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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

#161

Post by proberts »

lomdn wrote: post #152

Hi, My questions are about L-1 visa. My employer is an American LLC, but I work as a freelancer on a projects basis and locate in Belarus. Is it possible to transfer me through L-1 visa? What documents do I need to confirm my previous employer-employee relationship if I acted as an individual entrepreneur during last 2 years? Does L visa allow my wife to work in the US legally? Thank you Mr. Roberts in advance

Unfortunately you need to be an employee of the foreign company (for at least one year) not a contractor/freelancer to qualify for an L-1 visa.

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

#162

Post by named-user »

humanfromearth wrote: post #150

Not a question, but a testimonial: the quality of work from Peter Roberts's firm has declined in the last couple of years. We switched to different attorney this year. We've had dozens of cases for different people where they made lots of mistakes in the applications. I'm not sure why, but I would stay away from them.

I would appreciate an answer.

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

#163

Post by yibg »

proberts wrote: post #36
moneywoes wrote: post #32

How popular is Canada becoming as an alternative to the US for both YC companies and employees? For reference, I believe the US takes in approx 2 million immigrants a year whereas Canada's target is at 400k. Additionally, the USA's population is 330 million compared to Canada's 38 million.

Unbelievably popular. Based on my own limited experience, we've seen a lot of entrepreneurs return to Canada and operate their US business from Canada and come to the US as needed or simply decide in the first instance to base their company in Canada rather than the US. This all might change, however, as the pandemic continues to get under control.

Are there any tax implications with this type of setup? e.g. equity granted in the US, but then perhaps eventually vest and get exercised in Canada.

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

#164

Post by anonymoushippo »

Are you seeing the backlog for prevailing wage determination / documentation as 9+ months, as indicated by the DOL (https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes)? For some visas there are other sources of documentation that are acceptable, but without a safe harbor provision. Curious whether you've seen things speeding up at all lately.

Thank you for taking questions!

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

#165

Post by visaamathrowawa »

Hi Peter. Thanks as always for the valuable info you provide in these AMAs. I'm an engineer on a TN visa who's building a hobby project on the side with the eventual goal of turning it into a startup. To what degree can I continue working on this project without violating the terms of my visa? My understanding is that I cannot be self-employed while on the TN, so am I basically free to do what I want with the project as long as I don't incorporate?

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

#166

Post by m0hit »

proberts wrote: post #117
gavnewalkar wrote: post #114

Hi Peter, I'm an Australian citizen in the US on an H1B, second round. The re-entry stamp on my passport expired Sep 2020, and I therefore cannot leave the country till I head to a consulate overseas to get the stamp re-issued. I have 2 questions: 1 - Given the pandemic, is there any way I can get the stamp locally without leaving US soil? 2 - If not, would you recommend I start the process to book an appointment ove…

There is an option to renew by mail which many Australians took advantage of during the pandemic.

Is this option unique to Australia, or apply globally?

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

#167

Post by noitpmeder »

named-user wrote: post #162
humanfromearth wrote: post #150

Not a question, but a testimonial: the quality of work from Peter Roberts's firm has declined in the last couple of years. We switched to different attorney this year. We've had dozens of cases for different people where they made lots of mistakes in the applications. I'm not sure why, but I would stay away from them.

I would appreciate an answer.

To what?

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

#168

Post by proberts »

visaamathrowawa wrote: post #165

Hi Peter. Thanks as always for the valuable info you provide in these AMAs. I'm an engineer on a TN visa who's building a hobby project on the side with the eventual goal of turning it into a startup. To what degree can I continue working on this project without violating the terms of my visa? My understanding is that I cannot be self-employed while on the TN, so am I basically free to do what I want with the project…

The lines are grey but really as long as you don't get compensated in any way you should be fine. It's less about incorporating the entity and more about getting compensated. Just make sure to consult with someone before you incorporate or make any move to leave your TN employment.

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

#169

Post by munk-a »

As a technically skilled American I found it was far easier and cheaper to get into Canada on a spousal visa than the other way around (by the time we decided to move to be together we already had a lot of proof of relationship established so the overseas spontaneous union seemed unlikely to fly). Has it become any easier to bring in foreign spouses in the past twenty years or does it remain easier to go the other way?

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

#170

Post by proberts »

anonymoushippo wrote: post #164

Are you seeing the backlog for prevailing wage determination / documentation as 9+ months, as indicated by the DOL ( https://flag.dol.gov/processingtimes )? For some visas there are other sources of documentation that are acceptable, but without a safe harbor provision. Curious whether you've seen things speeding up at all lately. Thank you for taking questions!

I'm still seeing about 6 months for both the PW determination and the PERM review but the processing times seem to be increasing slowly.
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