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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

#221

Post by jmyeet »

8note wrote: post #211
jmyeet wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The specificied purpose of PERM is to to fill a position that otherwiswe can't be filled by a US LPR or citizen.. If you need to hide your job postings on an internal physical caulk board in a basement and post them in only physical copies of The Columbus Dispatch then it should be pretty clear you're not following the spirit of the program. If, even after doing that, you then disqualify candidates for pretty fake re…

isnit right to call it abuse? certain employers can use h1bs to fill specific employment needs really well, and have a ton of experience with both sourcing foreign labour and matching it to work that needs doing in the US. its doing exactly what the program is looking for, filling a labour quantity at the price employers are looking for. The US government is optimizing for being able to do some volume of technical wo…

Nothing will convince me that the likes of Tata and Infosys are a good use of H1Bs. And because they flood the system with H1B applications, other actually valuable positions go unfilled.

If the customers for these bodyshops could save money by outsourcing directly to India, they would've already.

And beyond those big bodyshops you have any number of smaller H1B fraud schemes eg [1][2][3][4].

If you're Indian-born and are waiting 10-15+ years for your green card then you should be mad about these companies because they're making your life more difficult.

> The US government is optimizing for being able to do some volume of technical work, and the the h1 is intended to make sure that the industry isnt limited by labour availability

First, I disagree with this claim. The US government is optimizing to suppress wages.

Second, when there's significant unemployment in the sector then there is by definition availability. It further goes to my argument that the main purpose is to suppress wages.

[1]: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/east-bay-men-plead-guil...

[2]: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/h-1b-visa-fraud...

[3]: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/executives-staffing-compa...

[4]: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/sunnyvale-man-to-serve-1...

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

#222

Post by _fizz_buzz_ »

proberts wrote: post #74
bedobi wrote: post #58

I switched from e3 (NOT eb3) to h1b and then they did the $100k eo, so it doesn't feel like a good idea to remain on h1b. Now, my us citizen spouse and I are filing a spouse based green card application. (of course, we also filed for EA and AP) Anything you can tell us about how long it might take, how many requests for extra documents they might ask for? (I understand you haven't seen our application, to our minds i…

Even now, marriage-based green card applications are quick and easy. Because almost always they end in an interview at a local USCIS field office, the timing depends in part on the volume and efficiency of that local office but we are seeing most marriage-based green card applications approved within 6 months, regardless of the location. Requests for additional evidence in the marriage-based green card context are ra…

How about marraige based green cards when residing outside the US? Any indication how long this takes and how complicated the process is? My wife and daughter are both US citizens and we live in Germany. I am a German citizen and have no type of visa in the US.

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

#223

Post by QGQBGdeZREunxLe »

bubblethink wrote: post #187
QGQBGdeZREunxLe wrote: post #176

Pending 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.

So they're submitting data to the same database again? Sounds like a lot of hot air by the administration...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-mandates-e...

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

#224

Post by jmyeet »

bubblethink wrote: post #185
foobiekr wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's a fairly well-founded contention eg [1][2][3].

Here's a problem I often see when technical people, particular engineers, try to analyze legal issues: they tend to look for technical compliance (or noncompliance) or use standards like absolute proof but the law simply doesn't work that way.

Legal decisions tend to come down to things like witness credibility, a holistic view of the facts and whatever evidence standard is being used (eg preponderence of the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, clear and convincing evidence).

An example I like to use is back when prosecutions for downloading something illegal were more in the news. A technical person might argue "an IP address doens't mean anything. It could've been anybody". But the law will look at the totality of the evidence (eg browser history, time when it happened, were you home at the time, whether such media was found on your PC, etc. And the way the Rules of Evidence work, you might not even be able to suggest certain alternative theories (eg "my Wifi was hacked") without evidence.

Another good example is sponsoring someone for a marriage-based green card. You need to be in a bona fide marriage and you'll get people who will look for technical compliance. Is having a joint bank account enough? Photos? A joint lease? Filing a joint tax return? Those are some of the factors USCIS uses but no single factor is sufficient. USCIS will look at the totality of the evidence in determining if a marriage is bona fide.

so back to PERM abuse, arguments like "we made an error with the email address" or "we accidentally lost some US citizen applications" or even "we complied with the technical requirements for advertising a position" may not carry the day because the totality of the evidence may still amount to immigration fraud.

Lastly, it should be noted that a lack of a prosecution (yet?) is not proof of legality or compliance either.

[1]: https://www.theregister.com/2026/04/28/cloudera_doj_employme...

[2]: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-labor-depart...

[3]: https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/employee-rights-labour-r...

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

#225

Post by throwaway2037 »

jmyeet wrote: post #188
BeetleB wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 obfu…

    > I also think that doing layoffs in the US should disqualify you from doing any PERM or sponsoring any visa for 2-3 years.
I am sure this would have terrible second order effects. This does not sound well thought out. Also, many companies are so large that in parallel one part might be shrinking (or a division closing) and others might be growing. It is not always possible or reasonable to internally transfer 100% of laid-off staff.

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

#226

Post by throwaway2037 »

foobiekr wrote: post #179
ianhawes wrote: post #128

Earlier 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.

This is a wild claim. It is very difficult in US law to prove this claim.

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

#227

Post by throwaway2037 »

xqb64 wrote: post #4

What's the best path from zero to a fully legal status (visa first I imagine, but eventually citizenship) in the US for someone coming over from the Western Balkans (non-EU), with a bachelors degree in EE or CS and no prior work experience? Thanks for doing this.

Another idea: Get a master's degree in the US. Expensive, but will give you a very good chance to get a job offer in US. PhD is even better, but will take 4-5 years.

Also: Try the green card lottery. You can Google to find info.

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

#228

Post by throwaway2037 »

immighelper wrote: post #209

My family and I all have green cards, but for the last 3 years, we have been living outside the US (in India) with re-entry permits. I work for a large tech company and have technically been "on assignment" for that time, but honestly, we've more or less shifted base entirely to India at this point. Our re-entry permits are coming up for renewal soon. We're considering giving up my wife's and kids' green cards, and k…

As a green card holder living outside the US, are you subject to US federal taxes, e.g., global taxation?

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

#229

Post by throwaway2037 »

ilumanty wrote: post #181

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.

    > 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.
Reddit?

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

#230

Post by ilumanty »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #229
ilumanty wrote: post #181

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.

> 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. Reddit?

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/deportationen-unter-trump-sie-h...

Google Translate: https://www-tagesanzeiger-ch.translate.goog/deportationen-un...

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