I will be taking a short break. Please keep the interesting questions and comments coming. Thanks.
I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
201–210 of 294 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#202Hello, a friend of mine is a strong systems programmer from Poland but has not graduated from college. Is he basically unable to get a work visa for the US?
If he has a lot of experience, then he might have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, which would make him potentially eligible for an H-1B visa. Also, if he's very accomplished and talented, even without a degree, he might qualify for an O-1 visa; education is not a requirement for the O-1 visa.
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Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#203Hi Peter,
Thanks for hosting this AMA. I’ve an immigration issue related to status transition. So I came to the U.S on an F-1 visa about 6 years ago. However, during the course of my undergraduate study, I found out that I qualified for TPS. So I applied and received it. Afterwards, I decided to take a leave of abscence from school to work on a startup because TPS allows me to. I was also made to change my status from F1 to TPS. And my I-20 status period expired a few months after I took the leave at the beginning of 2024.
Owing to the recent TPS terminations of various countries, I’m afraid that my TPS will be terminated once it’s up for review in a few months. My question regards transistioning back to F1 status. I’m wondering if I can change status back from TPS to F1 without having to leave the country. This is because a visa ban is currently in place for the country for which I hold TPS. As such I can’t risk traveling outside the country as I won’t be able to get back in because of the visa ban. Btw the ban anpplies to all visa categories including F1 and O1.
Thanks!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#204Hi Mr. Roberts;
Thank you for doing this, yet again - your insights are always so valuable. I am on an H1B, and my company applied for a Greencard, and I have received a Priority Date with my i-140 (sorry if I'm not using the correct terms here, this process confuses me). When am I able to leave my current employer without losing my priority date? Would I need to get my new employer to apply for an H1B transfer and extension for me, or how does that work? Thank you!!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
Out of curiosity, what percentage of YC founders just go to the office hours and dinner and not work for the duration of the program? Is this encouraged?
I can't comment on that but the issue here is what constitutes work and actively participating in YC doesn't even if this participation results in benefit to a company.
Participating in YC isn't work? Isn't it a startup accelerator for teams to grow their business? Isn't growing one's business work?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#206Hi Peter! Thank you for doing this. Are you seeing any issues/concerns with Green Card holders traveling internationally and returning to the US in the past few months?
Only that even with green card holders, we have seen instances where CBP is asking to see electronic devices and reviewing their social media accounts. But we haven't had a green card holding client detained or denied admission.
thank you!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#207Hi Peter,
Thank you for taking your time to do this.
I currently hold J-1 research scholar visa. I would like to better understand what visa options I have after my J-1 ends. I am considering applying for O-1 but I need a professional advice on that. Can you recommend any immigration lawyers that can help me with that?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for sharing your experience. A year is a very long time..I am also curious about the pickup options and address. My partner will be updating their address to have mail sent to a family member’s address in the US, but we will also be living in a country that has a US embassy easily accessible. My partner is Mexican, so as you can imagine, they almost always have awful experiences with immigration in the US.
Yes, a year is a long time but evidence of having applied for a reentry permit in the form of a receipt notice is usually enough to reenter the U.S. without issue even with absences of more than 6 months.
That is useful to know. We were expecting a 5-month wait (as of January 2025) and recently learned it could take over a year. Since we've been out of country since applying (no biometrics required) we were concerned about being out of country for over a year with just a receipt notice and permit in pending state.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
My girlfriend is an immigrant from the UK. I support immigration but only if it respects the rights of US citizens. Frankly I'm stunned this post hasn't been flagged by one of HN's moderators yet. Truly sad to see YC clearly play favorites with non-citizens claiming what can be found within the U.S. isn't good enough.
YC does try to bury this topic, but it needs to be discussed. Developer and engineers need to be aware of the intent some of these corporations have in mind for their temporary employment. I say temporary as they intend to automate away the whole workforce and build utopias in their name. This isn't secret or a "deep state", they've plainly stated this agenda publicly and have written material online selling this age…
Yep, I would've voted for Bernie and it's important for the greater population to understand that Trump and the GOP have basically done nothing to curb abuse of the LEGAL immigration system. Elon and Big Tech WANTS Trump to import infinity foreign labor to continue driving wages and opportunity down for American tech workers.
The fact that only a 3.5% remittance tax on non-digital payments was barely implemented is pathetic.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the time he barely had 10k subscribers. The merits of the "genius" VISA should be for research and engineering endeavors.
O-1 isn't a genius visa, it is for [1] Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement, the government website specifically calls out categories that are not research or engineering. [1] https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary...
The jokes really do write themselves "Extraordinary Podcasting Ability".
Would much rather that visa had gone to a researcher or engineer who's motto wasn't "not wanting to push pixels around at a FAANG".