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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

#241

Post by kjellsbells »

smsm42 wrote: post #72
kjellsbells wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you recommend for foreign born US citizens worried about being approached by ICE? What are the basic ground rules for interacting? For example, some of us here look very much like we didnt grow up in an Iowa cornfield and have genuine concern that one negative interaction is going to result in being roughed up by untrained ICE agents at best and tossed into jail or worse. Do we just get used to the idea of…

Carry a REAL-ID enabled state ID? Those are not available to illegals in any state. All newer state IDs AFAIK are REAL-ID enabled by default. And you probably will need to use some form of ID anyway pretty frequently.

Thats a good idea, although it is not completely robust.

REAL-ID only proves that the holder had legal presence at the time of issue, not that the holder maintains legal presence at the point of presenting it to the ICE officer. For example, holders of Temporary Protected Status would have been here perfectly legally and been able to get and hold a REAL ID. But their status has just been revoked. So an ICE officer could still refuse to accept it as proof of legal status.

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

#242

Post by aussieInSF »

proberts wrote: post #226
aussieInSF wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the response. Just in case you circle back, assuming I go the EB-3 route via my employer, am I correct in thinking that an I-485 application or even going the consular processing route makes the E-3 unobtainable in the future if either fail?

Not necessarily but you will have some explaining to do when you apply for a new E-3 visa again.

Thank you, I will look into it more.

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

#243

Post by tz18 »

Hi Mr. Roberts,

How hard/slow is it for an American citizen to bring their non-American wife over these days? My friend is a dual citizen considering taking a job in the USA but he's a little concerned about whether his non-American wife and kid could join him. She has a B1/B2 visa already. Is there some strategy to it? I heard the process is super backed up.

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

#244

Post by AdventureMouse »

proberts wrote: post #232
AdventureMouse wrote: post #66

Hey Peter! What are some of the most common legal mistakes you see startups make and how can they be avoided?

I'm not a business person so I'm not really in a position to comment but one mistake I've made - I have my own firm so I'm not too different from a startup founder - is not putting administrative/human resources infrastructure in place from the beginning and not hiring a chief of staff early on.

Interesting - how would it have helped you to have HR in place earlier/what problems did not having it cause?

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

#246

Post by testfrequency »

jonpurdy wrote: post #208
proberts wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, a year is a long time but evidence of having applied for a reentry permit in the form of a receipt notice is usually enough to reenter the U.S. without issue even with absences of more than 6 months.

That is useful to know. We were expecting a 5-month wait (as of January 2025) and recently learned it could take over a year. Since we've been out of country since applying (no biometrics required) we were concerned about being out of country for over a year with just a receipt notice and permit in pending state.

Thank you both for the responses and sharing, crazy helpful.

I admittedly haven’t done my research today on the permit, but reading your reply now and seeing you can apply while abroad…that’s great news. I suppose my partner can start the process while we are still here, but glad we have the option it seems to do this once we are slightly more settled abroad.

Hope your family gets the permit soon.

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

#247

Post by antonvs »

mertleee wrote: post #134
crowcroft wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Podcasts are a very significant medium, and Dwarkesh is probably comfortably in the top 1% of podcasts. Isn't that exactly what O-1 is for?

At the time he barely had 10k subscribers. The merits of the "genius" VISA should be for research and engineering endeavors.

Melania Trump got an EB-1 visa as a model. That’s the permanent resident version of the O-1, which is temporary.

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

#248

Post by devxpy »

Hi Peter! Heard your name from a couple of friends who have gotten their visas from you! Nice to see you here.

What kind of travel restrictions apply for someone on an O-1 visa (potentially looking to file for EB-1A)? Is there a recommended minimum period of stay in the US?

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

#249

Post by smsm42 »

TechDebtDevin wrote: post #90
smsm42 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many don't do this because they don't feel the need. I've spent about a decade in the US as a green card holder, and the only cases I ever been asked for it is either crossing the border or being hired. And I never heard about anyone being fined (let alone going to prison) for failure to carry the green card on them. Yes, the law says that, but I don't think anybody paid much attention to that, at least until now.

You act as if the last 6 months are a continuation of the the last 9.5 years, and there is some status quo that hasn't changed. Maybe for an affluent SWE in his Tesla, but this isn't the case for many on their way to work in a construction work van.

> this isn't the case for many on their way to work in a construction work van.

How many of those van-traveling green card holding construction workers have been fined or imprisoned for failure to carry the green card lately? I don't mean brief detention - anybody can be detained by the police, especially when not having any identification - I mean actual conviction under 1304(e) and court-assigned fine or jail time. How many such cases do you know?

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

#250

Post by eitally »

crowcroft wrote: post #130
mertleee wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's beyond a joke. Recently spent some time at an accelerator and the partners of the VC firm were very open about purchasing "fake" research or presenting investments as if they were from more than one "investor". I still fail to understand how Dwarkesh Patel managed to "self-sponsor" an O-1 with a... tech podcast...

Podcasts are a very significant medium, and Dwarkesh is probably comfortably in the top 1% of podcasts. Isn't that exactly what O-1 is for?

I don't think so, personally, because I see that podcast as entertainment rather than education, and I don't think entertainers should ever receive O-1 visas.
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