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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
51–60 of 409 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#52Is a J-1 more likely to be approved than an H-1B? What criteria need to be met to get a J-1 visa approved? I know people working ordinary jobs with these fyi.
The J-1 is not supposed to be used to fill regular positions although the J-1 is sometimes abused by companies. The J-1 is supposed to be for training and career development and the J-1 trainee/intern is supposed to have the intent to return to his or her home country or last place of foreign residence. All that being said, it's generally pretty easy to get a J-1 visa.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#53Any advice for an US citizen expat who wants to found while living abroad? (Tokyo, Japan)
e.g. About whether to incorporate locally or in the U.S., and that sort of thing -- anything unique to an expat situation.
(This may be out of your wheelhouse, but I figured I'd ask.)
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#54Are there courses in law school that prepare you well for this specific kind of law work, or did you learn most of what you do through working with folks who had the necessary expertise that could then be passed along through training?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#55UK couple, both have engineering PhDs and 10+ years experience in engineering (dev and automotive), not rich but not poor. Is there a sensible path to US immigration that doesn’t leave them in the H1B bind or always on the verge of being deported?
In case Peter doesn't answer, my personal experience has been that you'll want a more stable work visa than an H1. Given your skills, one of you should be able to get one (and the other can come as a spouse and apply for a work permit with the right visa type). After a few years with that, you can apply for a green card (permanent resident status). I know people who have renewed those for decades without becoming citizens. Or, after a few years with the green card, you can apply for citizenship.
I know lots of Brits and Canadians in California who have also followed this path.
A lot of talk in here about H1B visas, and that's probably because they're the most plentiful. But, that's not the only type of visa that people should be thinking about.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#56I want to raise money from private investors (Angels only) no VCs. What is the easiest way to do that? I have a following/audience that I want to raise money from. Can I do this all through SAFEs? Can you please give me what's the best way to go on about this?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#57If an international student is on a stem opt extension (24 months) that just started, and does YC, is it possible for them to get a green card before the stem opt expires?
As a general rule, an F-1 student on OPT can apply for a green card. There are backlogs in all green card categories right now and this is really what determines the length of the process. So, assuming the backlogs don't change in any significant way, those in the highest category (EB1) from countries other than India or China could get their green card within 2 years but those in a lower category (EB2 or EB3) or from India or China should expect the process to take longer than 2 years.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#58Let's say I have a business/startup idea, funding is "fine" but I wish to just use Filipino nurses due to shortages - (or other skilled labor from the Philippines) -
Would it have to be solely through H1B? I've seen/witnessed that for certain types of jobs, e.g. teachers - alot of these barriers are moved.
What sort of obligations would a company have to first show that they tried but couldn't hire local people, or failed to relocate people to come?
Would this just be standard H1B process? There is no exact case here/situation, I'm just curious because - the nursing license is transferrable from the Philippines to many USA states (if not all?) and the Philippines is a country which is known to "export" it's people, mostly as "OFW" throughout East Asia and Middle East and as of late Canada.
I'm curious how this mechanism works - because it seems to be a win/win.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#59Hi Peter, just wanted to say thank you for navigating my complicated I-485 case and helping me get my green card!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#60What's the usual cost for a company to change someone's status from a TN visa to an EB3/EB2 greencard? How long does it usually take?