's limited public/external evidence of achievement. That being said, it's still possible where an applicant can be linked to the major achievements/product of his or her employer.

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

#174

Post by vertis »

vertis wrote: post #171
academia_hack wrote: post #163

I have always been curious about the concept of "digital nomadism" and remote working while traveling to many countries around the world. Most people I know living this lifestyle have a very lax viewpoint on the concept that remote working around the world incurs special tax liabilities/visa requirements. I'm not sure if that's actually true or if living in countries for 2 months at a time for the purpose of remote w…

IANAL but I have been DN for a few years, albeit not a US one. In my reading, US citizens are responsible for US income tax regardless of where they are in the world. Some of that is balanced by double taxation treaties, but this doesn't apply if you're floating from one place to the next. While it's possible for some digital nomads to become a (tax) resident of nowhere, falling into a loop hole, it was my impression…

Also Estonia has a Digital Nomad visa specifically for remote workers, allowing you to be in the country for ~1 year. Also a lot of digital nomads use https://safetywing.com for insurance. I believe they also have a remote team plan.

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

#175

Post by proberts »

jmangubat wrote: post #157
sunir wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you flying to California? For onboarding? I would recommend getting a TN prior to your flight in case there are problems. You don't need a TN if you're physically in Canada. You only need the TN if you're entering the United States to work. If you don't need to enter the United States, you can avoid this for now.

They don't have Canadian payroll set up and don't want to hire contractors.

Why are you getting a TN if you will be living and working in Canada? You can work for a US company as an employee without having US work authorization if you are physically outside the US.

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

#176

Post by loganu »

CalChris wrote: post #83

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this. Founders need to understand the basics of immigration paperwork. For native citizen founders, this is probably our first interaction with the USCIS; we basically know nothing. Can you point us to any YC or legal white shoes backgrounder on what we need to know about hiring people at their various stages of immigration paperwork?

I'm not Peter but I'm happy to walk any founder through the different visa options available to them or potential employees. Have helped dozens of YC founders and hundreds of founders - logan@legalpad.io

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

#177

Post by morpheuskafka »

jtlienwis wrote: post #114

Is it legal to hire someone in the US from a foreign country because the hiring manager is not fluent in English and needs someone with fluency in a foreign tongue, when other qualified candidates DO speak English? I lost an engineering job with a fortune 500 company once, for a job in California because I believe I did not speak Russian.

It looks like the issue is a little complicated, according to this website, they can but it the examples given seem to be a little more pervasive than just a single manager not speaking English: https://www.shihabimmigrationfirm.com/employment-based-immig...

On the other hand, if the product or intended market involved a foreign language it would definitely be okay.

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

#180

Post by proberts »

laurencerowe wrote: post #153

I’ll be eligible to apply for naturalisation next year. N-400 processing times for the SF office are currently 14.5-17.5 months, compared to 9.1 months nationally and 5.6 months 4 years ago. Speculatively, is this something the new administration could remedy quickly?

The expanded processing time is the product of the pandemic (shut down of offices, their limited capacity, and the backlogs) and political priorities. The Obama Administration made the expeditious processing of naturalization applications a priority and reduced the processing time to around 6 months on average. We will still feel the effects of the pandemic for some time but if the Biden Administration makes the processing of naturalization applications a priority, then the average processing could go down, and probably significantly.
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