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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

#111
Hi Peter! Thank you for doing this.

I'm a software engineer with 3 years of experience and a MSc degree in computer science. I'm currently working in a big tech company in the UK and I would like to move to the US in the near future. At the moment I'm more leaning toward an L1 because I don't have to go through the lottery but I'm exploring other scenarios. Would you recommend trying to move to the US with an L1 or an H1B? Does an L1 provide a path to a GC? What are the cons of an L1 visa compared to an H1B?

Again, many thanks!

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

#112
I am on a TN visa and recently got a promotion which elevated my title but largely kept my responsibilities the same. My old title had the name of my TN profession in it, the new one is adjacent but does not. Could this cause issue? I travel with the form I received from USCIS through mail-in TN renewal.

Related, I’m waiting in the green card backlog with a completed PERM. Will this title change affect that?

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

#113
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are currently employed abroad by a related company, then the L-1 visa might be an option. If you are not, then - assuming that you are not from a country with its own visa, such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Singapore - the potential options are the E-1/E-2, H-1B, and O-1.

L-1 is primarily for intracompany transfers, right? O-1 would require demonstrating acclaim - not sure how that is done. E1/2 - the significant trade part isn’t that clear to me. Not sure who qualifies. H1B is a lottery. I can’t quite gauge my chances to be honest.

Just apply for jobs, and the immigration attorneys hired by your prospective employer will figure it out. U.S. immigration by employment is sadly almost entirely based on petitions filed by your employer. The choice of which visa pathway to pursue is not up to you.

If you're curious: the vast majority of Europeans currently moving to the U.S. for tech jobs typically do so on L-1A or L-1B visas. To qualify, you must work for at least 12 months at the European subsidiary of a U.S. company before being transferred to a U.S. office. There are the occasional O-1 cases but you need significant work experience and recognition to qualify. Lawyers will definitely ask you questions to determine whether you are a good candidate for it.

In the past, H-1B was a way more common route, especially when there was no lottery or at least when selection odds were higher. However, with current lottery odds at just 10-15%, many companies now prefer hiring you abroad and then going for an L-1. As long as you satisfy the foreign work requirement, you are more or less guaranteed approval for an L-1 and there is no uncertainty.

Companies also love transferring employees on L-1 because unlike H-1B it is an employer-tied visa. This means you cannot switch to a different employer, effectively locking you in for the duration of your employment until you obtain a green card, if and when that happens. Keep that in mind if you are offered an L-1: you should carefully consider the green card pathways offered by your employer before you move.

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

#114

Two Canadian cofounders want to start a company in the USA, is O-1 the only option? Is TN a possibility?

Recent amendments to work visa rules published in the federal register (and that took effect on January 17, 2025) enables being a founder of a company while on an H-1B, and perhaps might similarly allow that for a TN, but Peter Roberts or another expert would likely know best about it.

Thanks. The law never has explicitly prohibited founders from qualifying for H-1B or TN status but there have been challenges and the changes mentioned above will make it easier for founders to qualify for H-1B status and I think make it easier for founders to qualify for TN status. In fact, we recently had a founder obtain a TN through CBP and her status as a founder was front and center in her application.

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

#115

I’m on an H1B visa since 2017. I extended in 2021 and again in 2023 (thanks to approved I-140). But my visa stamp in my passport is from 2017 which expired in 2020. I haven’t made efforts to get another stamp mainly because of the pandemic in 2020 and long appointment backlogs thereafter. Is there a necessity to always keep a valid visa stamp in my passport? Apart from the ease of travel are there any other reasons t…

There's no requirement to maintain a valid H-1B visa but under certain circumstances having a valid H-1B visa stamp can make it easier to change H-1B employers.

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

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's in the Constitution (14th Amendment) I would say extremely unlikely.

I wouldn't. The wording of the 14th Amendment is ambiguous and was arguably misinterpreted by the courts. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, AND (capitalized for emphasis) subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." If they can get the SCOTUS to reconsider United States v. Wong Kim Ark from 1898 it could go either way - the court is…

> The wording of the 14th Amendment is ambiguous?

It is only ambiguous read in a vacuum. Read in the comtext of the US legal tradition in which it was written and the way the prior English common law tradition was incorporated into that tradition, it is...rather unambiguous. (Most notably, its exactly how the Supreme Court had applied the principles of English common law involved in multiple citizenship cases before the 14th Amendment establishing a uniform Constitutional rule for birthright citizenship was drafted and ratified. )

> If they can get the SCOTUS to reconsider United States v. Wong Kim Ark from 1898 it could go either way.

Sure, if they can get the court to ignore the clear meaning of “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the context in which it was written, it can go either way. But Wong Kim Ark isn't like Roe and the line of cases descended from it, its not controversial even within the kind of conservative legal tradition that dominates the court.

The Trump Administration could probably get such a case before the Court if it really wanted to, but even this court I can’t see splitting more favorably to overturning the status quo on this point than 8-1 against.

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

#117

I am on H1b visa now. I filed my PERM one month ago. According to some people, it takes 1 year and a half to get my PERM approved and it takes another month to get my I-140 approved. But I want to jump ships soon. If I leave my current company, I will have to start everything over again (Prevailing Wage Determination, Labor Market Test, PERM). I feel I'm stuck in this company. What are the things I could do?

Not much, unfortunately, other than by applying for a green card on your own, one that's not tied to a specific employer, such as a national interest waiver (or NIW) green card application or an extraordinary ability (or EB1A) green card application. Because there's no way around losing the PERM if you leave now.

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

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't. The wording of the 14th Amendment is ambiguous and was arguably misinterpreted by the courts. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, AND (capitalized for emphasis) subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." If they can get the SCOTUS to reconsider United States v. Wong Kim Ark from 1898 it could go either way - the court is…

Are you saying aliens are not subject to US jurisdiction while here? Like "sovereign citizens"? That's what it seems like you're saying.

Diplomats (not all foreign nationals) and their families who remain subject to the laws of their own country.

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

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So zero data give by you to support your view that H1B lowers wages (as usual, because data shatters the fake narrative H1B lowers wages). So according to you 1. H1B lowers wages, 2. America is known for making money 3. Yet more professionals from Europe want to move to the US than the other way around (as seen in this thread) Don't you see how 2 and 3 contradict 1? Also, despite H1B why are developer salaries higher…

> Don't you see how 2 and 3 contradict 1? Nope. Because even with the lower H1B wage, it is still 3x higher than Europe. Europeans know this. Americans know this. And you know this. > Are European companies exploiting their workers? Nope. It just turns out, ambitious Europeans don’t give a shit about work life balance. Hence the desire to move to US.

How does Ukraine's work-life balance look like now and before the war?

The story of the ant and grasshopper has been taught for ages.

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

#120

Hi Peter, a European (Hungary) colleague of us visited Iran once and does not receive any Visa (tourist,...) because of that. He does not even receive answers to his renewed applications. Is there anything he can do?

It's very difficult to get past this issue. We have Iranian citizen clients and non-Iranian citizen clients who have visited Iran whose visitor and work visa applications have been pending for more than a year. One option is for your colleague to ask his federal representative to reach out to the Consulate. This is done all the time but to be clear, it usually doesn't help but there's really nothing else to do. In the non-tourist visa application context, some people file mandamus actions, which oftentimes help but I think such an action would just accelerate the denial of the visitor visa application.
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