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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

#11

Post by proberts »

conqrr wrote: post #4

Thanks for doing this! Can a person on H1b work remotely in the US for their own company outside the US? They'd pay taxes on any international income. Also what if they didn't work but own the company and receive income?

U.S. immigration law doesn't apply to those outside the U.S. so there's no immigration issue with working for your own company while outside the U.S.

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

#13

Post by victorhn »

1. Do you have some estimate about the time it takes to go from a TN Visa (Mexican Citizen) to obtain a green card?

2. If, for some reason (layoffs, company dissapears, etc.) the whole green card process is not finished, then it means that i will not be able to get a new TN visa correct?

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

#14

Post by proberts »

aatd86 wrote: post #10

Hi, If a startup is incorporated in one of the states from overseas, can founders be eligible for work-visas (I remember reading that an investment of more than USD500K may allow eligibility for some visas (F1?) but don't know if this is the case for startups, and besides, there were some requirements in terms of jobs creation if I remember well). Thanks.

As a general rule, the U.S. immigration options for founders are the same as the U.S. immigration options for non-founders. The question is what nonimmigrant/temporary work visa would a founder qualify for and this would depend on a variety of factors. The work visas that we typically look at for founders are the O-1, L-1, E-1 and E-2, and H-1B unless the founder is a citizen of a country with its own visa (Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, and Singapore).

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

#15

Post by adave »

jonas-jonas wrote: post #8

The H1B situation in the US has been described as very "luck" based to me, and some have called it "a mess". Is that still the case? How much does it actually depend on luck, or other factors such as country of origin, occupation, etc.?

If you are not from India/China its all good otherwise its a 100yr wait currently.So yeah country based discrimination baked into US immigration law sucks.

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

#16

Post by bombcar »

proberts wrote: post #11
conqrr wrote: post #4

Thanks for doing this! Can a person on H1b work remotely in the US for their own company outside the US? They'd pay taxes on any international income. Also what if they didn't work but own the company and receive income?

U.S. immigration law doesn't apply to those outside the U.S. so there's no immigration issue with working for your own company while outside the U.S.

I think the question is - someone outside the US has a business, moves to the US on an H1B, and wants to continue working for their outside-the-US business.

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

#18

Post by conqrr »

proberts wrote: post #11
conqrr wrote: post #4

Thanks for doing this! Can a person on H1b work remotely in the US for their own company outside the US? They'd pay taxes on any international income. Also what if they didn't work but own the company and receive income?

U.S. immigration law doesn't apply to those outside the U.S. so there's no immigration issue with working for your own company while outside the U.S.

Sorry I meant working inside the US for company registered outside the US

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

#19

Post by wahnfrieden »

proberts wrote: post #11
conqrr wrote: post #4

Thanks for doing this! Can a person on H1b work remotely in the US for their own company outside the US? They'd pay taxes on any international income. Also what if they didn't work but own the company and receive income?

U.S. immigration law doesn't apply to those outside the U.S. so there's no immigration issue with working for your own company while outside the U.S.

(You misread)

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

#20

Post by adave »

jason2323 wrote: post #5

What options does an Indian engineer stuck in the green card backlog have? Do they perpetually continue renewing their H1-B? Does this mean that they are somewhat limited in terms of being able to switch jobs?

Yup that's the idea, somehow most folks seem ok with it and don't voice their opinions to politicians.
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