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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

#281

Post by mindwork »

proberts wrote: post #157
mindwork wrote: post #155

Hi Peter, Few months ago I've applied for F2A visa for my spouse from Russia. Official sources state processing times in California at 4 years plus. I am 2 years away from obtaining a citizenship in US by which I then can do K1. Would you advice to convert F2A to K1 visa in the future? How do I do that? Is there a way to speed up the process at all?

The conversion is from an F2A to an immediate relative green card application. This will be the fastest path. You would want to notify the U.S. Consulate in Russia when you become a U.S. citizen. The K-1 is for fiances of U.S. citizens, not spouses of U.S. citizens. Has the I-130 already been approved?

I-130 has not been approved yet. Only 3 months passed since we applied.

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

#283

Post by bjornnn »

fsndz wrote: post #203
OrigamiPastrami wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems pretty obvious the H-1B system hurt him.

If it's the H1B, why attack another person so viciously instead of attacking the system? By the way, it's the same story for immigrants almost everywhere. (African immigrant in Europe here—it's even tougher: companies literally expect you to be so grateful they gave you a job, as if you're not helping them generate profit and they did some kind of charity.) Conveniently, it's easier if you move from the U.S./EU to So…

Was it really a vicious attack? He wanted to come here and tell me about his law firm and what he does and asks me what I think about it, so I gave him exactly what he asked for.

And I'm not an immigrant, I was born in the US and have lived here my entire life and H-1B has no effect on me personally at all. But I do work for a living and I have enough common sense to understand that one group of workers being exploited is the same as all workers being exploited.

The problem is not nation states or borders - people were being enslaved and exploited and abused by powerful autocrats long before there were ever any nations or borders, it's just human nature. The purpose of "the system" is to protect human society from its own destructive self-serving irrational urges, and this system is not some outside force that we can point the finger at, we are the system and everything we say and do and think and believe determines what kind of system it is.

I could argue that I am attacking the system, by not biting my tongue when confronted by the landed gentry, rather than playing along with my culture's indoctrinated tendency to roll out the red carpet and start kissing ass whenever a successful millionaire enters the room.

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

#284

Post by tehlike »

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…

Main pro: You are an American.

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

#286

Post by dcreater »

casenmgreen wrote: post #219
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.

I had two H1-Bs. The process is completely divorced from reality. The questions and requirements are meaningless. To my eye, there is zero rationality in the process. As far as I can see, the and the only effect of the visa programme is that there is a limited number of visas, and so this acts to prevent businesses from hiring the people they want to hire, and that's not freedom; and in the process of doing so, causi…

Perfectly said. It's so insane that most people don't understand how poorly designed the system is and how much unintended negative consequences it engenders.

But ironically it's also the only thing that prevents the number of international students from truly exploding. It's already a travesty that many big name public universities have more people from Shanghai or Mumbai than the next town over. Universities are behaving like corporations in trying to maximize revenue

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

#287

Post by jnsaff2 »

Is it true that there has been an uptick in unreasonable and poorly written RFE's? We got one that has a ton of inconsistencies and sometimes contradicts itself and moreover completely redefines some of the requirements.

What would be the best strategy to counter these?

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

#288

Post by throwa291 »

I'm a founder in the EU and would like to incorporate in the US.

I've recently found out about the International Entrepreneur Rule, is that a viable option if I raise $350k from US investors?

What are the possible challenges and how much time does processing take?

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

#289

Post by Bukhmanizer »

I am applying for PERM through my employer, and have gone through PWD process and yesterday I submitted my PERM application under EB3. I also recently married a US citizen about a month ago.

They estimate that it will take about 1 year to review my PERM application, so my question is would it be better to get a green card through marriage? I'm currently on H1B coming from Canada.

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

#290

Post by [deleted] »

gangstead wrote: post #49

One idea to replace the H1-B lottery that I've seen on HN is to sort the applications by salary and let in the top XX highest paid. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is this one of those "why don't they just..." type of ideas that people with first hand knowledge know is majorly flawed?

[deleted]
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