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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

#411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what PEOs exist to support. Here's an example: [1] [1] https://peoworldwide.com

Thanks! I will definitely have to research this.

Yeah they're cool; basically they take on your employees full-time and subcontract them back to you. This way they're fully papered up, and can even provide benefits. They're not the cheapest way to go, but once you have a big enough presence in a foreign country you can always open up a local office of your own and transfer them over.

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

#412
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about both cases. As a student you're on CPT and OPT. And after you graduate, OPT. Is there a huge difference?

You can't work for your own company while on CPT and you can while on your first year of OPT and with some additional restrictions/requirements you also can work for your own company while on STEM OPT.

Can you please tell us more about the STEM OPT restrictions/requirements? I am exactly in that position right now!

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

#413
post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Law? No. Borders? Certainly. Is this as uncontroversial as you assume? My conservative friend was laughing earlier this week when he found out he can't go to Canada anymore because it's closed to Americans. He pointed to the woods north of his yard and said "the border is an invisible line buried in there somewhere." This is also unrelated to the terminology of "illegal immigrant," insomuch as an immigrant is a perso…

It’s clearly not his existence but his presence at $CURRENT_LOCATION because he immigrated illegaly . In my view you get an absurd result because you exchanged two words in a context where it is absurd to do so. Everything is clearer if you find borders absurd, but I personally find difficult for the exact same arguments to not find private property absurd, which is of the same nature and as abstract (why couldn’t I…

> private property absurd

It kinda is though.

> (why couldn’t I go on your lawn or drink the juice in front of me event if you have this so-called ‘property’ of it?).

Sort of for similar reasons you can't cross an invisible line - though the argument falls apart if you start taking juice out of my hand.

Your argument is interesting, but of course I disagree that the "moral" possessor of the property (nearly every nation on earth) is inherently moral (or even more moral than immoral).

> it survives because of its borders

The issue being that we've described some cells as "good" and some cells as "bad" based on whether they're inside, or outside, the borders, which isn't good enough. Obviously there are good humans outside the USA, and bad ones within. The borders failed to do the job. They're a bad solution.

Also, what definitions of "survive?" There were relatively "borderless" nations in the past, such as roving warbands and the like, that many would argue "survived" just fine (of course, like all nations, they ended or "died" eventually, but all nations do this).

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

#415

This might be a strange question, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Amongst myself and a number of friends (whom work in tech), we've observed a similar difficulty with meeting and employing lawyers for either personal- or business-related issues. We all seemed to arrive at the same conclusion that we don't know any lawyers personally, they don't seem to be part of our extended circle of acquaintances, and are difficul…

Excuse the brevity, and I don’t mean to sound harsh, apologies in advance.

Presently doing two legal things that involve legal experts.

So anyway, from my experience:

No, you can’t buy your lawyer a beer. Your lawyer is not your friend.

No lawyer wants to give you anything resembling advice, or even commentary lest it be construed as advice, for free, out of contract, over a beer.

> without shelling out a decent sum of money upfront.

You’ve answered your own question.

We don’t ask doctors and dentists to “come round for a beer wink wink nudge nudge”, so stop asking lawyers and tech people for free advice too.

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

#416

Hi peter, I was on a H1b and quit my job in March (I still have a year and few months left on my H1b). I applied for a change of status to a h4 (this is still in progress with the USCIS) and had planned to relocate to India in June to start my company, but am still in the US waiting for the covid situation to resolve. Is there any option for me to start the company here?

For the company in India? Definitely.

Thanks for the response! Two questions - Q1. Can i continue working from the US (while on a H4) if the company is incorporated in India? Q2. Can I incorporate in the US and continue working given the current situation?

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

#417
post #344

This might be a strange question, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Amongst myself and a number of friends (whom work in tech), we've observed a similar difficulty with meeting and employing lawyers for either personal- or business-related issues. We all seemed to arrive at the same conclusion that we don't know any lawyers personally, they don't seem to be part of our extended circle of acquaintances, and are difficul…

https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Public/Need-Legal-Help/Lawyer-Refe... exists for basically exactly this purpose, and similar services are offered by most state bar associations. Yes, you do have to /pay/ for lawyers, they do law stuff as their job, not as a favor for random acquaintances. Basic consultation to establish whether a firm is a fit for you should be fairly low-cost or free.

[deleted]

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

#418
post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it is possible to lose a green card if one spends too much time outside the U.S. but there are steps one can take before leaving the U.S. to protect one's green card (that is, apply for a reentry permit) and steps one can take to reactivate a green card if stuck outside for a very long time (more than one year) (that is, apply for a returning residence visa). There is no exception to the reset - one year continu…

Yes but that process is very unfriendly. First you need to know you are going to spend over 1 year abroad. Since you can only apply before you leave. Second it takes month to approve and costs 500+ USD to apply for that permission. If you left without the intent to stay longer than a year and had to extend for unforeseen circumstances (say a global pandemic heavily reduced air travel options) than you are out of luck…

> But the USCIS seems to be a bit vague on what would happen if I did that.

That's because the CBP officer who evaluates your request for entry on a permanent resident visa has the discretion to say that you are "likely" residing elsewhere and "remind"/"advise" you of the requirement to be permanently resident inside the United States in order to keep PR status.

The six month rule is less of a rule and more of a presumption but if a CBP officer sees a series of entry stamps all hovering around that six month mark, the officer can make that note and the next officer might declare that you've abandoned PR status and you'd then have to go through the process overcome that.

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

#419
Hello, I just got informed that I passed the interviews at google and got accepted by the hiring committee. I am a Mexican and I went to college and passed all my courses but I don't have my title yet , it might take a year or 2 to do the paperwork to get my college degree.

The recruiter told me I will start working remotely and then after covid move to the us, what are my options? I have been working as a software engineer in Mexico for two years. I know the TN visa from nafta may be an option for me but I am not very informed, could you help me?

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

#420

Hi Peter, I work for a large tech company that has recently announced internally that they will be putting all PERM filings on pause indefinitely. The reasons cited are: — The 10-day in-house job posting is of dubious quality now because there is no one at the office to to see it (it's closed and empty because of Covid), and they believe the Department of Labor may notice this and refuse applications. — Because of th…

Really both. First, your company can post the notice of filing electronically so that's not a real issue. But yes, there's a chance that PERM filing will be scrutinized more closely and audited and denied with greater frequency. But that hasn't happened yet so I guess in the end I don't buy that approach. I just don't think it makes sense to base decisions on things that might happen.

Hi Peter,

I asked my company if there was any electronic alternative for the NOF and they insisted there wasn't. Do you have any sources I could use to prove this to them? I tried searching something myself but I couldn't find anything concrete.

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