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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

#341

Post by giobox »

rcme wrote: post #328
simonbarker87 wrote: post #42

UK 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?

You could find a US company with an office in the UK that will let you work there for a year before brining you to the US on an L1. You could also apply for an O1 if you’ve published a lot.

The L1 can be worse than the H1 bind in some ways - has effectively all of the same rules, with the primary and critical exception you cannot change employer in the US. On the L1, your Green Card is much more at the mercy of how nice your employer is, as you won't be able to change job if they start slow-walking it etc. The trade off is not being subject to the H1 cap of course.

You can also try to convince your employer to keep applying for an H1 for you while you are working on an L1 - if they agree that's usually a good sign the employer is going to work hard to complete your GC process, and isn't just using the L1 status to handcuff you to the company.

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

#342

Post by [deleted] »

websap wrote: post #218
tamimio wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The might did it out of desperation, but soon they will realize it was mostly a mistake due to low wages, high prices of goods and taxes, very limited opportunities and funding for small businesses, limited market, and obviously the harsh weather is the cherry on top.

I know many of my friends who used to work at Meta, Google, Amazon, etc. who have applied for this visa, or Canadian PR to move away from the US. People prefer having the emotional safety of not having to uproot their lives when they lose their job, over a few more bucks. People at senior levels in big tech are now earning 400k CAD. That should afford a nice life.

[deleted]

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

#343

Post by giobox »

websap wrote: post #218
tamimio wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The might did it out of desperation, but soon they will realize it was mostly a mistake due to low wages, high prices of goods and taxes, very limited opportunities and funding for small businesses, limited market, and obviously the harsh weather is the cherry on top.

I know many of my friends who used to work at Meta, Google, Amazon, etc. who have applied for this visa, or Canadian PR to move away from the US. People prefer having the emotional safety of not having to uproot their lives when they lose their job, over a few more bucks. People at senior levels in big tech are now earning 400k CAD. That should afford a nice life.

For the bulk of H1 holders (who I can assure you will not pick up 400k CAD jobs) it's not necessarily a switch to an easy life with great salaries once CoL is accounted for. I wouldn't want to make move to Vancouver as an example for $average unless I had serious cash for a family home etc - property prices are wild.

The jobs H1 holders will want don't tend to be in the "affordable" parts of Canada either.

The speed at which these Canadian offers were consumed speaks far more to the desperation/frustration of many average workers in the US stuck in Green Card wait lines - I doubt we are witnessing the flight of many from FAANG etc in majority of cases.

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

#344

Post by embwbam »

proberts wrote: post #281
embwbam wrote: post #142

My girlfriend is Canadian, and an AMGA Rock Guide (American Mountain Guide Association: the US certifying body). She would like to be able to work for gyms and guiding companies in the US. What's the best way to make that happen? (short of marriage... fool me once!) Should we hire an immigration attorney? Do you know if it would be easier for her to get permission to work in Europe?

You definitely should get fact-specific advice from an immigration attorney. Is she looking to live in the U.S. permanently or just work here when there's work?

Great, thanks!

She wants to work as a first priority, but staying in the US longer than 6 months would be convenient.

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

#345

Post by duccinator »

Hello Peter, thank you for the AMA. I am an Indian undergrad from a top uni, I plan to do a startup after graduating/maybe a year of work experience (I am currently working on it as a side project). What do you think are my options for getting a VISA quickly considering I do not plan to be employed for long and am unlikely to get in via O1 or E2.

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

#346

Post by winter_blue »

bubblethink wrote: post #318
winter_blue wrote: post #170

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…

1. There will be no increase in caps. AOS relief from Congress is also not likely. The executive can take some minor steps in making AOS a bit better depending on interest, but still unlikely. 2. Not happening. Nothing is getting through Congress anyway.

> AOS relief from Congress is also not likely

This isn’t right—it would be more accurate to say AOS relief from the GOP is not likely. Democrats nearly passed an amendment as part of the budget bill in 2021, which would have allowed AOS after a 2 year wait (exempt from EB caps). The bill was unfortunately blocked by the Parliamentarian: https://www.npr.org/2021/09/19/1038776731/in-a-blow-to-democ...

Democratic Senate leadership didn’t feel confident about the odds of overriding the Parliamentarian due to Sinema and Manchin, and that’s how that died.

If (a) Democrats regain the House, and (b) Democrats get a Senate majority w/o conservatives like Manchin — then it’s basically guaranteed that immigration reform will pass. Immigration reform is an extremely high priority for the Democratic Party.

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

#347

Post by morpheuskafka »

what_ever wrote: post #202
Maciek416 wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not an immigration lawyer. Something you should be aware of is that when applying for a green card, your status as a Canadian (whether permanent resident or citizen) or as a Brit (ditto) is completely irrelevant. The green card process sees your application solely through the lens of your birth country. The GC backlog for Chinese-born people is very lengthy. So lengthy that it tests the longevity of a visa or a…

Is Hong Kong (where GP is from) treated separately from the mainland China for GC country of birth purpose?

Yes, HK is treated as its own country for chargeability purposes, which AFAIK has never been subject to additional delays. Macau is treated as part of Portugal, so it will also never have limitations.

Both of those are specifically provided by Congress as exceptions to the general rule of charging to the current sovereign of the place of birth.

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

#348

Post by sacnoradhq »

(Late to the party, but I'm dropping this note in a bottle.)

You should meet Rajat Kuver. He taught and has a private practice now for complex family and work-related immigration cases in the SF Bay Area. Also a cool, decent guy.

https://www.kuver.com

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

#349

Post by neuralengine »

alsodumb wrote: post #234

Hi! Thanks for doing this! I am a PhD student planning to apply for EB-1 soon (that's the only path that could work for me due to my nationality). I am trying to understand what it takes for a successful EB-1 application and have a few questions: 1. From what I've seen, the application packet I will send would be hundreds of pages (with all the expected evidence). I am assuming the officer reviewing my application wo…

I am an F-1 doing an EB2-NIW so I have some background around these topics.

1. The bar is very high. You must show that you have "risen to the top of your field" through very substantive evidence. There is a list of admissible evidence on the USCIS website. An attorney can discuss whether this is worth pursuing from your credentials.

2. The USCIS values citations but it's not everything. In my petition, I relied on reference letters from experts in the field who have cited my work from across the country. Again, an attorney can help with this.

3. You must not have immigration intent at the start of your F-1 period. However, you can change your mind afterwards and you can file an I-140 after 90 days, which is what USCIS considers a "long enough" time period. But in doing so, you have demonstrated your intent to stay and it's highly recommended that you do not leave the country until you get your GC.

Good luck!

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

#350

Post by sacnoradhq »

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…

(CS/EE here who I guess won the womb lottery by being born in the States.) Holy crap, that's absurd and ill-informed on their part. There should be standards on the which accreditation of degrees to accept, not an exhaustive, under-maintained/-reviewed list of specific majors from specific institutions.

The US can only stay competitive by making it easy enough for global talent to want to come here and want to stay. In the past ~15 years, the US has really lost its edge on being the melting pot and welcoming immigrants in a nation built and populated by immigrants (except for native peoples).

PS: Not all CS/engineering degrees are created equal. There are some US institutions where their Computer Science (CS) Bachelor's degree is not accredited by a professional society while the Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Engineering, etc. are. I switched majors to earn one that was ABET accredited. For new international students, it's vital to check the International Mutual Recognition Agreement (IMRA) for their degree to be sure it's widely recognized by the rest of the world. The cliche is a Russian physicist who ends up teaching US high school biology because of trouble with degree portability.

https://amspub.abet.org/aps/name-search?searchType=program&k...

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