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

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141–150 of 425 posts

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

#141

I am actually curious if you see any indication of people leaving/emigrating from the USA? Either serial entrepreneurs who have already had some success or those who feel there are sufficient opportunities with less hassle elsewhere.

Definitely, particularly Indian citizens because of the awful waits here to get a green card and because of the good opportunities and elsewhere to build a business.

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

#142

Preamble: As I understand it, it is permissible for a European who works for a US company to visit the US as a "business visitor" on an ESTA in order to visit the company, as long as the visit is not for "work". Various sources list activities that are deemed to be "business" and not "work", such as attending business meetings or attending a trade show, and entering on an ESTA for these purposes is thus acceptable. Q…

That still would cross the line even if that wasn't your plan when you entered.

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

#143
Why is everyone super interested in moving people from another country to the United States for work? It feels like in the Software world you should be able to work anywhere where there is internet. What advantages are there for someone to get a visa, and move to the United States aside from advantages to the company?

(Full disclosure, my mom is an immigrant, moving to the US obviously made sense at the time.)

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

#144

Getting a visa and staying on it can be emotionally difficult situation, do you know if there are therapists who specialize in helping with this area?

I'm sure this was a serious message, and hope it gets answered, but it really made me laugh out loud. Reminded me of the "I know the feel/I feel you" meme.

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

#145

This is incredibly helpful and generous of you. This is completely not specific to tech, but I have a friend who emigrated from Congo very young. As a young adult, he committed a felony. He served his time and was released last year. ICE did not pick him up from the prison, so he went home with his parents. He has a ruling date from an immigration judge this summer. He recently turned himself in to ICE after discover…

Of course the details matter but his time in the U.S. as a good citizen, his parents' presence here, and the situation in the Congo all should help him and a supportive letter from you also should help. But it's really impossible for me to comment because I don't know what his lawyer is or will be arguing.

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

#146

Do publications to my BigCo employer's engineering blog count towards an O-1 application? Or is it just Research Papers/citations to formal journals that matter? What are some other common ways to build a portfolio towards an O-1 application other than research citations or founding a startup? Thanks for this AMA!

They could come under comparable evidence or maybe even support original and significant contributions but they won't count as publications. The lowest hanging fruit so to speak are serving as a judge at hackathons or other competitive events, obtaining membership in an association that requires outstanding achievement for membership (such as, for example, IEEE membership, sometimes), and speaking at major conferences or events (under comparable evidence).

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

#147
post #137

This may sound troll post, but i assure you its not, I'm genuinely curious. Can someone currently in USA on h1b or F1 but didn't get selected into lottery go to Mexico, enter USA illegally like many others these days. Register himself/herself and get some sort of work authorization and start working in tech?

I don't see how unless seeking asylum.

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

#148

How transferable the open source experience from major projects (like being a core developer of the python language itself) in terms of O1 to provide the criteria of "reviewing other's work"?

Very transferable and also helpful for a green card application.

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

#150
I'm from New Zealand and have been spending my late 20s going around the UK and Canada on 2 year working holiday visas. My work experience is in marketing in senior IC/mid level management roles.

The impression I get from most countries visa options is that they're happy for people like me to come in for a few years, work, pay tax, and leave. I'm surprised that even on a temporary basis this kind of activity seems impossible in the US (unless you are quite specifically a student). I'm also aware that the US system is very complex, so are you aware of any visas that I should be looking at in the US which I just might not be able to find?

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