We are in the Nordics. Do we stand a chance at PR or citizenship in the US?
I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.
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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
231–240 of 345 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#232I've asked this question in a few places but never gotten an answer. A TN visa/status holder that applies for a EB Green Card by filing form I-485 is considered to have shown immigrant intent and will no longer be granted TN status in the future. Is this bar permanent or would an applicant who failed to obtain a Green Card or surrendered it in the future be able to seek TN visa/status provided they could prove strong…
There's no permanent bar but the standard would be high to show with a subsequent TN application that the applicant possessed good faith intent to return to Canada/Mexico. We've argued that successfully.
Thank you.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#233Suppose you could wave a magic wand and change US immigration law in any way you like. What changes would you make?
Not Peter but would like to spur discussion on positive changes that could be made. - Paper-free overhaul of the entire immigration system. - Green Card recapture [0]. - Country of Birth caps abolished for Green Cards. Impossible to justify this as it doesn't serve the intended purpose since AC21 was passed. - EAD/AP premium processing - so many livelihoods ruined and immigration journeys derailed because people can'…
> - Country of Birth caps abolished for Green Cards. Impossible to justify this as it doesn't serve the intended purpose since AC21 was passed.
You are saying that since, for example, Indians can remain indeterminately as long as they are employed, they are de facto kind of like in a green card situation already, therefore country caps don't make sense?
That would mean then that every other country wait will go up for over a decade, with all the backlog that India has (1.2M vs 140k EB green cards per year).
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think you want to try that argument with immigration officials, although it might just keep your incorrect answer from being straight up fraud or willful misrepresentation. I mean, some US govt immigration forms asking for your social media usernames include pastebin sites like "justpaste.it". See for example: https://static.feber.se/article_images/42/10/92/421092_1280.... Knowing that, it's crystal clear HN…
I love how bad that list is.
For what it's worth, the somewhat hilarious reason justpaste.it is on the list is likely that it used to be a favourite of Islamic State terrorists a decade ago. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/islamic-stat...
Googling 'site:gov "justpaste.it"' also brings endless results of government documents mentioning the site in the context of terrorism.
I somewhat doubt US immigration authorities thwarted any would-be terrorists by asking for their justpaste.it username, but what do I know, perhaps this was an important breakthrough in the global war on terror.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not Peter but would like to spur discussion on positive changes that could be made. - Paper-free overhaul of the entire immigration system. - Green Card recapture [0]. - Country of Birth caps abolished for Green Cards. Impossible to justify this as it doesn't serve the intended purpose since AC21 was passed. - EAD/AP premium processing - so many livelihoods ruined and immigration journeys derailed because people can'…
> - Country of Birth caps abolished for Green Cards. Impossible to justify this as it doesn't serve the intended purpose since AC21 was passed. You are saying that since, for example, Indians can remain indeterminately as long as they are employed, they are de facto kind of like in a green card situation already, therefore country caps don't make sense? That would mean then that every other country wait will go up fo…
It should be done in tandem with GC recapture or possibly a single one off Bill to clear backlogged applicants.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#236Just a high level question. My youngest son was adopted. He isn't white. He is naturalized. Should we go ahead and renew his passport so he can carry around a passport card at this point(we never got one in the past because they seemed like a waste). It seems crazy but with people being grabbed off the street for being brown, it seems prudent have a quick way to prove citizenship.
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Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ICE cannot legally arrest people who are citizens for no reason, and yet they have done exactly that 30% of the time by their own admission. Where are you getting that statistic (honest question)?
I overstated, but it's murky. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/12/05/despite-medias-claims-ic... Why would ICE leave the number as low as "70%" if they could be higher? Every illegal alien is a criminal as far as the law is concerned. Every illegal alien arrested is "charged with a crime". Otherwise ICE is openly stating to its supporters that they arrest illegal aliens and then release them, something their supporters…
I mean, you didn't just overstate, you flat out just made it up. The opposite of "illegal alien" is not "citizen".
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#238Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a solution to this. You can become a US citizen.
Didn't realise it was that easy. Why don't all the illegal immigrants just do that?
It doesn't have to be easy to be factual. You simply are not owed entry into any country if you are not a citizen of that country, that is a fundamental part of what things like "citizenship" and "sovereign state" mean in the modern world.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#239Hi Peter, thanks for the AMA! I work for an American company and I am based in Europe. I visit the US for work every now and then. I heard a lot of horror stories regarding border entries. If I am ever in a situation where the border police asks for access to my personal phone and pin code, what are my options? Can I refuse and what happens then?
You are within your rights to say no but if you say no, almost certainly CBP will assume that you are hiding something and deny you admission.
So basically bring a burner phone.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
If one didn’t have an account with meta they just wouldn’t get the visa then or how does it work? Does the government have any direct link to meta re what accounts people actually have. I’m surprised people aren’t up in arms about this, I guess it affects mostly visitors and immigrants but the fact that the government needs to see your activity on a private company’s web app is wild to me.
Yes, it did occur to me that there would be no way to verify it. But it felt like it was in my best interest to at least provide something.
You would have to make sure your search footprint supported that. IE - fully private, non-publicly-visible profiles everywhere.