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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
251–260 of 318 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
Constitution and ground level dynamics of Argentina makes this false for their country. Even criminals entering as tourist on false passport have been granted citizenship in accordance with their constitution.
The OP's statement doesn't seem false. Argentina is simply giving these people permission, even though their standards are apparently quite lax.
Not really. It takes 2 years to meet citizenship criteria and until then you are illegal without a visa but it's unenforced at ground level and not even a crime. It's actually much easier for many to obtain citizenship by residing illegally without permission and then applying under constitutional provision which doesnt care their residency was illegal.
That is the method to obtain citizenship for most without means is you must act without permission and then run down the clock.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#253Hi Peter, Could you shed some light about what kind of profile could apply for (and get) an O1 visa? Specifically, if I have a tech company set up in the US that's pulling some decent revenue, is it worth applying for an O1? What other circumstances come into play against/in favor of this? I've seen a lot of advisors and "influencers" all over the web saying that it's "easy". I don't think that's the case because not…
I have gotten two O1's and then the greencard version (EB2). It isn't easy in the "not a lot of work" sense, it's easy in the "not random" sense. If you put in the work (that also helps your career), tick off the required boxes, and present the evidence correctly, you will get the visa. But yes an O1 takes a shitload of work.
Exactly the same situation here. Agree 100%.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#254Green card holder via marriage, decided after 10 years it's time to naturalize. Nothing exotic in the situation - still happily married, started a family, no legal issues, citizen of Western country etc. Is it worth retaining an immigration attorney for this? Most of my friends who have done this did it themselves and say it's a paper-filing exercise, simple test and an interview - so they think I'm being overly caut…
Not hard, lawyer not needed. If you want someone to hold your hand through it to allay some anxiety then feel free to hire a lawyer, but honestly they'd just be doing project management.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
The OP's statement doesn't seem false. Argentina is simply giving these people permission, even though their standards are apparently quite lax.
Not really. It takes 2 years to meet citizenship criteria and until then you are illegal without a visa but it's unenforced at ground level and not even a crime. It's actually much easier for many to obtain citizenship by residing illegally without permission and then applying under constitutional provision which doesnt care their residency was illegal. That is the method to obtain citizenship for most without means…
It sounds like they do have permission, it's just not "official". If the law isn't enforced at all, and breaking it isn't considered a crime and there's no punishment for simply ignoring it, that sounds like tacit approval to me.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not really. It takes 2 years to meet citizenship criteria and until then you are illegal without a visa but it's unenforced at ground level and not even a crime. It's actually much easier for many to obtain citizenship by residing illegally without permission and then applying under constitutional provision which doesnt care their residency was illegal. That is the method to obtain citizenship for most without means…
It sounds like they do have permission, it's just not "official". If the law isn't enforced at all, and breaking it isn't considered a crime and there's no punishment for simply ignoring it, that sounds like tacit approval to me.
That's one way you could interpret it. You might say the same thing applies to visa overstays in the US, which isn't a crime and essentially unenforced except at easily predictable attempts to elicit self snitching at inland border checkpoints.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#257You previously answered me that getting H1B without a degree is a thing, but one has to have their work history well documented. Could you please expand on what involves? What if the companies someone worked at no longer exist? Thanks
I went through this myself when joining a FAANG. A few of the companies I worked for don't exist, but I kept the original job offers, anything outlining the job duties, a post employment recommendation / HR letter and various things like that. The immigration lawyers had a different company that assessed the work experience to the standard of a university degree with a letter of recommendation.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#258Hi Peter,
Do you think for Founders, the US EB-5 Green Card Visa can be a good option? (If cost is not a problem)
A recent update: The Visa availability figures for fiscal year 2024 have just been released, and the news couldn’t be better for EB-5 investors – particularly those hailing from China and India. Rather than the typical 10,000 annual EB-5 Visa quota, the allocation for 2024 has surged to 22,233 EB-5 Visas.
More info: https://www.eb5united.com/updates/2023/11/additional-eb-5-vi...
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like they do have permission, it's just not "official". If the law isn't enforced at all, and breaking it isn't considered a crime and there's no punishment for simply ignoring it, that sounds like tacit approval to me.
That's one way you could interpret it. You might say the same thing applies to visa overstays in the US, which isn't a crime and essentially unenforced except at easily predictable attempts to elicit self snitching at inland border checkpoints.
Huh? Overstaying a visa in the US isn't a crime AFAIK, but they can still detain you and deport you if you're caught. "Not a crime" just means they won't sentence you to prison for an offense, just like many other offenses are not crimes, but instead are torts or violations (like parking tickets): those things are still enforced, and you will (or may) suffer some punishment for them. When you said that Argentina doesn't enforce its law, I took you at your word, that it literally doesn't enforce the law at all.
The US immigration authorities do occasionally do raids on employers that are known to employ lots of illegal immigrants (which can be people who simply walked over the border, or people who overstayed a visa). It's not unenforced. For people in higher socioeconomic strata that blend into the population better, it's not that well enforced probably because it's just hard to find them, and local law enforcement doesn't deal with it.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's one way you could interpret it. You might say the same thing applies to visa overstays in the US, which isn't a crime and essentially unenforced except at easily predictable attempts to elicit self snitching at inland border checkpoints.
Huh? Overstaying a visa in the US isn't a crime AFAIK, but they can still detain you and deport you if you're caught. "Not a crime" just means they won't sentence you to prison for an offense, just like many other offenses are not crimes, but instead are torts or violations (like parking tickets): those things are still enforced, and you will (or may) suffer some punishment for them. When you said that Argentina does…
I knew you'd understand these nuances a lot faster once presented with an American imperfect analogue. The truth as I gather is somewhere in between -- deportation extremely rare but possible especially in case of serious crime.