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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 someotherperson »

A friend entered the US on an ESTA last year. They ended up getting married to their US spouse while in the US, but had no intention of staying in the US and left on day 88 or so.

Does this hinder their chances of re-entering the US on an ESTA for short periods (i.e, in this case, visiting their in-laws)? As I understand it, you're not supposed to get married while on an ESTA, but the way the law reads is that you're not supposed to get married and try to convert it into a residence visa. Which isn't what happened here.

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

#163

Post by still-old »

proberts wrote: post #26
photonbeam wrote: post #10

Given recent industry layoffs, is there less demand for H1B visas? Ie, is it a better time for applicants to get one through?

The H-1B lottery this year was riddled with fraud - so much so that USCIS will be conducting a second lottery soon - but it appears that there was no reduction in the numbers despite layoffs in certain industries.

Doesn't this essentially prove that these are mostly not high skill positions that can't be filled but are actually just a way to get high skill labor at below market rates?

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

#164

Post by Maciek416 »

Gunnerhead wrote: post #87

In June 2021 I tried entering the United States with a TN packet as an Engineer with a Bachelor of Computer Science. However, the officer denied me the TN status saying I need an Engineering, not Computer Science degree, to qualify for the Engineer TN status. Given the denial, in July 2021 the hiring company then applied through USCIS premium processing again for TN Engineer with my Computer Science degree and I was…

Much like the other commenter, I learned to never ever do any of this stuff (ordinary travel or renewals) via land crossings. You can have a major trajectory change to your life on the whims of a border guard who is just having a bad day even if all of your ducks are lined up and perfectly documented by a large multinational. Bend over backwards to avoid land crossings until you can secure yourself a greencard.

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

#166

Post by JulesRosser »

itronitron wrote: post #47

Regarding remote work between Europe and the USA, is there an easy path for US based companies to hire a US citizen or an EU citizen to work remotely from an EU residence?

The US company I work for is remote first and we hire all around the world.

Not sure how helpful this is, but our method is that if we have a registered company in their country they will be hired as a typical employee. Anyone hired in a country we don't have a corporate presence in is hired as a contractor.

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

#167

Post by returningfory2 »

HDMI_Cable wrote: post #122
proberts wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Significant changes. While immigration laws rarely change, the way they are interpreted and applied can change significantly from administration to administration. We saw that when Trump became President and again when Biden became President.

What changes specifically? I'm lucky in that I am American, and honestly have never had to deal with immigration, so know nothing about it. Do immigration procedures become harder/easier to navigate? Are quotas (if there are quotas) reduced?

I'll give you some concrete examples:

- During the Trump administration, the number of RFEs (request for evidence, often step 1 of denying a petition) for H-1B petitions increased significantly. I'm reading that 40% of H1Bs were RFEd in fiscal year 2019 under Trump, versus 16% under Biden in 2021 [1]. I was personally affected by this: both of my H-1B petitions were RFE'd under Trump (I have a math PhD from a top 20 American university and am working in software). These RFEs are incredibly stressful, time consuming and costly for companies.

- During the Trump administration, USCIS started requiring almost all employment-based green card applicants to attend an interview. This significantly slows down the green card application process because USCIS is bottlenecked on officers to perform interviews. Biden reverted this change.

- During FY2022, due to the dynamics of US immigration law, nearly double the number of employment-based green cards were available than usual (265k versus 140k normally). Under Biden USCIS basically had a task force actively dedicated to ensuring all of these green cards were used [2]. I think we can pretty sure that under Trump, USCIS would have had a business-as-usual attitude, not deployed any special measures, and would only have issued around the regular quota of visas.

[1] https://resources.envoyglobal.com/global-immigration-compass.... [2] https://www.uscis.gov/archive/fiscal-year-2022-employment-ba...

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

#168

Post by contingencies »

Hi Peter. We spoke by phone last year. I am shifting a venture from China to the US as an Aussie. While things are nominally easy for me, and you raised the interesting point that spouses are now in a better situation under the Aussie category, I note we are still waiting for a visa interview for my family (Sydney). We intend to complete financing in the US before December then exit and re-enter on new visas with the self-sponsorship route and a good deal of investment in the bank, at which point the various paperwork you advised as supporting (eg. real estate) should be trivial. My question to you is this: how do we speed up the next visa changeover? We will only have 90 days up front. After which, a plethora of initial setup work (equipment commissioning, etc.) needs to occur demanding of presence. I can't afford to sit around this long waiting for bureaucrats again and I don't want to be separated from my family. Can we apply while actually in the US on another visa? Can we iteratively amend an application with new data (eg. real estate, investment agreements, etc.) after it is lodged as this information settles? Or perhaps, is there any way to apply with a business case for expedited processing at US consulates?

We are also now looking to bring in a few Europeans with exceptional professional skills in allied areas. What do we need to look out for in doing this and which visa category is the most stable for their application? As a startup are we limited in how many people we bring in? Right now there are at least two. I recall in the past I was on some sort of management-for-new-US-subsidiary type visa (~2010) and this was preferential to the H1 types. Cheers.

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

#169

Post by throwaway63820 »

My startup is taking off, but I'm on H1-B, about to get my perm and apply for I-140.

I haven't incorporated, haven't setup an LLC, have accepted payments on my girlfriend's sole proprietorship. What can I do here that doesn't screw me over when it comes time for my interview?

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

#170

Post by winter_blue »

What do you think are the odds of any sort of legal[1][2] immigration reform passing Congress in the near future?

[1] Whether that's raising the EB cap (or exempting one from the EB limit & allowing AOS after 2 years of waiting).

[2] Delegating legal immigration control partially to the states (e.g. states being able to issue EB IVs or work NIVs beyond federal caps), since something like that might be more palatable to some parts of the Republican party, although I'm not sure if it'll be enough to overcome the general xenophobia of the GOP.

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