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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

#21

Post by proberts »

rsstack wrote: post #17

Thankfully I'm personally on the other side of this already (got my green card less than a year ago). With many jobs becoming fully remote, do you think it's still possible to offer relocation to employees through L-1s, O-1s and H-1Bs? On the one hand, it's hard to claim that they truly need to be in the States, but on the other hand, it could be important for the timezones to match (and it's an amazing employee bene…

There's some variation depending on the visa classification but yes, an employee could qualify for a visa even if the job is fully remote. But the employer must be a US company with US operations.

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

#22

Post by throwaway-09221 »

Hey Peter! Thank you tons for your contributions here!

I'm an Indian in the US on an H1B visa and working in software. I've also made a product for fun on weekends (which my company knows about and approves of).

I was thinking of opening access to it for the world, but as it'll involve substantial costs on (cloud) infrastructure, I'll have to ask people to pay for usage on it. I don't plan to profit from this in any way right now. People will mostly pay for their share of usage.

From some rough googling (oh, no!), it seems like this wouldn't work under the rules of the H1B as it'd be considered unauthorized work. Is there any legitimate way of giving people access to this without having to also just pay for all the infrastructure myself?

Also would it be fine to just release it for free?

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

#23

Post by proberts »

anter wrote: post #14

Would a startup founder with a history of various fairly popular, but not huge projects have a chance applying for an O-1 visa, or do you have to be a celebrity of some sort (in business/science/etc) to get it?

Definitely possible. The O-1 standard isn't as high as the black letter language of the regulations suggests.

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

#25

Post by anter »

proberts wrote: post #23
anter wrote: post #14

Would a startup founder with a history of various fairly popular, but not huge projects have a chance applying for an O-1 visa, or do you have to be a celebrity of some sort (in business/science/etc) to get it?

Definitely possible. The O-1 standard isn't as high as the black letter language of the regulations suggests.

Thank you!

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

#27

Post by gordon_freeman »

proberts wrote: post #20
gordon_freeman wrote: post #5

Asking for a friend - Is it possible to start a startup/side biz (while keep doing his full-time job)by an H1B visa holder with his wife if the wife is on H4 EAD?

There is but there are limits on what he can do and unfortunately other than not getting paid by the side business the limits aren't very clear. If he's interested, he should speak with someone so that he doesn't cross any lines.

I'll pass your note to him. Thanks so much for your contributions to HN and advise. Appreciate it.

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

#28

Post by rsstack »

proberts wrote: post #21
rsstack wrote: post #17

Thankfully I'm personally on the other side of this already (got my green card less than a year ago). With many jobs becoming fully remote, do you think it's still possible to offer relocation to employees through L-1s, O-1s and H-1Bs? On the one hand, it's hard to claim that they truly need to be in the States, but on the other hand, it could be important for the timezones to match (and it's an amazing employee bene…

There's some variation depending on the visa classification but yes, an employee could qualify for a visa even if the job is fully remote. But the employer must be a US company with US operations.

Brilliant, thank you!

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

#29

Post by proberts »

throwaway-09221 wrote: post #22

Hey Peter! Thank you tons for your contributions here! I'm an Indian in the US on an H1B visa and working in software. I've also made a product for fun on weekends (which my company knows about and approves of). I was thinking of opening access to it for the world, but as it'll involve substantial costs on (cloud) infrastructure, I'll have to ask people to pay for usage on it. I don't plan to profit from this in any…

It is a gray area but I don't see any issue if you release it for free. Getting paid, even if to cover your expenses, is more problematic, however. I wouldn't say it's a complete non-starter but it would have to be structured very carefully and properly to avoid crossing any lines.

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

#30

Post by borjah »

I'm Europe based at the moment, but I'm curious about how to validate your degrees from an European country to be recognised in the USA as a valid diploma and search for a job. Maybe is not your area of expertise, so I'm sorry for the question if is not.
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