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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

#251

Hi and thanks for doing this. I went through CBP twice in the span of 20 hours. I was granted entry once and denied the second time. The second time, I had to sign some electronic pad and later a form (I-275) was given to me. Did I have the option not to sign? And is this contradictory decision in span of 20 hours legally OK? Below are some more details: At Toronto Pearson (Terminal 3) on December 1-2, 2025, I went t…

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

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

You'd be surprised at the number of people who willingly give up their social media accounts, only for immigration officials to find comments in support of terror attacks in the Middle East.

It's pretty easy to think it's harmless if you live in a country where that viewpoint is not uncommon.

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

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could be viewed as fraud at the time of entry under both scenarios. I recommend that you speak with an immigration to come up with a workable plan. Note that if your spouse applies for his or her green card visa (known as an immigrant visa) at a U.S. Consulate, he or she can visit you on a tourist visa for extended periods of time while waiting for the interview at the U.S. Consulate.

Thanks for the info. Tricky situation because we have a kid who has dual citizenship, and we are not in the US, but want to move back.

Your best bet is to plan a year or so ahead and get sponsorship in the queue so the spouse can enter with a green card. Timelines are about 8-14 months.

But as PRoberts said, a non-citizen spouse can't enter on a tourist visa with the intention to change status. A spouse can visit, but then change their mind while in the US.

But CBP is well aware of people trying to shortcut the process this way, so it can be very challenging convincing CBP your non-citizen spouse intends to leave. But it can be done showing a job, property or other elements that would require someone to go back.

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

#255
Hey Peter, I’m an F1 visa student and I’m trying to found a company with two Americans while being an Indian citizen. I plan on taking significant equity and will be part of the cofounders. Are there any significant hurdles that I should be on the lookout for here? I’d like to sign the founders agreement and found the company while I’m still pursuing my education but I’m not sure whether my visa status would throw any wrenches here.

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

#256

Is there a way for someone on h1B to start a company in a roundabout way by doing something like placing company shares into a trust and having a unpaid board seat? Is that pushing luck? Not for me but a friend who I had plans to go into business with but we're facing a chicken or egg problem until she gets a green card or changes her visa status.

Why don't they just start a company in the country where they are from or why don't you start a company with someone who is a citizen or has a green card?

The entire premise of your question is misaligned with the intention of the H1-B visa. Yes, everyone abuses its intent, but that isn't justification for more people to find more ways to abuse it. The abuse of that visa (and other visas) is why folks just want it abolished outright. I guess the purpose of a system is what it does, but it was sold to the American electorate as a way for companies to get access to talent that they simply cannot find domestically.

Trying to use the H1-B to hire a very specific person instead of any person with the skillset needed for the role would be in contradiction with the labor market test (LMT) needed for PERM status.

An H1-B can only work for the employer on the I-129 petition. There are some forms of passive income allowed but to placing shares in a trust and having an unpaid board seat just seems like an attempt to cheat the process because ultimately the goal is for her to work for this startup. Doing what your proposing puts a target on her head where anyone that is anti-H-1B can report her to USCIS and get her deported.

Moving home, working remotely and then applying for an L-1 seems like the correct approach here for what you're trying to do.

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

#257

Is there a way for someone on h1B to start a company in a roundabout way by doing something like placing company shares into a trust and having a unpaid board seat? Is that pushing luck? Not for me but a friend who I had plans to go into business with but we're facing a chicken or egg problem until she gets a green card or changes her visa status.

There are ways for someone in H-1B status to start a company and not in a roundabout way. The approach will depend in part on whether she will leave her current employer and get an H-1B through her startup, stay with her current employment and get a concurrent part-time H-1B through her startup, or just stay with her current employer and somehow work on her startup.

> or just stay with her current employer and somehow work on her startup.

The first two options make sense but this latter option sounds like a risk. As I understand it, she can't earn any active income from this startup unless see has an I-129 for it. A share grant counts as income.

I mean, yeah you can work on a side project in your spare time that could become a business, but the moment employment and active income enters the picture that becomes something else.

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

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was just an article in the NYT where ICE is arresting people at the end of their green card interviews for essentially no reason. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/us/trump-green-card-inter...

That’s misinformation. They’re being arrested because they were in the country illegally, usually overstaying a visa: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/green-card... They have a green card interview because they married an American. But you can’t get an adjustment of status if you are in violation of your current visa terms.

>But you can’t get an adjustment of status if you are in violation of your current visa terms.

This is both right and wrong. Congress passed a law ages ago that grants forgiveness to overstaying spouses once the greencard is issued. The AOS process is allowed.

The hole however is the AOS does not extend your authorized stay if you were out of status when it was filed. So this leaves one vulnerable to the ICE arrests.

However, your AOS can still be processed even when arrested because of the forgiveness granted by law, so it just becomes an issue of having a good lawyer to get a judge to intervene.

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

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s misinformation. They’re being arrested because they were in the country illegally, usually overstaying a visa: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/green-card... They have a green card interview because they married an American. But you can’t get an adjustment of status if you are in violation of your current visa terms.

I havent been through the US process in a while, but usually that is allowed if your application is processing. You just can’t leave the country.

No, if your visa expires you need to maintain your legal status while a PERM application is pending: https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/us-immigration/maintain... (“This is especially important if and when you are waiting to apply for lawful permanent residence, commonly called a ‘green card.’ If you are in the United States without any immigration status, you are considered to be here illegally, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may deny your green card application for that reason alone.”).

What’s happening here is that these people were here on tourist visas or completely illegally. Then at some point they married a U.S. citizen and filed a PERM application. But that filing doesn’t protect them from deportation for their original illegal status.

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

#260

This question arises from the current regime's efforts to reverse naturalization. For anyone who has one US citizen parent and one non-citizen parent, where the citizen parent has passed before the child applicant for naturalization reaches 18 years of age, resulting in the applicant applying for and receiving naturalization as an adult, can that same currently naturalized citizen also obtain natural born citizenship…

If I understand you correctly, you are asking whether the naturalized citizen was a citizen at birth based on his or her father's citizenship. To answer that question, we would need to know when the naturalized citizen was born and the countries where the naturalized citizen's U.S. citizen parent lived from birth until the birth of the naturalized citizen.

Thanks, you got it right. 1970 is the birth year and father lived in the United States for decades prior but had a child while out of the country, the naturalized citizen. The question is really about whether natural born citizenship is available to children of an American citizen when the child is born abroad, but the parent was deceased before majority age. Naturalization would probably be sufficient, but given that even naturalization is theoretically at risk, maybe obtaining outright natural born status is better insurance. There is an N-form for this sort of thing.
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