Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

81–90 of 425 posts

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

#81
Hey Peter.. many thanks! My husband is from Gibraltar and his spousal green card application has cleared USCIS and is with NVS.

Gibraltar has changed the name of the criminal record document it issues but NVS has not updated its system. So they keep rejecting his documents even though we included a letter from the police commissioner explaining the situation.

Any suggestions?

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

#82
post #7

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?

That's not so much an immigration question but be careful about incorporating and creating products while currently employed because your current employer might have a claim over your IP. If the question is when can I/should I incorporate without crossing any immigration line and when should I get a work authorization through this company, then the act of incorporating isn't the issue, the question is whether your ac…

Oh woah, sorry I didn’t see the word “immigration” in the title.

Thank you for the answer nonetheless

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

#83
Hi Peter,

Current Bio PhD student here. I would like to know more about ~ minimum requirements and costs for applying for an EB2 NIW. Bio papers take a long time to come out, so I would like to know whether I can still apply during the PhD while some of the papers are still in peer review or whether I would have to wait for a postdoc.

Thanks for doing this!

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

#84
Recently there was a thread about whether SaaS pricing information (enterprise plans behind Contact Us form) could be protected under NDA as a trade secret and whether a customer sharing how much they are paying for an enterprise plan would be in trouble or not.

Can you share your thoughts? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39980222

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

#85

Is it legal for a US employer to not promote US citizens that are currently part time to full time while hiring H1 Visa workers who do not do as good of a job?

Because the current I485 processing time is around 41 months or just shy of 4 years. That card gives you to opportunity to work and travel in/out of the country while waiting for your green card.

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

#87
Hey Peter, appreciate the offer!

What advice would you give to a talented teenager who is looking to get to the U.S. under a B1/B2 visa for a short period (under 3 months) to engage as a volunteer in activities for a non-profit in the US (the organisation covers living expenses for the duration of their stay) and has failed a few times to get a visa approved? what would you advise them to do? Is the visa type incorrect?

For context the activities would be in the likes of content creation, helping organise events and perhaps open source software development.

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

#88
Hey Peter, I'm a foreigner residing abroad with an american spouse of 10 years and we have kids holding American Passports. I'm currently working as a contractor for a company in the US, but I'm thinking of moving to the US and applying for the IR1 visa due to family reasons. I am the primary earner of the household.

What are my limitations in this case? Can I keep the contract I'm currently in while the visa process chugs along? What about proof of income?

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

#89

Hi Peter, thanks so much for doing this! Here is an interesting situation: I live in the US on a J2 visa with my wife being the J1 holder (PhD student at an ivy league). I (German national) founded a startup in my home country and against all my efforts, it's going quite well so far. I'm currently holding the CEO/CTO title. Assume that we'll raise the next funding round (seed) in the US (the market is just superior)…

It looks like you and your wife will have multiple green card paths available to you either through your wife or through you, such as the EB2 national interest waiver path or the EB1 extraordinary ability or outstanding researcher path. Shorter (non green card) paths include the O-1 for both of you and the H-1B for her, among others. The exact paths will require a discussion.
Post reply on HN