I'm doing a CS degree in Ireland. If I want to start a company in the US, how hard would it be to get the necessary visas to get in?
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
#142My girlfriend is Canadian, and an AMGA Rock Guide (American Mountain Guide Association: the US certifying body). She would like to be able to work for gyms and guiding companies in the US. What's the best way to make that happen? (short of marriage... fool me once!)
Should we hire an immigration attorney?
Do you know if it would be easier for her to get permission to work in Europe?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#143If you (US Citizen) marry out of the country, and stay with your spouse (foreign citizen) in that country, how long is the current wait to come back into the country and have your spouse with you on a CR1 visa? And are there any advantages to K-3 over CR1?
- While the K-3 visa technically still exists, in practice it is rarely granted (i.e. on the order of 1 or 2 every year globally) [0]. You can apply for it in addition to the CR-1 visa but in practice, once they approve your I-130 petition the K-3 visa application will be cancelled automatically (and you will move forward with the CR-1 visa application)
- The first step to get a CR-1 visa is to file the I-130 petition, which as per [1] is taking about 12 months on average. Your luck may vary.
There is no magic pathway unfortunately but on the positive side, your spouse will be a permanent resident as soon as they enter the country.
[0] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v...
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I’m not a manager and won’t be managing any employees.
It's going to be a long process to a green card then. The only reasonably fast path is the EB1A extraordinary ability path and the standard is very high and difficult and subjective/uncertain.
Thank you for your responses, appreciate you taking the time.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#145Any insights for DACA? Besides the continual renewal cycles, are there any new opportunities or options? Many thanks for your time.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#146I'm currently on H1B. I'm getting married soon to the US citizen so I'm planning to apply for marriage based green card. Are there any downsides to apply for EAD(I-765) and Advance parole(I-131) along with I485?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#147In June 2021 I tried entering the United States with a TN packet as an Engineer with a Bachelor of Computer Science. However, the officer denied me the TN status saying I need an Engineering, not Computer Science degree, to qualify for the Engineer TN status. Given the denial, in July 2021 the hiring company then applied through USCIS premium processing again for TN Engineer with my Computer Science degree and I was…
This happened to me too. Mind-boggling dumb. Had to switch out of TN (E2 in my case) for it to stop happening.
Still spent 3 years going to secondary, “just because”.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#148How long can a green card holder stay outside of the US without loosing the green card? What roles do forms I-131 and N-470 play? Many thanks!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you elaborate on how an E2 founder could get to become an immigrant?
Most countries have a treaty of commerce and trade with the U.S. that gives rise to the E-2 visa. In short, you must establish a U.S. company, you and/or others from your country of citizenship must invest at least $100k in this company, the company must spend a substantial portion of this on business related expenses, and you must have a good business plan showing, among other things, the employment of U.S. workers…
Thanks. I'm asking how it would help you to become an immigrant (the original question).
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#150Hi I am not really asking for specific advice (since I know our situation is already not working out to nice…), I just want to highlight how absurd the state of affair is and maybe get some input on that. My wife is a US citizen and we currently both live in Germany and planed to move at the and of this year. We’ve filed a I130 in November last year and got an initial estimate of it being done right now (7 Months not…
Not advice, just some words of encouragement: I am in a very similar situation (German citizen, US citizen spouse), and we started our I130 petition at the end of August last year. We got the approval notice (for the I130) literally this week.
So with your November filing, I think it would not be unreasonable to expect an update within the next 3 months or so. And from there on it should go fairly fast, probably just 1-3 months from an approved I130 to a GC.
Good luck!