Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are within your rights to say no but if you say no, almost certainly CBP will assume that you are hiding something and deny you admission.
Can they deny you admission when you are a US citizen?
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I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
141–150 of 345 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#142Thanks for the AMA Peter! Do you think there are risks involved with leaving (and hence returning to) the country on a Green Card?
I don't but a quick discussion with an immigration attorney to make sure that there are no hidden issues probably isn't a bad idea.
Thanks for the response, greatly appreciated!
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#143I've asked this question in a few places but never gotten an answer.
A TN visa/status holder that applies for a EB Green Card by filing form I-485 is considered to have shown immigrant intent and will no longer be granted TN status in the future.
Is this bar permanent or would an applicant who failed to obtain a Green Card or surrendered it in the future be able to seek TN visa/status provided they could prove strong links to Mexico/Canada?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
Foreign countries have no obligation to admit you within their borders. There’s many points you could make about the United States and immigration, but I don’t think this is one of them.
> Foreign countries have no obligation to admit you within their borders.
That doesn't sound relevant.
Nobody said that they were obliged to admit you, they complained that the reasons for declining admittance were unfair. Unless you think "no obligation to admit" means carte blanche to decline for any reason, and to treat you however they like?
If so, then that is unreasonable. It is a much stronger condition than "I don't have to let you in".
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
Who said anything about a “right to enter”? This is just about not massively invading visitors’ privacy for no good reason. Of course, if you just don’t want anyone with intelligence or dignity to visit the country, this is great policy.
Not op and may not agree with them but the original comment was how I read it "...we ostensibly have rights but the exercising of rights is ...".
We're talking about a non-citizen on a visitor visa and there is just simply no legal right to enter if the port of entry official don't like their answers or behavior. They can't say "you have to let me in, it's my right".
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I don't use social media" is probably a good answer, it just has to be true. If they ask you "well, do you use any social media?" You'd presumably have to answer with HN, which maybe doesn't sound all that great :)
HN isn't social media, any more than a bus is a car.
I don't think you want to try that argument with immigration officials, although it might just keep your incorrect answer from being straight up fraud or willful misrepresentation.
I mean, some US govt immigration forms asking for your social media usernames include pastebin sites like "justpaste.it". See for example: https://static.feber.se/article_images/42/10/92/421092_1280....
Knowing that, it's crystal clear HN falls strictly within that definition of "social media", although it might not be as clear if you don't know what that particular site is.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who said anything about a “right to enter”? This is just about not massively invading visitors’ privacy for no good reason. Of course, if you just don’t want anyone with intelligence or dignity to visit the country, this is great policy.
As explained upthread, > You are within your rights to say no Given that you don't have a right to enter, if you say no (which you are within your rights to do), and you are denied entry, then nothing wrong has happened. If you believe that they shouldn't make entry conditional on something, then you are asserting a right to enter. That's what "right" means.
This argument is absurd.
If someone comes up to me and asks for food, I am not obliged to give it to them.
If I say to them, "I will give you food, on the condition that I can punch you in the face", and they decline to be punched in the face, do you really believe "nothing wrong has happened"? That I, applying an unethical condition, did nothing wrong?
If someone else says "You must not make punching someone in the face a precondition of giving them food", does that create a "right to food"? Of course not.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#148Hi Peter, let's play hypotheticals. USMCA (CUSMA) is dead, Trump actually acted on his threat and the US left the treaty. I assume it means TN visas are dead in six months if the written notice clause is respected. Is the zombie CUSFTA now out of dormancy? Can we now use the TC visa? If CUSFTA dies as well, what are the other options and how long does it take to process?
Just my opinion, but I think USMCA dying is massively unlikely. Already there is some resentment in the Republican base for souring ties with Canada (e.g. bourbon producers, tourism) and I do see Canada-US ties moving in an upward trajectory in the recent months. The USMCA is also used by US citizens to work in Canada. And considering how watered down the H1B changes have been, I don’t think this administration has an appetite for materially pissing off coastal hi-tech. At most we’ll see tightened category adjudications.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#149Are you noticing any contraction (or increase) of immigration?
Early on in this administration, yes, but now, it seems as busy as ever although this latest suspension of immigration processes for those from 19 countries has definitely sent a chill.
Were those 19 countries a significant source of work in the system?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#150How easily can one get E1 treaty trader visa and what volume and quantity of trade are recommended? If I have a company registered in my home country (eligible country) and have payouts from a US provider like an advertising network, affiliate provider or some marketplace etc. and my clients are all US companies, can I apply for that visa? Would a low six figure yearly revenue with monthly payout be sufficient for th…
There's no minimum amount of trade specified in the regulations and the answer depends in part on other factors (such as how active the foreign and U.S. companies are and whether they employees and funding) but the minimum annual trade is generally understood to be at least $100K/$150K.
Can you have just one US client like a marketplace or network that gives you monthly payouts totalling $150k a year? The client is a famous US based company.