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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

#241

Post by realityfactchex »

casenmgreen wrote: post #210
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…

> 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. Why? It's their money and their business. What business do you or I have in forcing upon them what they can do? any more than they would have any business forcing themselves upon us?

> Why?

AFAICT, the parent answered that with "This whole system...puts U.S. citizens out of work." (Whether that's actually true or not, I'm not entirely certain, but the argument could definitely be made, and, in all likelihood, convincingly.)

> What business do you or I have in forcing upon them what they can do? any more than they would have any business forcing themselves upon us?

Presumably, it's people's business because the US is basically a nation governed by the people who see it as their responsibility to help ensure their basic values (peace, prosperity, life, freedom, justice, pursuit of happiness, etc.). So, when there's regulation that affects the people, it actually is their business.

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

#244

Post by bubblethink »

jefftk wrote: post #115
proberts wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't see how the value - from a benefit to the U.S. economy perspective - is tied to salary so that doesn't make sense to me as a line to draw. If the H-1B program were to be limited in any way (which is not something I necessarily agree with), one option is to list occupations that are in short supply each year and to prioritize those. Many countries do this.

> one option is to list occupations that are in short supply each year and to prioritize those That's a lot of what prioritizing slots by pay does: pay is higher for jobs with low supply relative to demand.

Not necessarily. You need farmers and scientists. Can't do a descending sort by salary.

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

#245

Post by null0pointer »

casenmgreen wrote: post #210
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…

> 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. Why? It's their money and their business. What business do you or I have in forcing upon them what they can do? any more than they would have any business forcing themselves upon us?

I'm not a US citizen, but you might find that most US citizens would prefer their government to prioritize the interests of US citizens over foreign nationals. Just as I would expect my home country's government to prioritize the interests of its citizens over foreigners.

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

#246

Post by null0pointer »

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…

> 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 is commonly stated but is not true. US companies are required to pay the "Prevailing Wage" [0] to H-1Bs, so they cannot use foreigners to undercut US citizens.

However, foreigners whose presence in the US is dependent on their employment are certainly more likely to be abused by employers

0: https://flag.dol.gov/programs/prevailingwages

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

#247

Post by closeparen »

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…

Depends what “can do the job” means, right? Elite tech companies try to hire the highest ability people they can. The US is not a large share of the world’s population, so even if it is massively overrepresented in top performers, the vast majority of top performers are still foreign born. Your position is that US companies should hire less impressive people because they are American. Maybe you can build a functioning search engine that way, so a 100% American-born engineering team can technically do the job, but does it end up being Google? Does it end up being competitive relative to what the immigrants who worked on it would have done in their own countries or a friendlier country?

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

#248

Post by maronato »

Abrecht wrote: post #187

I have a Greencard and would become eligible to apply for citizenship this month. I wonder what the opinions are here on the pros and cons of that. Generally, regarding most practical aspects of daily life, being permanent resident seems pretty much equivalent to that of an US citizen. Pros: - can vote - can get security clearance, potentially more income - even long periods abroad do not bear the risk of loosing pri…

> As a green card holder, you generally are required to file a U.S. income tax return and report worldwide income no matter where you live.[1] You’ll probably get a tax discount if you’re still paying taxes in your original country, but you must file US returns regardless.

If you haven’t been filing returns for the past 5 years, you should hire a CPA to get a professional opinion and possibly file late returns before applying for citizenship.

[1] https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/freq...

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

#249

Post by princevegeta89 »

proberts wrote: post #59
randoglando wrote: post #52

Any hope for Indian immigrants on H1-B to get a green card? There are over 1 million immigrants affected by this.

It's just an unmitigated disaster. The only non-laughable path is via the EB1 (or marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident). Many Indians who are working for U.S. companies in managerial positions will agree to work abroad for their employer for at least one year and this opens up the EB1C path.

It will likely never be mitigated. There is no economical reason why USCIS has to expedite moving that queue. There is an overwhelming influx of labor and immigrants from the same country in question that even a mass exodus, even if that were to ever happen, will mean nothing.

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

#250

Post by [deleted] »

Alupis wrote: post #222
Ylpertnodi wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 out…

[deleted]
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