I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA • Hacker News Board

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

#241

Post by yeputons » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:18 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #222

annavdoro wrote: post #165

Right now there are many cases with visa administrative processing taking several years after o1 approval. Any changes expected here?

I haven't seen that. The delays I've seen are for those from certain countries (such as Iran or Russia) or for those whose area of expertise/study is subject to export control laws/concerns.

> whose area of expertise/study is subject to export control laws/concerns.

Does that intersect significantly with a typical startup? Maybe machine learning researcher or engineer. Or an information security specialist, like a white hat hacker.

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

#242

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:35 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #91

kubb wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m a senior SWE in big tech. Targeting big to mid tech and financial companies or startups. I’m weighing my options in case of layoffs and whatnot.

Schedule a consultation with me or another immigration attorney to go over your options (because a detailed analysis is required) but likely your only real option will be the O-1 and as senior SWE at big tech, you should be able to qualify for an O-1 or take steps to qualify for an O-1.

[deleted]

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

#243

Post by webdev_fromDS » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:35 PM UTC

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this!

My employer has been helpful to file for my green card. I recently got "CERTIFIED" on my PERM and the lawyers are working to get my I-140 ready to file. I have some publications as first author and as a co-author is a highly respected journal.

I wanted to know if there is a path to move from EB2 to EB1? If there is, what would be the requirements to qualify? I ask this my I-140 priority date is late 2024, and the current date for my nationality is 2012. EB1 current date seems to be 2022. Is it possible to move to EB1 and carry over the priority date from the (hopefully approved) I-140?

Many thanks! I have read several of your AMAs and found them helpful!

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

#244

Post by throwaway111119 » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:52 PM UTC

blindriver wrote: post #15

How viable is the effort to overturn birthright citizenship?

I've read a few different standards for revoking birthright:

1. Probably the weakest notion is to revoke birthright going forward on children born in US to parents without legal status.

2. A stronger notion seems to be the revocation of birthright going forward on children born in the US to parents with green cards but not yet US citizenship. This seems to be a popular form of jus sanguinis in some EU countries.

3. I'm not sure how serious is the talk about revocation of birthright retroactively for all those born on US soil but to parents who at the time only had green cards.

Does anyone have an idea of the momentum behind the stronger forms of revocation?

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

#245

Post by doctorpangloss » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:52 PM UTC

How do you square away your relationship with Y Combinator, which has been by all means positive, with the eager collaboration of its leadership with the most anti-immigrant administration in history?

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

#246

Post by kevinfinnerty34 » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 10:56 PM UTC

Hi Peter! Thanks for doing this.

I'm a college dropout working as a SWE at one of the FAANG companies in Europe.

I understand that there are two paths I can take -- getting transferred by my company on an L-1B or try to compensate a degree with 12+ years of experience for an H1-B. Do you have any tips for people without degrees from what you've seen in practice? How often do you see people without a degree getting any of the visas?

Is there any chance I can get an o1 if I have a really good resume (10+ YOE, half of it at very-well-known companies)?

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

#247

Post by yandie » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 11:03 PM UTC

akktor wrote: post #111

Hi Peter! Thank you for doing this. I'm a software engineer with 3 years of experience and a MSc degree in computer science. I'm currently working in a big tech company in the UK and I would like to move to the US in the near future. At the moment I'm more leaning toward an L1 because I don't have to go through the lottery but I'm exploring other scenarios. Would you recommend trying to move to the US with an L1 or a…

You can come on L1B and then try to get into the H1B lottery (will be tough since you don't have a US degree - I assume). I decided to go with L1B since H1B was impossible to get back then and the timeline worked in my favor.

I came to the US via L1B but went straight into green card. Unfortunately EB2 ROW is backlogged at the moment so you might be looking at 2-3 years. And if your company does lay off, they'd have to pause the PERM process for 6 months, which will add further delays to your timeline.

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

#248

Post by aredox » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 11:06 PM UTC

doctorpangloss wrote: post #245

How do you square away your relationship with Y Combinator, which has been by all means positive, with the eager collaboration of its leadership with the most anti-immigrant administration in history?

[flagged]

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

#249

Post by rsoto2 » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 11:17 PM UTC

My sister is trying to do AOS we have DACA, and a legal entry, but also multiple entries, she is married to a USC. Is there another way to adjust to residency that we do not know of?

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

#250

Post by spondylosaurus » Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 11:23 PM UTC

proberts wrote: post #201

ddtaylor wrote: post #196

Thanks, Peter. Do you think a state like Oregon can continue to have a state constitution it does with support for immigration as a sanctuary, etc. or is Oregon supposed to be more duty bound by local state constitution? What happens when they are mutually exclusive or the federal government gives orders that are unlawful locally? Does this become a 10th amendment issue?

Good question and I don't know the answer but this is sure to be a battleground in the coming years, states refusing to enforce federal law or to act as agents of the federal government.

Well, since "federal law can't impose on state law" has been the SCOTUS party line for the last X years, we might as well use that line of reasoning here...