This article is geared mostly to employees.
Since this is HN, what do foreigners launching startups do?
Engineer's Guide to US Visas
131–140 of 203 posts
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#132Earlier quoted context omitted.
IANAL, but I think in theory you already qualify. The effort is a little on the employers side. They have to post the job offer publicly in a news paper in the area, and then they have to have a good reason for hiring you. In theory I would say it's just a question of having a good lawyer. But then again those things have to be done ANYWAY if you want a green card.
Classifying the effort as 'little' for any EB based green card is nuts. Especially for an Indian citizen. In order to apply for EB-2 or EB-3 you need to first do a prevailing wage determination (about 2 weeks). Then your employer has to recruit for the position they want to offer you (30 days posted + 30 days quiet period). After this your employer gets to apply for a PERM (this is currently taking 8-9 months to be a…
This is terrible, a lot of us are waiting and dont even know if we'll get audited, to make things worst the DOL did not process any perm petitions during the government shutdown. Please see this petition to improve the procesing time: https://www.change.org/petitions/department-of-labor-dol-to-...
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#133I'm surprised no-one mentioned the E-2 (Treaty Investor) visa. It allows someone from a Treaty country (which includes a lot of developed countries) to start a business in the USA. It's not an intent visa, though (more on that later). I'm from the UK, and did the E-2 application myself (having found that it took as much time to explain to a lawyer as to write the application). My initial investment was $100k (enough…
My parents moved my entire family here on a h1 when I was younger. We obtained our Green Cards about 5 years ago. I'm about to graduated college and go start working in NYC. My parents are currently starting the process to get citizenship and I'm choosing not to do it mainly because I'm not sure if I want to stay in the country for the rest of my life and didn't want to be stuck in the US tax abroad issue. You mentio…
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Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#134I am fairly interested in the rules around Visa Waivers. I have been working for american companies remotely for a while, I do fairly regular visits to the american offices, generally 'Work Meeting' will get you straight passed, but I have a few times been questioned exactly what I do at these work meetings and once tiredly and mistakenly mentioning programming, was very close to being refused entry. The other issue…
If the customs officer admits you to the United States on visa waiver (WT/WB status) you need leave the United States within 90 days or less. In addition to that, you cannot change your visa waiver status to any other non-immigrant status without departing the United States (e.g. you cannot switch to H1B within America while on WT/WB).
You can change your visa waiver status to another status without departing the USA. My ex wife was from Italy, she came here on vwp and we got married. She stayed during the AOS process.
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#135This is the main reason I've given up. It's not an effective use of anyone's time to wade through the US immigration mess. My J-1 visa expired last October. I was in SF for my PhD research on a J-1 and had to suddenly return to Europe last April due to unforeseen family circumstances. I was in the process of filing for a waiver when I was in SF and had a long call with someone at Google about a position I'd applied f…
J1 waiver isn't too bad. Yes, it involves some paper-work, but nothing that would need an immigration lawyer. You can do everything yourself, and costs about $200 last I checked.
Also look into the O1 visa that doesn't require a waiver, and has no quotas.
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#136> If you lose in the lottery, they'll refund the fees. One caveat to bear in mind is that applying for this visa shows intent, which may disqualify you for visas in the future which aren't dual intent, such as the B-1 & B-2 visitor visas. (IANAL, but:) This is very wrong on at least two counts: there is no fee for enrolling in the lottery and if anyone charges for it, they are a scammer and you should enroll directly…
I'll add that the initial registration is extremely easy and certainly does not require the help from an outside company. When I signed up in the past, if I remember correctly, it was very basic information about my identity, a picture and how to contact me. That was done in just a few minutes.
Once you win the lottery, it might or might not be wise to get help, but I don't really know since I didn't win.
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
IANAL, but I think in theory you already qualify. The effort is a little on the employers side. They have to post the job offer publicly in a news paper in the area, and then they have to have a good reason for hiring you. In theory I would say it's just a question of having a good lawyer. But then again those things have to be done ANYWAY if you want a green card.
Classifying the effort as 'little' for any EB based green card is nuts. Especially for an Indian citizen. In order to apply for EB-2 or EB-3 you need to first do a prevailing wage determination (about 2 weeks). Then your employer has to recruit for the position they want to offer you (30 days posted + 30 days quiet period). After this your employer gets to apply for a PERM (this is currently taking 8-9 months to be a…
Is it a lot harder to justify a EB-2 than EB-3?
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#138Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree those things are less than optimal in the US, but at a personal level: 1) The visa stuff is a PITA, but if you are in a situation where you can tell some company to deal with it, it shouldn't be too bad. 2) You get pretty good health care working for most companies in the US as a programmer. If you lose your job, you can presumably relocate to where you were before that has a different health care system.
Speaking as a Canadian on #2, I have a couple problems there that prevent me even considering moving to the States: 1) My wife has a chronic health problem. What guarantee do I have that if she needed treatment, for that or something else, that insurance wouldn't find a way to weasel out of covering it? Also, eventually I would lose coverage under OHIP, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, after an extended absence (1-…
To your first point, in general you face far fewer risks regarding such issues on employer covered plans within the US than on self-bought plans. The group policy should cover these types of issues, without risk of rescission[1].
As to your second issue, I agree with this. I think tying these things together has had a large and unfortunate impact both on people and on the US economy. The ACA is far from perfect, but it does at least move some of this in the right direction.
[1] If it isn't obvious, I am speaking in generalities. As with all insurance, some conditions and medications are covered more prevalently and conveniently than some others.
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#139I'm Canadian and worked for over four years a software engineer in SoCal on work visas (TN then H1B). My wife, an Aussie and high school teacher with several years of teaching experience in top international schools in Asia, couldn't legally work in the US. So she volunteered teaching ESL at a local adult school. Ironically many of her students were Hispanics who had originally entered the US illegally. Doubly ironic…
This is my 10th year anniversary in this country and you guessed it right, I am still on H-1B visa. Although my employer has filed for the green card, it is still a couple years away. I can decide to wait for my Green Card or I can start today. I decided the latter.
Having said that, I've started on this path just recently and believe me I am facing difficulties at every step, even the the ones I thought would be the most obvious. But again who said life was easy.
In case you are interested there are ways you can do business in the US on H-1B visa. Is it easy? Hell no! But in case you are still interested keep reading, feel free to reach out to me as I am going through this process right now.
Articles about Entrepreneur H1B:
- http://www.murthy.com/2012/12/17/entrepreneur-h1b-petitions-...
- http://www.uscis.gov/news/public-releases-topic/business-imm...
-http://blog.uscis.gov/2011/08/encouraging-entrepreneurs-and-...
- http://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/entrepreneur-visa-guide
Further reading:
- http://blog.fosterquan.com/2012/12/09/the-sweet-smell-of-suc...
Success story of Vishal Shah from Traffio:
- http://www.nextbigwhat.com/how-to-startup-in-silicon-valley-...
Business Entity:
- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12qxuo_how-to-open-a-busin...
Re: Engineer's Guide to US Visas
#140The article missed pointing out a very important detail about H-1B1 visa (for Chile and Singapore): unlike the dual intent H-1B visa, the H-1B1 is a non-immigrant visa. This means that you must establish the non-immigrant intent to get it. It also means that, should you happen to change your mind after some time, you would have to switch to H-1B visa before trying for the green card.
Also, speaking from the personal experience, the fact that the H-4 visa doesn't allow your spouse to work deserves more emphasis. If there's anything that might drive me and my family back to Chile, it's the H-4 visa.