I'll be taking a break now for about an hour. Anything I can't respond to today I'll respond to over the weekend. Thanks.
I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
291–300 of 479 posts
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#292Hey Peter - It seems that almost 2/3 of the USCIS staff will be furloughed starting August 3rd. What is the likely impact on processing times? Also in particular, any insight on adjustment of status applications?
If that happens, then I think premium processing will be suspended and the processing of any application or petition by USCIS will take forever; I think USCIS effectively will come to a halt.
Is there anything we can do as a community to prevent this?
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#293Hi Peter, Thank you for doing this. If you're on a H1b visa and waiting for your green card to be come current, can you be the co-founder of a start up? What are the implications and is there a way to set up start up so that the US citizen founder can be the primary?
Are you in the I-485 stage?
No,I received by 140 and waiting for it to be current.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#294How likely the political conflicts between China and US to affect the immigration law (or enact specific laws to China nationals)?
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Q1) starting a LLC in Delaware/Nevada <$200, renting a P.O.Box that scans incoming mail <$100/year. You can't start an S-Corp (but you can tax a LLC as S-Corp) and starting a C-Corp can get very expensive (tax based on the number of shares). Most VCs require a C-Corp. Angels might be fine with an LLC.
Do you have to pay tax in USA though?
Last time I checked, both Delaware and Nevada were tax-free up to $1M revenue. However, franchise tax depended on the amount of C-Corp shares (i.e. instead of paying $250 for an LLC one could end up paying $70k for a C-Corp). And for your personal taxes it depends on the agreement between the US and your home country. In the worst case you'd have to pay both if there is no agreement.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#296- I'm an international student in the US
- I'm going to start working full-time for a big US tech company.
- I'm a citizen of a European country that requests a very small number of green cards.
Assuming I can get an H1B visa, how long does it usually take to get an employer-sponsored green card, from the time of filing of said green card?
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#297My case: Presently in US on a cap-exempt H1B. Planning to resign from my current position in a few months' time, and (eventually) relocate to another country.
Q: Can I make use of the 60-day grace period to stay in US after I resign? I don't need work authorization for this period.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#298Does an approved H1-B extension necessarily extends the i-94 date? If not, is the only alternative to leave the country, get a new visa stamp(which is not possible till Dec 31, AFAIK) and reenter the country?
AFAIK it does extend the i-94 but you still need a visa stamp to reenter the US
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#299I'm an American citizen, but many of my current and former colleagues have moved here from other countries. On a number of occasions, those colleagues have explained something about their own immigration process. The current system is crazy. What is the likelihood of process simplification? What are some groups that are pushing for concrete, attainable steps to simplify the process?
They actually have simplified one thing with electronic filing. At least now you can more easily know when you're "documentarily qualified" and it's electronic so they don't keep losing the stuff you already sent them and demanding it again and you can see exactly what they have.
That, uhh, that doesn't stop them from simply forgetting to tell you when you have a consular interview and leaving you waiting for months pointlessly to receive the date. By the time we heard back from our Senator's legal counsel for advice, we already had the visa in hand, but that is a route of escalation if things go crazy. Anyone who gets stuck like that is advised to talk to the consulate directly or have their lawyer do so.
Overall, for us, the worst thing was the glacial speed things move at. It's funded by the fees paid by applicants, so I don't know what can be done to speed things up, but it's incredibly frustrating to be left in limbo for a long time.
Re: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be surprised if that is considered a crime punishable by imprisonment. Would claims made in ESTA application fall under this: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1546
How would that work? Surely, if they knew you'd lied they'd refuse your visa so you couldn't travel to USA. If they didn't know they would, possibly, give a visa; how would they later find out you'd lied if they didn't know in the first instance? Do they go and re-check visa applications? Do they lie and give visas to people just so they can lock them up for falsely acquiring a visa?? Didn't the current First Lady fa…
Like almost all crimes, they wouldn't care to prosecute most people. Tax avoidance is a crime. What percentage of people who lie on their tax returns get prosecuted anyway?
But if you are one of the unlucky few whom they decide to prosecute, you will have a bad time. Read the articles about Sirous Asgari. I don't have any good articles which tells the whole saga, but use this as the starting point and search more on the internet: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/28/iran-scientist...
Recap of the saga:
An Iranian university professor (who had previously studied in the US and has ties to the US) requested a US visa. It was granted. Hew was arrested as soon as he entered the US. He was charged with wire fraud, visa fraud, and stealing trade secrets. After a lengthy trial, 2 years later, he was cleared of any charges and acquitted. But then ICE took him into custody because they had revoked his visa and he was in the US without a valid visa (please note that he had no choice in this, as he was forbidden from leaving the US while the trial was proceeding and he was taken into custody again immediately after the trial concluded. Real catch-22). Then he spent a couple of months in ICE custody and his frequent requests to be sent back to Iran was denied. He got infected with COVID-19 during this time. And finally in June, he was deported to Iran.
And this is the case of someone who was innocent. Imagine what would have happened if he were actually guilty. They gave him a visa so they could arrest him and charge him with visa fraud (among other things). Even when he was acquitted, he spent more time in jail because they retroactively revoked his visa. And most important of all, none of this even made front page. This is not one of those WTF cases that are so rare you might as well ignore them. Following the news on this over the years, the tone was always "yeah, nothing special about this case."