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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

#221

Post by proberts »

z1g1 wrote: post #138

I run a coffee meetup in Buffalo, NY. Around graduation season we get a lot of international students who come and are looking for jobs but are worried about visa issues. What are the resources about what their actual situation is, and how I can help connect them to smaller companies who might not know how to sponsor students?

I'd recommend inviting a local immigration attorney to speak to the group and/or be available to answer questions because there's no one great resource.

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

#222

Post by Alupis »

Ylpertnodi wrote: post #218
danielktdoranie wrote: post #204

Employers should have to prove they were not able to find a U.S. citizen who can do the job before they're allowed to hire someone that needs a work permit. Employers purposefully seek out non-U.S. citizens as they know they're happy to work for a lot less, especially if gets them into the U.S. This whole system encourages economic migrants, puts U.S. citizens out of work. As far as In am concerned you're actively wo…

>As far as In am concerned you're actively working against your fellow Americans helping foreigners abuse and exploit our immigration laws. Isnt it the employers exploiting the system?

People like Peter exist in part to help large organizations (including YC) exploit the current system. Peter seems focused on startups - but it's within the same vein.

The parent's sentiment is valid. There's no reason the US needs to import startups - there's plenty here in the US that don't get funding/support/attention they already deserve.

Instead of helping immigrate potential founders - I'd rather see YC do outreach in these other countries to empower/support founders within their home nation.

But, that might slightly diminish YC's chances of funding the next Facebook or something... so here we are.

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

#223

Post by proberts »

philip1209 wrote: post #117

Historically, startups have hired foreign "employees" as contractors to simplify paperwork. How are "false freelancer" laws, e.g. in Spain, affecting the market? Do you generally advise American early-stage startups startups to hire foreigners as contractors, or to immediately use a PEO?

We don't get involved in that. We get involved when a company has identified a foreign national whom it would like to employ in the U.S., whether the foreign national is inside the U.S. or outside, and try to develop an immigration solution. But if the foreign national is outside, we let U.S. employers know that the foreign national can be employed by the U.S. company without a U.S. work visa whether as an employee or contractor if the foreign national works while outside the U.S. By necessity, this is what many employers do because there's no U.S. work visa option available.

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

#224

Post by junar »

casenmgreen wrote: post #213
junar wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you were unmarried, you were either an immediate relative if under age 21, or family preference F1 if 21 or older. Because you married, you are now in the family preference F3 category, which has a much larger backlog and a much longer wait. You should have considered the immigration consequences before you got married. The only thing that can change your situation is if your marriage ends in death or divorce.…

> You should have considered the immigration consequences before you got married. I may be wrong, but I think immigration consequences were not something any reasonable, normal person would have had any reason to think of. We are normal people, living normal lives. As I say, I may be wrong, but this feels like blaming the victim.

US immigration is a strange game: folks who have good attention to detail can DIY and save a good chunk of money. Folks that don't should probably get an immigration lawyer to avoid potential disaster.

OP evidently made an incorrect assumption somewhere: perhaps they thought that they would stay in IR2/F1. Or perhaps they assumed that even if they change to F3, it would be as good as IR2/F1.

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

#225

Post by maskerinze »

eapotapov wrote: post #183
maskerinze wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My B1/B2 visa application has been in administrative processing (221g) for over 8 months. I assume the security checks are in place. Russian citizen, multiple US visits in 15 years. Last time it took 2 months to issue visa. If I seek to travel to the U.S. to create jobs (I own a US company), what visa option should I pursue to maximize my chances of getting approved?

I don't know if it's good or bad news for you, but at least you're pretty lucky to have reached this stage—the majority just get rejected. From what I know, some people have received their visas after 12-16 months of processing. It will most likely be valid for only one year, though. Eight months is pretty early to expect anything at this point. Here’s a Serbian-Russian expats visa Telegram group where there’s a US s…

Thanks for the link!

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

#226

Post by proberts »

aced123 wrote: post #161

Hi Peter, I finished my masters degree and I'm from Germany and might like to work in the US. Which Visa would be beat in thia case and any tips to work with US companies to make it happen? Much appreciated

Short of getting a green card, your ability to work in the U.S. will depend on getting a work visa which is based on a job offer from a U.S. employer. For those not from a country with its own visa, the options are the H-1B visa (but this is subject to an annual lottery so not anything that can be relied on), the O-1 visa for people of extraordinary ability (a high standard and a visa that most large companies won't bet on unless the candidate clearly qualifies for an O-1), the E-2 (this would be for German owned companies or subsidiaries in the U.S.), or L-1 (which requires one year of employment outside the U.S. with a related entity - think one year of employment with IBM Berlin and then a quick and easy transfer to IBM U.S.). Of all these, the L-1 is probably the easiest if the global company is large and is willing to transfer employees to the U.S. - and you're willing to work abroad for at least one year.

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

#228

Post by proberts »

junar wrote: post #184
doubleorseven wrote: post #151

Hello Peter, I married an american woman and me and my wife are not leaving in the states. We are in the process ofp registering the kids since we are preparing a plan B. We didn't got married in my country, but in Thailand. I was told that in order to get a spouse Visa, I need to start the process in Thailand. Is this true? Do i need to apply for everything in Thailand just because this is where we got married? Than…

I think you will get a better answer if you clarify your situation. * Are your kids US citizens? * In what country you do currently live? > I was told that in order to get a spouse Visa, I need to start the process in Thailand. Is this true? Do i need to apply for everything in Thailand just because this is where we got married? Thank you This is generally incorrect. For a spouse of a US citizen living abroad, you "s…

Correct. The location of the Consulate interview, the final step, is either country of residence or country of citizenship; it doesn't matter where the marriage occurred.

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

#229

Post by proberts »

Bobaso wrote: post #190

Hi, I'm European, working in Europe My wife has a J1 visa To apply for a J2 visa, I need be present and stay in USA for all the duration of the application? no way to come back to Europe in the meantime? How long would the processing take?

The best solution is just to apply for a J-2 visa at a U.S. Consulate rather than applying for J-2 change of status in the U.S. and then once you reenter the U.S. on your J-2 visa you can apply for a work card and travel while your work card application is pending without impacting this application.
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