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

For the typical (strong) passport holder, one of the most reliable routes is to get employment at an offshore office of a US-based company with significant international operations (eg: Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc). Working for their London office should be tenable.

Once there, aim for a transfer to HQ or US-based office via the L1 visa (higher likelihood than other US employment visas). From there, with a UK passport you will have a much shorter/non-existent queue to apply for and be granted a green card (within 2-4 years of L1). From there, you have full employment (or non-employment!) flexibility within the US.

The whole timeline should be about 4-8 years from getting your UK-based US-company job, which isn't short or quick, but far more reliable than many other options.

If speed is the priority, you have to take some risks.

- You can shoot to get an H1B but it's the biggest lottery shitshow. Large employers are generally unwilling to spend much effort on this these days, they may try once and then rescind the offer if the application fails.

- You can try to start a business, raise US investment, and then qualify for IEP (see other thread here)

- You can find a US-based cofounder(s), start a US-based business, and then try (probably multiple times) to file an H1B for yourself as an employee of your business. You must hold less than some % of the business to be above board.

- Above, but try for an O1 instead of a H1. Lower chances, but more flexibility once you get it. Green card is an option immediately.

- You can be an impressive individual by filling the criteria and apply for an O1.

Short of qualifying for an O-1 visa, from a long-term standpoint, the best options are probably working for a company in the UK (ideally in a managerial capacity_ and then transferring on an L-1 visa to a related in the US (ideally also in a managerial position) or getting an H-1B visa but this is subject to a lottery and the odds continue to get worse.

Unfortunately there's really no way to expedite the marriage based green card process. What's frustrating is that if you were a nonimmigrant, she could come over right away on a dependent visa but that's not an option for spouses of permanent residents. We've had clients give up their green cards and switch to a nonimmigrant status because of this. Is there any chance that your fiance could qualify for her own work visa? Because once here, you could sponsor her for a green card, a much better process than going trough a US Consulate abroad.

Do I want others to benefit from my experience? Yes

Do I want to help fellow entrepreneurs avoid negative immigration consequences? Yes

Do I want Peter to lose his law license or get sanctioned? No. Even though I have specific proof which could get him at least sanctioned.

Do I care whether more or less business goes to Peter? Also no

His actions turned my life upside down. It took me years to fix things. Abandoning me after rejection was worse. He talked to me the day before rejection in a very positive discussion. After the rejection he didn't reply to any email nor returned any call. His paralegal kept responding to me.

I am not trying to be vindictive here.

I am just trying to help fellow entrepreneurs. I went with Peter based on his AMA. It ended up being a huge mistake in my case. Hope others can use my experience as a data point to do further due diligence!

It really depends on the basis of the deportation and whether the employee requires a waiver and would qualify for one.