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

#1

Post by proberts » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 3:34 PM UTC

I'll be here all day (with a few breaks). As usual, there are many possible topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with or interested in. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons since I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll do the same. Thank you!

Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.

Edit: Good evening. I'm signing off now. I tried to get through most of the questions but I know that I haven't answered them all and for that, I am very sorry. Please feel free to email me directly (email in profile) if you have any questions. Thank you for participating in this AMA. The questions and comments were great and as always, I learned a lot myself.

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

#2

Post by jacksoncloud » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:02 PM UTC

Hello Peter, I have a friend coming from China and pursuing bachelor degree in America under F1 visa. What are some options available that can get green card as soon as possible other than the traditional route f1-> h1b-> eb3 ?

Is self-sponsorship an option?

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

#3

Post by jacksoncloud » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:07 PM UTC

jacksoncloud wrote: post #2

Hello Peter, I have a friend coming from China and pursuing bachelor degree in America under F1 visa. What are some options available that can get green card as soon as possible other than the traditional route f1-> h1b-> eb3 ? Is self-sponsorship an option?

Is there any limitation or challenge in sponsoring greencard by very small business and the risk of getting rejected?

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

#4

Post by Exorust » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:08 PM UTC

Hey Peter, How can F1 students start their own startup and how does that affect their visa? What needs to be done later as well?

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

#5

Post by clbrmbr » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:08 PM UTC

Can you comment on different models for international employees of a US startup who split time between their home country and USA?

It seems clear that they could come a few weeks a year to USA for training, meetings, etc. but coming for a year+ to do their work in USA clearly requires work authorization.

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

#6

Post by frankfrank13 » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:12 PM UTC

Hey Peter, whats your checklist or just intuition for when a company is ready to support H1B visas? Is there some clear point between seed-round/current-YC-batch and public-mega-corp?

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

#7

Post by dartos » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:15 PM UTC

At what point should I make a legal entity for my business?

I’m working on a niche tool and have some interesting and I’m just starting to bring on the first users.

At what point should I incorporate?

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

#8

Post by proberts » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:16 PM UTC

clbrmbr wrote: post #5

Can you comment on different models for international employees of a US startup who split time between their home country and USA? It seems clear that they could come a few weeks a year to USA for training, meetings, etc. but coming for a year+ to do their work in USA clearly requires work authorization.

The frequency and duration of the trips can raise questions but in and of themselves aren't issues; what matters is the purpose of the trips, regardless of the duration; they must be limited to non-work/non-hands-on activities and the primary beneficiary of those activities must be entities or individuals outside the U.S. So it's possible to spend a lot of time in the U.S. as a visitor without crossing any line. But it's still important to be mindful of later repercussions even if no line is crossed; that is, if and when applying for a work visa, for example, an applicant might be questioned aggressively by a consular officer about the applicant's time in the U.S. as a visitor and might simply not believe that the applicant wasn't working if the applicant spent a lot of time in the U.S.

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

#9

Post by skuenzli » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:17 PM UTC

Do you have any suggestions for finding firm or attorney that can help with immigration of health care workers, specifically nurses?

I have a friend searching for such a firm now and of the ~15 firms contacted none had any experience with health care immigration.

They have decades of experience with IT services and the path to H1-B for IT.

If no suggestions, can you share thoughts on why healthcare immigration attorney help seems to be difficult to find?

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

#10

Post by d3vmax » Fri, Apr 12, 2024, 4:18 PM UTC

jacksoncloud wrote: post #2

Hello Peter, I have a friend coming from China and pursuing bachelor degree in America under F1 visa. What are some options available that can get green card as soon as possible other than the traditional route f1-> h1b-> eb3 ? Is self-sponsorship an option?

You can look into EB-5 Visa if you want to self-sponsor yourself and have the monies: https://www.eb5united.com/eb5-visa/

With Priority Processing in Rural EB-5 Projects, seeing I-526E Approvals within 1-13 months: https://www.eb5united.com/updates/2024/02/eb5-green-card-in-...