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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

#221

Post by bootstrapper101 »

dang wrote: post #152
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…

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'…

I agree that this story is one sided. If I wanted a closure with Peter, it would be in some kind of legal setting. But I have moved on.

I just want to use this opportunity to let fellow entrepreneurs realize the importance of picking the right immigration legal help and to not letting things get messed up on the government front

Many people on this thread are thinking of getting some kind of immigration status in US but either are outside US or are within US on H1/L1.

In hindsight I wish I had never applied for a US Green Card. My immigration situation has complications largely because Peter's bad advice.

The worst part was when he stopped responding as soon as he realized that he has screwed up my situation beyond repair. I was in a particular vulnerable situation on the personal front at that time, so it made it even worse.

If you look at my past threads, I am in a much better situation now. As I said, my sole reason of these posts is to help others not get into a bad situation like I did.

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

#222

Post by nachteilig »

Thanks for doing this. I have a green card and have been out of the country for a few years doing a PhD. I’ve been getting reentry permits during that time. Due to corona and having a baby I haven’t been able to return to the US to apply for a new reentry permit and it’s now expired.

How should I handle that, especially when crossing the border? Have they relaxed the rules due to corona?

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

#223

Post by bootstrapper101 »

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…

Most people on this forum are asking about potentially EB-1, O1, E2, Entrepreneurship parole etc. These applications can get very complicated.

If it was a simple H1 application I think most solo practitioners would be fine.

I stand by my comment that you are better off with a mid size (4-10 lawyers) firm for more complicated cases.

Bigger firms are too bureaucratic and they want to make money with bulk H1 and L1 from bigger corps.

Single lawyer setups don't have strong processes and enough variety of expertise. Given that they are solo practitioners, there will be less checks and balances if the sole owner is giving bad or illegal advice.

In a 4-5 lawyer setup, everyone's skin is in the game. They are less likely to sell you snake oil.

In my case money was not an issue. Unfortunately I ended up choosing Peter because of YC's credibility ( he said that he is a YC advisor and their sole recommendation for immigration lawyers).

Many people here might wrongly believe that Peter is somehow a part of YC. So felt it might be a good idea to post my experience here!

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

#224

Post by danSimmons42 »

dang wrote: post #214
danSimmons42 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't realize until now that you are an immigrant, but this actually makes a lot of sense. You seem to consistently delete comments that show any hint of sympathy for the American worker. And more broadly speaking, you seem to moderate any comment or content that doesn't tow the liberal party line. Canadians can really be the worst sometimes, and it is shame that you were able to weasel your way into this position…

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure I don't "consistently delete comments that show any hint of sympathy for the American worker". You needn't take my word for it though: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... The significant word in your comment (besides "weasel", which was a good one) is "seem". These perceptions are notoriously, hopelessly, even absolutely conditioned by the political passions of t…

Thank you for the links. Is there a way to see what comments/users have been shadowbanned?

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

#225

Post by manicksurya »

Hey Peter,

I changed my employer last year while my spouses h4 visa was in process. Got to know last week that h4 visa was denied because it was referring to my old h1b which has become void due to switch.

Can you give some options to get uscisnprocess her visa soon. Is it possible to get other type of visas as we would like to start an online e commerce business.

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

#226

Post by ranjitcool1 »

Hey Peter, I changed job before the 180 day period after filing I-485. I haven’t done the porting ac21 yet. Now I have another company which wants to hire me. Is it ok to take that role and file ac21 which effectively might put me in safe spot to continue my 485? The jobs are all of the same role snd same field. Just don’t want to restart the entire process so wanting to check if this is ok for gc and citizenship?

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

#227

Post by ampersandy »

What sort of qualifications/awards/etc. are most compelling for O1 visas as a tech worker that would demonstrate you are at the "very top of your field"? What examples of work do you commonly see for people making these applications?

I'm curious what types of things a regular tech employee could do while employed to demonstrate that they'd meet these criteria.

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

#228

Post by _delirium »

proberts wrote: post #98
e-clinton wrote: post #93

Peter, our startup is incorporated in Delaware and based in NY. What’s your take on offering equity to foreign employees hired via remote.com or similar? Is it a legal headache?

Legally, you can employee foreign nationals based abroad as direct employees without US work authorization or SSNs but my clients always tell me that it's a complex and messy process both from a logistical and tax standpoint.

Just to put a number on that, my employer only allows foreign remote workers to be hired indirectly through a third-party staffing company, to avoid legal or tax issues associated with having direct employees in another country. The staffing company charges a fee of 40% (!) of the fully loaded compensation for this service. The fact that we're willing to pay that suggests to me that it isn't trivial to do in-house (or we're being very risk-averse, which is also possible).

On the plus side, this does mean that hiring a remote worker based in a foreign country can be solved with "just money", which is not true of U.S. immigration. If you want the problems to go away, you pay a staffing company 1.4x the compensation you want to pay the person, and the staffing company makes it happen.

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

#229

Post by digianarchist »

exhibitapp wrote: post #92
digianarchist wrote: post #7

How much on average does it cost, in legal fees, to process a TN visa and an EB-2 Green Card application? I've had two US employers now and both have promised to bring me down and then backed off because of costs (I'll be covering relocation).

If you are Canadian you don't really need a lawyer for a TN application. Just prepare your own supporting documents (including offer letter) and go to your nearest US land border. It's relatively straightforward, just be polite with the border agent, and if your application is valid you should have no problems. I've represented myself twice and it was a smooth process.

I did offer to do that but they insist on using Fragomen.
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