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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

#41

Post by vertis »

__s wrote: post #2

I work at a large corp I want to take part in Iceland's long term remote worker visa to visit for 6 months HR thinks this may be a tax liability, but the duration is explicitly less than long enough to be considered a tax resident Is there an issue with the large corp having an office in Iceland or is HR being overly cautious? (extra detail I don't think should matter: I'm Canadian, company is American)

The way most digital nomads (including myself) approach this is to not be an employee, but rather a contractor. I'm an Australian and run an Estonian company (it's far from the only option, but they make it very easy). I invoice my customers for long term contract work.

Assuming your large corp / HR are friendly, they might even be willing to switch to a contractor relation (depending on the juristiction this might not be allowed, e.g. Germany is very tough on contractors as employees).

This prevents the biggest problem of large corporates. Being in the country with employees might make you a 'permanent establishment' and therefore liable for local tax law.

Worth looking into Estonia's e-residency program and suppliers like xolo.io (The leap product, not the Go product).

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

#43

Post by losdos »

What’s the best way for a U.S. startup to have a contract worker (developer) that is from, works and lives in Mexico and also offering them some type of equity or stock options?

How do we structure things to minimize and efficiently handle any taxation they incur?

Any difference in other countries, say South Africa or Poland?

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

#44

Post by proberts »

neebz wrote: post #38

How are the odds for bringing your remote employees to US using the L1 visa? They've worked for us for more than 5 years in management role. Also the startup got acquired sometime ago, does that impact the L1 application?

If these employees manage other employees now and will manage other employees in the U.S., then the odds are high actually. Conversely, if these employees aren't managing any employees and won't be managing any employees in the U.S., then, unless their work is highly complex and technical, the odds are low. Does the acquiring company also own the company abroad?

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

#46

Post by iandanforth »

proberts wrote: post #9
iandanforth wrote: post #3

What tools and/or services do you recommend to startups looking to access the global market for employees?

Would this be to employ these individuals in the U.S. or remotely?

Let's say US unless you have strong opinions on the later as well.

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

#47

Post by proberts »

losdos wrote: post #43

What’s the best way for a U.S. startup to have a contract worker (developer) that is from, works and lives in Mexico and also offering them some type of equity or stock options? How do we structure things to minimize and efficiently handle any taxation they incur? Any difference in other countries, say South Africa or Poland?

Those are non-immigration questions because U.S. immigration doesn't apply to people employed outside the U.S. so any compensation structure would be fine from a U.S. immigration perspective. I can't comment on the tax considerations/issues.

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

#48

Post by e63f67dd-065b »

Martin_Gouy wrote: post #34

Hello! Thank you for doing this. My question:As a green card holder, do I have to be in the US at least 6 months of the year OR I cannot spend more than 6 months outside of the US (5 months outside, 1 in US, 5 months outside, would be authorized ). Thank you very much

The 5 months out / 1 mo in / 5 mo out again would be frowned upon by the admitting officer. They still have to let you in, but you risk being referred to an immigration judge depending on how the officer is feeling that day.

As per the handbook (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-12-part-d-chapter...):

> An officer must review extended or frequent absences from the United States to determine whether an applicant has met the burden of establishing that he or she has maintained LPR status. This applies regardless of length of time or if the applicant was permitted to return to the United States as an LPR at the port of entry after the absence.

So even if you risk it it'll still reflect poorly during naturalisation.

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

#49

Post by wexiya1699 »

glitchc wrote: post #31

Regarding the O-1 visa class as a consideration to migrate to the States: 1) What is the threshold for extraordinary? How is extraordinary established? 2) Is there a quota on the number of visas issued per year? Related, is there a quota on the number of visas per country of birth?

I'm not Peter, but I guess I can answer this:

1) For O1 it's checking the boxes - one paper or one award is the same as 10 papers or 10 awards. Even for non-technical people where papers aren't really a thing, an article about a company was written in a high-profile website and that persons name was mentioned. He got an O1. I also know a strong competitive programmer (but no other achievements of value) who got it - presumably his masters thesis from 3-rd tier uni in Eastern Europe was used as "published research". So if you can work on checking the boxes - getting a patent / a published paper / an article about you in a reputable venue, you can get an O1. You just need 3 out of 9 or 10. So threshold is achievable if you work on it.

2) No.

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