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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

#133

Post by lucasfcosta »

Hi Peter,

What is the easiest path for a founder who wants to eventually move to the US?

Here in the UK a particular amount of investment from within the UK can guarantee visas quite easily (TOTAL / THRESHOLD = No. Of Founder Visas).

Is there a similar path available in the US or is there an easier one perhaps?

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

#136

Post by jacobriis »

proberts wrote: post #120
mousetree wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deel, Remote, Pilot

Those tools and from a purely U.S. immigration standpoint, take a hard look at people from countries with their own U.S. work visas since these are often easy to obtain.

Are these all of the countries with their own US work visas?

  H-1B1: Chile and Singapore
  TN: Canada and Mexico
  E3: Australia

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

#137

Post by geodel »

adave wrote: post #20
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.

Well people who are okay will obviously not voice opinion. Those who are not okay have to raise their voice.

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

#138

Post by wexiya1699 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #84
wexiya1699 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not Peter, but I guess I can answer this: 1) For O1 it's checking the boxes - one paper or one award is the same as 10 papers or 10 awards. Even for non-technical people where papers aren't really a thing, an article about a company was written in a high-profile website and that persons name was mentioned. He got an O1. I also know a strong competitive programmer (but no other achievements of value) who got it -…

How come everyone isn't on an O1 instead of trying things like H1B? Getting a paper published seems a relatively low bar - first year PhD students manage it just fine, someone working in industry should be ok doing it.

Some reasons would be:

* It takes work to get those 3 boxes unless you already have them - so a typical contractor from Infosys or EPAM won't have them. For H1B you just apply. * H1B is cheaper (fixed fees vs 5-10k to prep O1 application) * H1B is actually in many ways a better visa! It's 3 years with 3 years extension, O1s are shorter, so for 6 years you'd have to do more than one renewal. H1B allows you to switch companies rather easily, for O1 you'd have to apply again.

So for some people the strategy is do H1B and if that fails (lottery), do O1 instead.

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

#139

Post by smnrchrds »

proberts wrote: post #82
smnrchrds wrote: post #77

Hi Peter, I am a Canadian citizen. My B.Sc. and M.Sc. are in mechanical engineering, but I have been working in the software industry as Software Developer and Data Scientist. Would I be eligible to get a TN to work in the software industry in the US? If yes, could you please refer me to resources to learn more about eligibility restrictions, e.g. details about what if any limitations I need to keep in mind when I ap…

The short answer is yes but the application would need to be done the right way and you would need to find a U.S. employer willing to take this "risk" (although I really don't see any risk).

Thank you so much! I would greatly appreciate it if you could refer me to any resources regarding this, just so I can use them to convince potential future employers to give me a shot.

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

#140

Post by 99b12e2d358bb03 »

Peter,

Thank you for taking time to do this.

For founders with spouses (either through marriage or common-law), where both spouses are from Mexico or Canada, what is the best visa for the founder and what visa should the spouse apply for (if he/she desires to work)? For the spouse, how do visa considerations change if the spouse has:

1. A liberal arts-oriented university degree

2. A STEM-oriented university degree

3. A law degree

4. A medical degree

5. An accounting degree

6. College diploma

7. No tertiary accreditation

Additionally are there any considerations if the spouse has a bachelors, masters or PhD/professional degree?

For children in such a scenario, what visa considerations would they have?

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