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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

#181

Post by returningfory2 »

proberts wrote: post #179
returningfory2 wrote: post #161

My EB-2 PERM was approved last week. My employer is giving me the choice between concurrent filing of the I-140 (with PP) and I-485, or filing the I-140 with PP and then filing the I-485 upon approval. Is there any reason not to file concurrently? I'm surprised my employer is giving me the choice because I can't think of a good reason to file separately given that I have no upcoming travel plans.

Unless there's a problem with your qualifications (which I'm sure not), there's really no reason to file them separately and delay the filing of your I-485.

Thank you!

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

#183

Post by hluska »

joering2 wrote: post #127
chrisseaton wrote: post #115

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.

If true he should be praised for coming forward. I had six immigration lawyers that were totally screwing things up. At some point when doing first time meetup of a new lawyer I wanted to hire, I embarrassed him knowing more about basic Immigration laws that he did! Majority of lawyers really dont care. They run a caging operation. If you call their office and you are not client, you will speak with head of the food…

If true, there are many better ways to deal with this than play forum hero. Law is a regulated profession and comments like this are almost invariably complete fucking bullshit.

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

#184

Post by anon3485734587 »

poorlydefined wrote: post #102

Hey Peter! I’m considering a move to the US with my current employer in the near/far future. What’s the best way to do so if I want to keep the option of getting permanent residency open? I’m Australian so I’m qualified for an E-3 visa, but as I understand it, it’s only for non immigration intent so applying for any sort of permanent residency would be grounds for it to be revoked. (for context, company is a 1000+ he…

IANAL. I have a 3 year BSc from Australia. This was very much the norm when I studied; I think 4 year degrees are more common now.

For my visa, my employers' lawyer paid an accredited firm to examine my transcript, confirm it was equivalent to a 4 year US bachelors, and put that in a letter which was part of my application. Interview was at the consulate in Australia, no problems.

Later in life when I was working in the US and applied for a green card, my employers' (junior) lawyers took the view that the 3-year wouldn't suffice - the rules are either different, or being differently interpreted by a separate arm of the US government.

I had 5+ years of relevant work experience before my current company/role, which is considered just as good for the green card process, so we relied on that. Because that was a clearcut option, I didn't fully explore whether good lawyering could make the 3-year degree, and/or my several years of experience for my current employer in an evolving role, work.

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

#186

Post by midnightclubbed »

hluska wrote: post #180
bootstrapper101 wrote: post #113

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…

Let’s see if I understand this. Correct me if I’m wrong! There’s a highly trained and qualified professional willing to take six hours out of their Saturday to help, for free. You chose this time to be an asshole. There are two sides to every story but at this point, if you told me the sky was blue, I’d ask for a citation. Edit - Hey Peter, these AMAs always help me one hell of a lot. You’re loved. I hope you hear th…

Yes it is great that Peter gives his time here but don't imagine this is for charity. Being on a forum like this (with hundreds of potential clients) is a great way to grow his business.

I had the misfortune of using a bad immigration lawyer (along with a group of colleagues) to do a company sponsored Green Card application. The lawyer wasted 2 years through incorrect paperwork and poor communication before we fired them and restarted from scratch with different (and great) lawyer. When you are working on a 6 year H1B visa the clock is constantly ticking to get Green Card paperwork correctly filed and through the system.

I have no comment on Peter's professional abilities or how he runs his company, but calling someone who had a bad experience an a*hole is very harsh. The poster took the time to issue a warning based on their personal experience, immigration issues can totally derail someones life so having the right lawyer is critical.

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

#188

Post by WrtCdEvrydy »

proberts wrote: post #75
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #3

I saw your AMA in Reddit years ago, what can the software engineering divisions do to help you? I had a friend who realized that the lawyers didn't really have tooling that was perfectly sized.

Lawyers - myself included - are notoriously bad at using technology and just changing the way that they do things so there's no question that there's opportunity here.

Well, for obvious reasons, the average developer is notoriously bad at knowing the law.

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

#189

Post by midnightclubbed »

ianhawes wrote: post #138
bootstrapper101 wrote: post #113

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…

I work in the immigration industry. Not as a lawyer, but I own a business that is used extensively by both large and small immigration firms (ImmiTranslate). I will say that some of your characterizations are accurate, and others are not. I've not worked with Peter before so I won't comment on him specifically, but your assertions about law vs. clerical work is spot on. I will add my own input as well. Immigration at…

This is a great insight. Thank you!

Most of the immigration process is simple paperwork as far as I can tell. Certainly simpler than filing US taxes. But as you note it is all in the details, and a good lawyer will know how to ensure applications are successful (and will tell you if you are unlikely to be successful).

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