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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

#231

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

jsbg wrote: post #226
xp84 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I just spent 2 months interviewing and hiring candidates for 4 open (remote) eng positions at a US startup. Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer and make a mental note to never trust you. I don't think you should do that. We actually hired some Canadian talent -- we just used an EOR in Canada. The EOR cost us about $600…

> Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer and make a mental note to never trust you. I wouldn't trust you either. The question is ambiguous when it comes to NAFTA and applicants are worried about being filtered out despite not needing visa sponsorship. TN is not a visa it's a status based on a free trade agreement.

Ugh, arguing over the simple meaning of factual statements on the Internet is my biggest pet peeve. If you don't have an appropriate work visa, permanent residency or citizenship, and you answer yes to the question of "Are you legally authorized to work in the US", you are just a liar, plain and simple.

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

#232

Post by b112 »

chollida1 wrote: post #212
KerrAvon wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s only the Canada -> US leg, though. They can still grab your phone on the US -> Canada return trip, ne pas?

Where? Driving across the border from the US back to Canada you don't talk to US border agents. Flying from the US back to Canada you don't talk to US border agents.

I am not replying to the i94 side of this, just the "talking to" side.

There are massive data sharing agreements between US and Canada customs. US and Canadian sides can pull full criminal records, and a pardon means nothing. Exit data is shared in both directions as well.

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

#233

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Plasmoid wrote: post #191
xp84 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I just spent 2 months interviewing and hiring candidates for 4 open (remote) eng positions at a US startup. Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer and make a mental note to never trust you. I don't think you should do that. We actually hired some Canadian talent -- we just used an EOR in Canada. The EOR cost us about $600…

> Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer This might actually violate EEOC. You would discriminating on the basis on nationality. The question that was asked was "Are you legally authorized to work in the US?" and Canadian have a limited legal right to work in the US under NAFTA.

> This might actually violate EEOC. You would discriminating on the basis on nationality.

This is laughably incorrect, and a good example of why you should get legal advice from lawyers instead of Internet forums.

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

#234

Post by jgilias »

xp84 wrote: post #168
joshdavham wrote: post #125

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…

Hi, I just spent 2 months interviewing and hiring candidates for 4 open (remote) eng positions at a US startup. Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer and make a mental note to never trust you. I don't think you should do that. We actually hired some Canadian talent -- we just used an EOR in Canada. The EOR cost us about $600…

If those are remote positions, why do you care about any of this at all? Make it clear that the applicant needs to handle taxation in their home country themselves, and that’s that. I know many software engineers working remotely for companies outside their home country. One would typically set up an LLC or equivalent, and be employed by that.

Any options agreement would be with the private individual to not mess up the cap table.

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

#235

Post by idontwantthis »

proberts wrote: post #222
idontwantthis wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a green card holder need to carry other than their passport and greencard?

Maybe just proof of residence in the U.S., such as a lease agreement or deed.

What would happen if they didn’t have that?

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

#236

Post by trod1234 »

proberts wrote: post #216
trod1234 wrote: post #198

Hi Peter, thanks for doing these AMA's. There has been so much in the news recently, both on immigration, birthright citizenship, potential suspension of habeas corpus, lack of due process, the effective setup of stateless regions (El Salvador), and other aspects that all boil down to a question that seems to be on a number of people's minds and centered on a single question. While this is more of a generic question,…

These are trying times and I think the proof will be in the pudding, whether courts at the appellate level, including the Supreme Court, push back against totalitarianism and uphold the law. That's an open question. And then of course, the executive branch has to abide by the decisions of the courts, which also is an open question.

Thanks again for the response and listening.

I'll pray that we do somehow manage to push back against totalitarianism as a society.

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

#237

Post by SoftTalker »

nrmitchi wrote: post #74
galonk wrote: post #12

Maybe a dumb question, but... I'm a Canadian who would qualify for a TN visa if I worked in the States, but don't currently have a visa or green card. On the online submission form for job openings, it always asks "Are you legally entitled to work in the US?". Am I meant to answer yes or no to that?

Also not a lawyer, but wanted to second what jsbg said. I've been through this process many times, and I would always say yes and then mention with the recruiter (even if I had to explain that the process was basically "asking politely for permission at the border"). The underlying question that employers really care about is "will you be legally allowed to accept a job offer without unexpected expenses or delays". E…

Employers are subject to substantial penalties if they hire someone who is not legally permitted to work. I think they are woried about more than unexpected delays, though I admit I'm way out of my sphere of knowledge on this subject.

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

#238

Post by mrguyorama »

deadbabe wrote: post #133
proberts wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The short answer is that CBP has the right to ask to see your electronic devices and you have the right to refuse but if you refuse (and you are not a U.S. green card holder or citizen), CBP likely will deny you admission and send you home.

I had a friend who was asked to unlock her phone, and she did, and then… they did nothing. They watched her do it and moved on to the next question. Seems like asking someone to do this is just a good test to see the kind of individual they’re dealing with. It’s not practical to thoroughly search phones at scale and plus they know people can just have burner phones anyway. If you’re cagey and combative they know you’…

It's CBP

It's not actually about any form of screening. It's a power trip. Only the dumbest criminal or terrorist would bring an incriminating device across the border and have any need to say "no" to that request.

Which, stopping dumb criminals and terrorists is important and valuable and they do exist, but nobody applied to work for CBP in order to check the phones of dumb criminals. They applied because they have strong opinions about certain things.

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

#239

Post by xp84 »

YZF wrote: post #205
xp84 wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I just spent 2 months interviewing and hiring candidates for 4 open (remote) eng positions at a US startup. Answering "Yes" to 1 when you don't have a green card or US citizenship would be a way to guarantee that I would rescind your offer and make a mental note to never trust you. I don't think you should do that. We actually hired some Canadian talent -- we just used an EOR in Canada. The EOR cost us about $600…

TN is not a visa and all you need to get this status is a job offer. There's really no work of any specialized nature but some companies do get legal advice to help streamline the process and get better outcomes like reducing the probability that the person would be denied. (EDIT: it is sometimes referred to a visa and sometimes as a status but at any rate as someone who had TN status with two different US startups t…

Brief reading of reddit posts by people who actually did this almost always included that the company's lawyers wrote them letters and prepared packets of materials for them to provide CBP. We don't have any lawyers. We're simply not employing people who don't have green cards. We don't have time or money to play games with the government.

One important thing in seeking TN status is that the title of degree matters immensely to your employability, which goes entirely against what I stand for, as if you have a degree in economics or no degree but do a great job of writing code, I'd want to hire you. The law contains vagaries and there is a "memo" which suggests that they use common sense, but it's all up to a random border guard who might not know any of that to interpret everything.

Anyway, you're not automatically legally allowed to work in the US and lying about it won't help. We can agree to disagree on whether we "should" deal with all that stuff or if we're missing out, but lying to get halfway in the door is the worst way to change an employer's mind, especially in this economy when plenty of domestic candidates are available.

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

#240

Post by SoftTalker »

idontwantthis wrote: post #235
proberts wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe just proof of residence in the U.S., such as a lease agreement or deed.

What would happen if they didn’t have that?

I would guess unnecessary delays. Leases or property ownership can be verified with a phone call but probably needs to happen during business hours and if you are prepared everything will have a better chance to go smoothly. Property ownership is public record but a lease might be a bit more trouble to verify if the landlord is privacy conscious.
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