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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

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still can apply for a Certificate of Citizenship but there's a cost associated with it and I really don't think it's necessary or even advisable because you are now giving the government a chance to reassess its previous approval. A U.S. passport is always considered sufficient evidence of U.S. citizenship.

Thanks. I guess that’s a valid point - why invite unnecessary scrutiny.

This is a really good advice, actually.

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

#143

Are you seeing a downturn in people trying to come here for work. It's a shame, but I don't think any rational person should try to come here to study or work right now. Gone are the days of attending a community college and dating girls from Korea and Japan. And I can't blame anyone for not wasting to be destined indefinitely for trivial reasons. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/05/i-was-a-brit...

Your comment is about coming for work or study, yet you linked to a story of someone who clearly abused/misused a tourist visa and got caught. It was an egregious enough offense that the Canadian immigration officials wouldn't even let her enter Canada under the same pretense, which is what eventually led to her arrest.

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

#144
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Historically the US has not had much "exit control". For example leaving the Schengen area it's obligatory to go through "exit immigration" and get your passport stamped. Leaving the US, you show your passport to the airline, but usually there is no formal immigration check at all.

That’s because the airline updates your I-94 for you. If they don’t you risk overstaying. There is a website you can use to validate that they did everything correctly.

Yeah, once upon a time you had to return your actual I-94 stamped to your passport to the airline, but today this is done automatically on the background

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

#145

Thanks for doing the AMA! I'm a US citizen born abroad - I got my citizenship via (I believe) INA 320 when I was a child. I have a US-born father who was not eligible to pass on his citizenship at the time of my birth. I lived in the US for most of my childhood up until ~2015 (initially as an LPR), and at some point, I obtained a US passport. I don't have a certificate of citizenship, only a US passport. Given the wa…

What do you mean by a US born father not eligible to pass on his citizenship?

In order for U.S. citizens to pass on their citizenship to children born abroad, they need to have resided in the U.S. for a certain period prior to the birth of the child.

The amount of time the parent has to have lived in the U.S. varies but usually it’s 5 years with at least 2 years after the age of 14.

If they don’t automatically pass it on and they want to move back to the U.S., they need to apply for green cards for their kids.

Since 2001, anyone under 18 who has a green card and lives with a U.S. citizen parent becomes a citizen automatically by process of law, under INA 320. Unfortunately documenting this is not automatic. A lot of people who came before 2001 don’t even know that they’re citizens. The application for a certificate costs a lot of money, so often parents tend to skip it if they don’t feel it’s necessary.

See below for the residency criteria.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-lega...

INA 320: https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter...

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

#146

If an individual is transgender, not a US citizen, and has a passport with an updated gender marker (or X), can they still get a visa? Or is submitting an official document with "wrong information" enough for a refusal? What about existing visas?

The short answer is Yes, this individual can still get a U.S. visa. But I'd still recommend that this person speak with an attorney before applying for a visa or traveling to the U.S.

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

#147

I'm a Canadian software developer who'd like to join an American startup so naturally I've been applying to a bunch of jobs. More specifically, I'm looking to go with TN visa. In most job applications, I need to answer the two following questions 1) Are you legally authorized to work in the US? and 2) Will you now or in the future require sponsorship? I'm looking for advice on how I should be answering these question…

Legally, the correct answers are No and Yes.

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

#148
Hi Peter!

Given YC asks founders to apply for a batch just a few weeks (or months) before each batch starts, I am wondering if you run into issues with timing. Do you see issues with visa delays etc, that can cause founders to miss their batch?

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

#149
I have a US passport and am a naturalized US citizen however due to some sort of clerical error my passport says I was born here (even though you have to staple your immigration cert to the passport application). I never even noticed it until I'd been in and out of the country a few times, my passport is about to expire and I'm worried about having trouble trying to get it fixed, what course of action should I take, I'd really like to have a valid US passport.

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

#150
post #10

There has been a bunch of chatter in Canadian founders whatsapp groups about people getting detained for long periods of time coming into the states either at SFO or pre-clear in Canada. Are you advising Canadians travel with any additional documentation these days?

Im a Canadian and go to the US for work fairly regularly. Something I didn’t realize is that the laws are different in preclearance areas. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-19.32/FullText.ht... For example, you are allowed to withdraw your application to enter the US and leave the preclearance area. Additionally you are bound by different laws for search and siezure. At this point I am only going to the US t…

Can you be block-listed if you withdraw your application to enter?
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