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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

#51
post #48

US citizen here. I have a special situation which I think will be only of interest to me... My wife (a green card holder) and I have moved abroad and her travel document is expiring soon (in July). We have no returned to the US in the past 3 years, and were not planning to visit only for the purpose of resetting the counter.. We are planning to actually fly into the US for a vacation right after the expiry date... wh…

[deleted]

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

#53

Hi Peter, How easy is it to get an O1-A if someone meets 4 out of 8 criteria for extraordinary abilities but wants to do a single-member LLC and do some consulting to find the problem they would like to build a startup for?

That could work. There also might be other visa options.

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

#54

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?

As long as the company has the ability to pay the offered green card wage, green card sponsorship by small companies usually works. The main issues are unrelated to a company's size.

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

#55

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 could always look at an E2 visa if you don't want to invest $800,000 in an EB-5 project; however, investment amounts vary from $150-400,000. The range is based on what USCIS would consider a "significant investment" based on your country of citizenship. E2s don't lead to a green card or US citizenship, but you may find a USC/PR spouse or another path while saving some capital.

Either E2 or EB-5 will have significant fees associated with them. Typical EB5 "administration/syndication" fees will run $80,000. You may be able to reduce this by going to the EB-5 Project directly and negotiating. Most of the time, 90% of that fee is used to pay a foreign agent(aka finder) for bringing the investor

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

#56

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 could always look at an E2 visa if you don't want to invest $800,000 in an EB-5 project; however, investment amounts vary from $150-400,000. The range is based on what USCIS would consider a "significant investment" based on your country of citizenship. E2s don't lead to a green card or US citizenship, but you may find a USC/PR spouse or another path while saving some capital. Either E2 or EB-5 will have signific…

Oh wait, China doesn't have a E2 treaty. You may still be able to find a way via Grenada but I am not sure that tactic still works.

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

#57
A friend of mine is on a TN status (Canadian) and has a lot of side-projects he’d love to monetize but feels like he can’t due to his status. What options does he have to make money off of his side projects barring returning to Canada?

Thanks in advance!

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

#58

Hi Peter, I have a young friend in Russia who is a computer / programming prodigy. I'm trying to help him get out of Russia by getting a tech job in any other country. He's only 18 atm though. Can you give me any advice? I'm based in Ireland so companies I've worked for + my friends work for would mainly be Irish. I have good contacts in USA and also Germany though. I want to know... 1. If a company realizes he would…

His age is not a bar. Broadly speaking, there are visas available to really bright and talented young people (such as the O-1). The issue is that Russian citizens are typically experiencing significant delays now when they take the final step of applying for a visa at a U.S. Consulate while background/security checks are done.

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

#59
Hi Peter, what does a prospective founder on h1 need to know about starting up with YC? I’m really interested in becoming a founder however i currently work a full time job so not sure how much time I can legally dedicate based on h1. I also worry about the job safety aspect especially given my h1 (i do have an approved I140 if that matters). What would be the path to more flexibility that you have seen founders take?

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

#60

A friend of mine is on a TN status (Canadian) and has a lot of side-projects he’d love to monetize but feels like he can’t due to his status. What options does he have to make money off of his side projects barring returning to Canada? Thanks in advance!

He could change his TN to a Management Consultant but that would mean entering into a consulting agreement with his current employer (assuming that he also wants to keep this employment).
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