Are you seeing an increase in RFE/denial rates for EB2-NIW? What advice would you have if you get an RFE? This is for an AI researcher at one of the 3 foundation model companies.
What nationality and what is your current status?
I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
331–340 of 486 posts
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#332Hi Peter, thanks for doing this AMA. I am traveling to the US soon for work from Europe. I have been reading a lot of articles about detentions at US airports and phone checks. My mindset has always been to never give my personal phone for an inspection, but times has changed now and it has been happening a lot more frequently. I am wondering what is the best course of action, prior to travel and if asked to give you…
> it has been happening a lot more frequently.
Is that factual? Or has the media simply been covering it more due to their bias?
International Travelers Processed with Electronic Device Search
Fiscal Year Quarter Total Border Searches Conducted FY 24, Q1 10,937 FY24, Q2 11,273 FY24, Q3 12,090 FY24, Q4 12,658 FY25, Q1 12,092 FY25, Q2 12,260
(The U.S. 2024 fiscal year began on September 28, 2023)
To understand the scale, in FY25 Q2, there were 88 million entries.
So the assertion that 1) electronic searches are statistically meaningful and 2) they are increasing by any significance is just media-fed fear.
One ought to consider the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000 — the police do not even need reasonable suspicion of a crime to stop and search a person, their vehicle, or electronic devices. https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/07/04/without-suspicion/stop...
You can also be arrested in the UK for the crime of insulting someone. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18102815.amp
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#333Hi Peter, thank you so much for doing this AMA! I'm currently trying to decide whether to appeal an EB1A decision - they agreed to meeting "plain language" for 3 criteria, but denied the application on final merit.
What kind of considerations would you advise your clients to think of when making this decision?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#334If you could make any 3 changes - unilaterally and instantly with no consequences - to US immigration policy today, what would they be?
Add thousands of immigration judges and CBP officers to improve the asylum process and improve the conditions of those going through the process, particularly children, do away with H-1B quotas, and do away with green card quotas and change to a point-based green card system.
Thank you very much for replying and making yourself available for the AMA.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#335Earlier quoted context omitted.
The one that I frequently hear of as a layman (not a lawyer) is Toronto Pearson Airport's Preclearance, which has a very strict and narrow view of the TN Status eligible occupations.
Obviously anecdotal but I've had zero issues with preclearance at Pearson as a TN holder, both crossing and when applying for TN. They usually just ask me some combination of where I work for, what I do, and if I know when my TN expires, and that's it. My experience applying there has also been incredibly uneventful. I guess engineering is a bit easier to do though, especially if you have a strong application that's…
Conversely, preclearance at Pearson royally screwed up my TN visa after claiming that the other ports of entries were doing it wrong. I have received multiple TN from HOU and, in general, I like the CBP at HOU. EWR was always friendly as well in my opinion. I personally prefer getting my TN at land border crossings because they tend to take the "gather all the facts" approach vs. airports have a procedural approach that feels highly dependent on the agent you get. My most recent TN was I-129 which I think is a waste of money but if someone else is paying for it and you have the luxury of waiting in the US, then it's a seamless experience.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#336Hey Peter, what are your thoughts on networks states and the methods tech CEOS and VCs are using to push the working class towards Techno feudalism? Do you think Peter Thiel using Palantir to mine US tax payers information, to help drive and target innocent civilians towards their vision, is legal? Should the constitution exist or do we need to be conquered and lead by monarchies? Most importantly, do you believe the…
I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re going on about. Help me understand how this pertains to immigration.
Certainly :) Immigration is actually directly related to how CEOs and VC intend to change the landscape for all things government related, and democracy as a whole. There is very much a subjective intent to tear down the rule of law, the rights that safeguard Americans as a whole, starting with immigration. IT's an entry point, a target to whittle away basic rights of the average American. Peter Thiel touches on this need for a tech revolution in his paper "The Straussian Moment", https://www.hoover.org/research/peter-thiel-straussian-momen..., who also funded JD Vance's rise to VP. These guys love the concepts written in Sirrivassan's book "the Network State", and want to replace our current government with distributed monarchies. Sirrivassan, Thiel, Andresen, and Curtis Yarvin actually have a documented plan to achieve this which is being executed, to a "T", which involves attacking immigration, not just as a distraction so they can attack the courts directly, but also cause it's part of their vision. Curtis Yarvin's writings include pointed attacks on immigration, both as a policy and as a reflection of deeper systemic problems. He uses immigration as an example to argue for the failure of democracy and to advocate for his preferred model of authoritarian governance. He also frames immigration debates as distractions from what he sees as the real issues-namely, the incompetence and self-serving nature of current elites and institutions.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#337Have people gotten into trouble for having a nearly empty phone when they get searched? Like using a burner phone or doing a factory reset prior to the trip. I've wondered if that would be considered suspecious.
At least one person has been subject to secondary screening and ultimately denied entry on the accusation that they had two phones.
> I thought I was just going to be given my passport and sent on my way, or maybe asked a couple of questions, but they made some pretty outlandish accusations. They said, ‘We know you have two mobile phones. We’ve been tracking your calls. We know you’ve been selling drugs’.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/11/australian-w...
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#338Did you observe a drop in H1B visa applications since the 2024 presidential election?
From my limited perspective, No although I have clients who have decided not to open operations in the U.S. and/or transfer employees to the U.S. because of the political situation.
Is opening operations in the US and hiring Americans such a terrible thing?
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#339Any ideas how Eb3 final action date will move in the future? I noticed that for 2023 onwards more than 80k perms were approved.
Re: I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney, who does work for YC and startups. AMA
#340Earlier quoted context omitted.
> likely no advantage Freedom to travel. Can't realistically renew F1.
Seriously? I can't renew it? I'm just at the start of my OPT, I can't not visit home for 3 years ...
Well, in theory you can. In practice it gets rejected so often that it's not worth risking unless you have a solid backup plan.