What’s the situation for tech workers from Europe who want to go to the US solely for touristic purposes? There have been plenty of horror stories about people who were accused of plotting to work in the US from their laptop on false pretence of being on vacation.
I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
181–190 of 272 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#182How easy is it for canadians with Tn-1 visas these days?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#183How do you see the increase in robotics and AI on your work over the next couple of years? Will demand drop in general or will we continue to see an influx of people with a diminishing amount of jobs?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#184Do you believe skilled immigration is overall detriment or increment to the American economy?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they've complied with the DOL regulations and requirements, what makes you think they're violating the law?
Explicitly and openly not acting in good faith.
That is your contention though. The government needs to prove that in a court of law that they are violating the statute or the regulations.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#186Does H1-B really carry that 100k per-case fee? I remember hearing of it, but afterwards also individual stories of people getting H1-B. I don't know them personally unfortunately; not sure whether it was sponsored by not-for-profit research institutes or for-profit companies. I can't imagine this rule being economically feasible for most, though. And if the answer is actually a yes, would the company want to make sur…
Yes, the $100K fee exists and applies under certain circumstances, essentially if the beneficiary is outside the U.S. or ineligible for a change of status or change of employer. Most companies are simply not pursuing H-1B petitions where the $100K fee would apply but there are exceptions. It's possible to extend H-1B status beyond the 6-year max-out period if the beneficiary is in the green card process. But if the b…
Also that the fee exists as a proclamation but is being litigated. It is on appeal in the DC circuit and there is a separate case in ND CA as well. In light of learning resources, my money is on it being overruled.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72095497/chamber-of-com...
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71541425/global-nurse-f...
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#187Pending Green Card applications are going through "extended vetting", which I understand means resubmitting biometrics against an FBI database which now contains more nationwide data. Do you know anything about this process?
They've always had nationwide data. The database is NCIC. It's an imperfect database that has hits for any interaction with law enforcement. USCIS/DHS/State routinely use this database. So there's not much that's new there.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think everyone would agree that the PERM process is an awful process for both applicants and for employers. The job is supposed to be treated as an open position and the recruitment is supposed to be done in good faith. So, if a qualified, willing, able, and available U.S. worker applies for a PERM job, the employer either must hire this person or terminate the PERM process and wait at least 6 months before restart…
> The job is supposed to be treated as an open position and the recruitment is supposed to be done in good faith. So, if a qualified, willing, able, and available U.S. worker applies for a PERM job, the employer either must hire this person or terminate the PERM process and wait at least 6 months before restarting it. The "or" part in the last sentence is worth noting. At the place I've worked, the employer invokes t…
Generally lawyers need to be involved to make sure any rejections are compliant. There's a whole cottage industry around this.
Personally, given the state of unemployment in the tech sector right now, I think it should be virtually impossible to fill a PERM right now because pretty much any position could be filled with a US LPR or citizen and the only reason it isn't is because the whole process is deliberately obfuscated or artificial barriers are put up purposefully to disqualify candidates.
I also think that doing layoffs in the US should disqualify you from doing any PERM or sponsoring any visa for 2-3 years.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#189The current administration has made it very hard for tech workers to get perm status. Many larger companies are no longer sponsoring perm applications for workers on h1-bs because it is so difficult to meet the new requirements. Which of the new requirements is the most difficult for companies to meet and have you seen any creative solutions, especially for smaller companies and startups trying to get their H1-B folk…
I beg to differ. The companies have made it difficult by doing constant rounds of layoffs. The state of unemployment in the sector is such that pretty much any vanilla position could be filled by a US LPR or citizen and the process is designed to obfuscate it so those people never see the job (eg internal job posting boards, advertising in physical newspapers).
PERM isn't meant to be an automatic process. I get that the employee wants permanent status but the employer can't have it both ways. You can't constantly need to be doing layoffs AND be unable to fill what is probably a pretty generic position (like "software engineer").
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
To help answer the question, because it's not an irresponsible argument at face value, assuming good faith: Tech companies generally hire 'talent' not 'labour'. The people they need have specific skills and abilities, which are in short supply. 'Average Joes' are by definition not in the running for these mostly competitive opportunities. If these companies could just hire average Joes they absolutely would. That's n…
> By and large, if we move issues of 'culture and identity' aside, the US benefits enormously from immigrants. Yeah, but issues of culture and identity are extremely important, so important that it's farcical to exclude them when evaluating to what degree the US benefits from immigrants or deciding what immigration policy ought to be. > Because the numbers are small enough, there is almost zero downside for US citize…
>and locals getting priced out by immigrants who work for tech companies basically characterizes the demographic trajectory of my hometown.
That's on the locals. They are being priced out because they don't want to build any housing (NIMBYism) nor do they want to pay taxes on property (Prop 13). Don't blame immigrants for the policy failures of the bay area. These failures extend to all of CA and predate tech immigrants.