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

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201–210 of 318 posts

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

#201
Are there good ways for US companies to host international grad students in their internship programs? How hard is it for them?

Specifically I had a conversation with a few administrators at universities in Sweden and this question came up on behalf of their students.

Thanks for regularly showing up here. I went EB2NIW some years ago and still get ptsd reading these threads. Hang in there everyone struggling with immigration.

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

#202
1. Do you foresee significant changes in immigration policy in the next 20 years? With many working under temporary status for as much as a decade, seems more relevant than ever to predict the future. Which, I'm sure, you hate to do. But this is for fun.

2. In your opinion, is there a way to live under the regime that 10-17m illegal aliens in the US seemingly do every day, but to be an entrepreneur? Is it really going to be true that such status limits you to living in poverty, or even to the middle class? As most tech entrepreneurs fail, is it intellectually honest to say that illegal status prohibits you from being a successful entrepreneur?

3. Why is the tech industry more compliant than other industries regarding work authorization, immigration status & residency status issues? Or is it not? In your opinion, is it behind the trend compared to other industries, or ahead? In other industries, like healthcare, agriculture, education and hospitality, rules seem more lax provided the roles are vaguely lower class, but I am generalizing. What do you think is special about tech besides pay?

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

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the expert here, but AOS only applies when you're currently in the US. Has this person been in the US for over a decade without a valid status?

Currently in the US. Reentered US again after visa overstay and maintained valid status since then. Current employee is planning to apply for H-1B next year. Although prior overstay length is < 180 days - the worry is still there.

There are a lot of "forgiveness rules" but they are tricky. I think you need to consult a lawyer to assess the exact situation. I hope this works out!

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

#204
post #163

I have a lot of friends at work that have H1B visas. They try to get green cards but the process drags out often for more than a decade. Why is it so hard for people who want to be here, and who have well paying jobs, to get green cards?

I recall hearing that the wait time for green card approval depends on the home country of the applicant. There were a lot of applicants from India when I talked with people who were getting a green card. So the wait for an Indian applicant was much longer than, say, an applicant from Canada. Not sure what the wait times are now, but I doubt the USA has caught up on the Indian wait list, esp. during/after the pandemi…

It’s by country of birth. So that applicant with the long wait could be from Canada if they were born in India.

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

#205
post #148

What are the main things that USCIS looks at when deciding to approve an LPR application? Do they really require affidavits? How long are applications taking at the moment? And for advanced parole too?

Do you mean marriage-based green card applications? These are super easy and fast now (less than 6 months in many cases) and don't require a lot of evidence of the bona fides of the marriage. A few affidavits can be helpful but they're absolutely not required, particularly if the other evidence is solid.

I meant for work-based ones. E.g. employer sponsored (by public university) ... But yes, with additional spouse dependent. (Both non-citizens, with H1B and H4 respectively)

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

#206
post #77

Should my wife and I get an attorney? She has been waiting almost 15 months for GC, marriage-based. We sent in everything all at once, work permit/travel/adjustment of status. We're thinking about even mailing Katy Porter. She's from Canada, we provided plenty of proof, we did everything right and still nothing! She's desperate to just start working..as it is right now she's pretty bored just playing video games at h…

You should see if you can put in a request with USCIS (called a Service Request) and also contact your local federal Representative and ask this person to make an inquiry with USCIS (something that is not a big ask and is done all the time and sometimes seems to make a big difference).

Thanks for the response! Unfortunately we've submitted Service Requests for each of our forms as they are past processing times. Each Service Request was met with a response that boils down to "We know. Wait longer.". We've even submitted Service Requests for a couple Service Requests that went beyond processing times for responses!!

Our local fed rep in socal would probably be Katy Porter right?

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

#207
post #201

Are there good ways for US companies to host international grad students in their internship programs? How hard is it for them? Specifically I had a conversation with a few administrators at universities in Sweden and this question came up on behalf of their students. Thanks for regularly showing up here. I went EB2NIW some years ago and still get ptsd reading these threads. Hang in there everyone struggling with imm…

“Hard” meaning specifically how many lawyer/HR hours, how long are the timelines, and are there other significant risks?

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

#208
post #147

When a USA citizen meets abroad and wants to marry a non-USA citizen, with the intention of the non-USA citizen pursuing permanent residence in the USA, does it have any effect on the process which country they get married in? I've heard this and similar concerns from employees of multinationals who meet someone while at an overseas branch. They want to do what they can to avoid snags.

I was in this boat back in 2017, and a lawyer working with my FAANG company advised me off the record that our best bet was to visit the USA, and suddenly have a surge of loving feelings and spontaneously get married in a tiny impromptu ceremony. Then apply for a change of status while in the USA. I probably should have listened to her.. I did it the "right" way since I wanted to quit that job anyway. Got married abr…

No you did it the right way. I lived in Canada for 10 years, my partner is Canadian, and we debated what to do when we moved down from Canada to the US. We got an attorney to help advise us.

It is very much a problem if your partner is deemed to have entered the US under false pretenses. That is, if they enter the US on a tourist visa and then you get married and they apply for a change of status, immigration can look askance at your spouse -- "The original tourist visa was a lie, you always intended to get married and change status, they are now barred from the US for 10 years." It might be faster, but you don't want to run that risk, even if the probability of that happening is low.

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

#209
post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall hearing that the wait time for green card approval depends on the home country of the applicant. There were a lot of applicants from India when I talked with people who were getting a green card. So the wait for an Indian applicant was much longer than, say, an applicant from Canada. Not sure what the wait times are now, but I doubt the USA has caught up on the Indian wait list, esp. during/after the pandemi…

It’s by country of birth. So that applicant with the long wait could be from Canada if they were born in India.

Looks like there's a small backlog for Mexico/Philippines, large backlog for China and even larger for India-born employment-based applicants.

see https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v... and click on the latest bulletin. You'll probably want to look at the employment-based green card waiting list.

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

#210
post #163

I have a lot of friends at work that have H1B visas. They try to get green cards but the process drags out often for more than a decade. Why is it so hard for people who want to be here, and who have well paying jobs, to get green cards?

Because people with high paying jobs have political power as a class and it is in our interest to make importing foreign competition difficult.

People with low paying jobs do not have political power and are unable to set up legal protection for themselves.

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