I have an idea for a startup in which the current company that I am a full-time employee for could be a potential customer. It would be a tool to facilitate some of the workflow that we've had an issue with, but nothing related to the industry in which we operate. We didn't really sign a non-compete or an NDA, but I am very curious if there is some kind of basic guideline for potential conflict of interest in a situation like this. Besides the immediately obvious things like never work on it with company equipment or during work hours.
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
#32I have a friend who is a foreigner, and is in a master's CS degree program in the US. He's married to an American woman as of a few months ago. What is the reasonable amount of time it should take for him to be able to get a green card and work here in the US? And is there something he can do to help expedite any process(es) (maybe not a greencard?) so he can legally work and support himself and his new family?
Largely because of the Biden administration's policy of waiving the in-person interview requirement in marriage-based green card cases, the process has been very fast over the last 4 years, often taking less than 6 months from the time of filing until the approval of the green card application. If the new administration brings back the interview requirement, then I suspect that the processing time will go back to what it was before, which typically was at least 1 year. While a green card applicant is waiting for their green card application to be reviewed and approved, they will receive a temporary work card. The processing of work card applications is all over the place but has been better over the past 2 years and can take less than 3 months now (although it also can take much longer). There is a way to request expedited approval of a work card application but the standard is high. Instructions for requesting expedite review of an immigration application are available on the USCIS web site.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#33hi Peter, thanks for doing this. My parents were rejected twice for B1/B2 visa (under section 214b I think) - both times before I was a LPR (I had valid visa).
Recently the country of citizenship was announced to be joining VWP - as one of the question is "have you even been refused US visa", is it a lost battle for them?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#34I'm working on my O1 visa and I'm nervous about my portfolio. I'm a developer with plenty of experience, but never spoke at conferences, blogged, or was public. I hires lawyers for the paperwork, but the publicist they recommended me started doing “articles” that just scream fake. I decided to get my own, real stuff instead.
What things are the best from POV of effort/benefit? Open source projects, talks, podcasts, blogging, posts on community sites like devs? Trying to build my own dev-centric twitter, YouTube, something else? I know how to build stuff, but I know very little about all of this stuff.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#35I have a friend who is a foreigner, and is in a master's CS degree program in the US. He's married to an American woman as of a few months ago. What is the reasonable amount of time it should take for him to be able to get a green card and work here in the US? And is there something he can do to help expedite any process(es) (maybe not a greencard?) so he can legally work and support himself and his new family?
Largely because of the Biden administration's policy of waiving the in-person interview requirement in marriage-based green card cases, the process has been very fast over the last 4 years, often taking less than 6 months from the time of filing until the approval of the green card application. If the new administration brings back the interview requirement, then I suspect that the processing time will go back to wha…
Thank you!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#36What is the typical route for Canadians to work in the US tech sector?
Canadian and Mexican citizens have their own visa classification, the TN, and so this is almost always the first option to look at because it is often very quick and easy (and relatively cheap) to get. Other work visa options for Canadians (and the citizens of most countries) are the E-2, L-1, and O-1.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#37Some family friends are part of a diaspora seeking asylum from Russia. Their hearing dates all fall inside 2026.
Part of their asylum plea is admission to activities that Russia criminalized during the invasion of Ukraine - draft dodging, dissemination information about the invasion, and sending aid money to their relatives in Ukrainian.
If they were deported back to Russia, their asylum plea would ostensibly be used as an admission of guilt.
With the change in administrations, there is a lot of consternation in the community that their hearing will go badly or be cancelled altogether. Is there any indication what will happen with these cases yet?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#38How much do you expect to fight the government in the next 4 years?
We had a window into the administration 8 years ago and as a result we changed the way that we assessed and prepared cases to preempt fights and we continued with this approach during the Biden administration and will continue under the new administration until the fights start up again. I think that the most immediate significant changes in the area of legal immigration will be the imposition of international travel…
What kind of travel bans are you expecting?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#39Hi Peter, thank you for doing this AMA. I am on H1B and I recently lost my job. I only have about 50 days left to get a new job but I have a spouse who is on his own H1B. I wanted to see and find out legal and smooth options to buy more time for myself to find a new job - If anything, it would be those options that do not need me to leave the country and get stamping, if at all. My country of citizenship is India, by…
The best and easiest option because your spouse is in H-1B status is to apply to change your status to dependent H-4 status using USCIS Form I-539. As long as this is filed during your grace period, you can remain in the U.S. while the application is pending/until it is approved.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#40I am filing an EB1-A petition with a law firm. The law firm says that based on their recent experience, EB1-A cases that have requested Premium Processing (PP) have a lower approval rate and a higher RFE rate.
While the statistic may be true, is there a causation between PP and RFE/denial or is it just that cases created in a rush with PP might simply get more RFE or denial?
Thanks