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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

#151
post #116

Hi Peter, would you say getting funded by HN or another reputable investor is basically a guarantee for a "parole" under the EIPP, or is it too early to tell? With the paragraph about spouses, do they mean that the spouse would have to show merit as in able to hold a good job in the US, or work for the same business? If the spouse can not demonstrate merit are they just not allowed to work or are they not allowed to…

Regarding your first question, it's too early to tell but it's possible that participating in and receiving funding from a top tier accelerator might be enough. A dependent IEP spouse with work authorization would have unrestricted work authorization.

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

#152

Peter does a thread here every few months. So I want to share a cautionary tale about Immigration lawyers in general and Peter in particular. I had extensive immigration experience in US, where I did many filings. Worked with many different immigration lawyers. In that end with your immigration you are dealing less with the law aspects and more with the paperwork filling which is more clerical work. Things that I rea…

Speaking generally: People need to remember that there are two or more sides to every story. It's impossible to evaluate any of this accurately in the context of an internet thread, and since it's a no-win situation for the person or organization being accused, there's no way for the full picture to emerge.

Speaking specifically: Peter handled my personal case with consummate professionalism and effectiveness, and I've heard many YC startups speak highly of what he's been able to do for them. YC has a long track record of helping non-US startups extremely effectively with their immigration challenges, and Peter has been a big part of that for something like 6 or 7 years. Given that track record, your story sounds particularly one-sided to me, although certainly no one bats 100 and I'm sorry that you had a negative experience.

I find it hard to believe that he would "give advice not really inline with the law"—that's a charge of professional misconduct and would be a bombshell if true. Internet comments, on the other hand, are cheap and make it easy to gunsling. Readers love drama and everyone loves an underdog, which is a vulnerability routinely exploited by disgruntled commenters. It's not easy for the other side to defend themselves (let alone answer name-calling like "snake-oil salesman"); and it's basically impossible for anybody else to tell what actually happened. You describe your immigration situation as "stellar"; whether an objective observer would agree with that is something the rest of us can only be agnostic about.

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

#153

Hi Peter. Has the immigration situation for foreign CS PhDs wanting to get EB1 in the US gotten better? I had heard things had slowed down (with RFQs for clearly qualified researchers) during the last few years. What kind of timeline can one expect today? Also, I have heard Canadians are able to apply for EB1 without an H1B (I heard something crazy that it can be done while not in the country but also on TN). Can you…

It's really too early to tell regarding the standard being applied to EB1A petitions under the Biden Administration but based on our relatively limited anecdotal data, it still seems to be very high. And yes, Canadians in TN status can apply for green cards and green card applications can be pursued even if the individual is not in the country.

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

#154

Hi Peter. With regards to the O-1 Visa, my understanding is that it's an art more than a science. As a master of this art could you please provide resources on the O-1 visa and what are the must have? Eg. Number of newspaper articles mentioning the founder and relevance of the publication?

I think it's a combination although oftentimes very straightforward particularly for scientists. For entrepreneurs/founders, it's more complicated but as a very general rule, press that mentions the founder by name and his her work and really anything public, such as publications, speaking engagements, presentations, etc. help. USCIS essentially is looking foe third-party/objective validation of an applicant's "extraordinary abilities."

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

#155

I’ve heard that an option for Canadian workers pursuing US citizenship is to apply for a TN visa, then apply for consular processing from Canada while under TN visa status. Does this seem like a good option? I’ve worked remotely for a small company for a number of years and am a core team member. I suspect I fit one of the definitions for an L1 visa except that the US company doesn’t have a presence in Canada other t…

Hey there, I'm a Canadian living in the US on an L1 right now, it was a good fit for me. What my company did was set up a Canadian Entity (subsidy) and started paying me through that for a year before I made the trip. It worked out well.

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

#156

Hi Peter, I am thinking of applying EB1A, however still wondering about the competitiveness of this VISA and IEPP, e.g. processing time, fee, acceptance rate, etc. Would you mind providing some of your thought? Thank you.

It's hard to compare in the abstract but an EB1A is highly subjective and discretionary and the standard that's been applied the past few years has been very whereas the EIP seems much more like a check the box type of application. The uncertainty regarding the processing time of IEP applications is the biggest negative, I think.

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

#157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is but the TN occupations for those without a degree are very limited. Do you have any tertiary education and what do you do for the company? You also might qualify for an L-1 intracompany transferee visa once you have been employed by the Mexican company for one year.

The job I am doing now for this company is Software Engineer, I have a contract with them for a salary of ~120K usd per year but for that I need to be in the US, for now I have a contract with their Mexican office. For my specific case I have completed my college courses but my college is very slow and it still will take me around 1 year to do all the paperwork, I only have "carta de pasante" now but not the degree.…

In my experience, only the actual degree will be accepted.

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

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Peter Roberts: Very aggressive. Will give advice not really inline with the law. Wow that seems like an extraordinarily strong and serious professional accusation to make.

The review of the author's experience with Peter is a much stronger accusation, really. Did you read the post to the end?

Not answering emails strikes me as a weaker charge than professional misconduct, but the more important point is that no internet comment should count as a "strong" accusation, unless by "strong" you mean "intense". Such comments are always—basically without exception, in my experience—carefully crafted to leave out any detail that would reveal the other side of the story. We all know how dramatically different the story appears when such details trickle out later, as occasionally they do; and we all know how by then, the dramafest spotlight has usually moved on.

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

#159

Hi Peter. With regards to the O-1 Visa, my understanding is that it's an art more than a science. As a master of this art could you please provide resources on the O-1 visa and what are the must have? Eg. Number of newspaper articles mentioning the founder and relevance of the publication?

I think it's a combination although oftentimes very straightforward particularly for scientists. For entrepreneurs/founders, it's more complicated but as a very general rule, press that mentions the founder by name and his her work and really anything public, such as publications, speaking engagements, presentations, etc. help. USCIS essentially is looking foe third-party/objective validation of an applicant's "extra…

Thanks for answering . Let's say I get interviewed by the press, and there is a mention of my publication in a journal .

Is that invalidated because the assumption is that I provided it during the interview vs. them doing third party verification and getting to my publication independently?

If that's the case is it better to have 2 separate articles, one mentioning the publication and the other being the interview?

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

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a pervasive misunderstanding that someone in TN status cannot pursue a green card and must be in H-1B status to do. This is just not true.

For anyone curious like I was, T rade N AFTA Visa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TN_status

That's correct so when pursuing a green card while in TN status, the applicant should only travel internationally after commencing the green card process on an advance parole travel document (not on a TN) or get his or her green card through a process abroad, called immigrant visa processing. An applicant for a green card in TN status should never seek admission in TN status if he or she is the beneficiary of a pending or approved I-140 petition unless he or she is immigrant visa processing and only then after consulting with an immigration attorney to understand the issues, process, and risks of doing so.
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