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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

#461

Post by enronmusk »

kotxig wrote: post #456
nutjob2 wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you tax concerns exactly? You have to file a US but generally you can avoid double taxation, especially on the first $100,000. If you have business income it's generally a good idea to incorporate and have the company pay you to get the full tax benefits. Incorporation generally gives you a lot of flexibility tax wise. If you abandon your green card you'll have to pay capital gains on all your assets as if y…

My tax concerns are essentially being unable to leverage the tax efficiency vehicles while working in the UK. i.e. having to pay tax in the US on income that attracts zero tax in the UK. My actual concern is about going through the immigration system in future if I choose to rescind my green card. I understand that it isn't a pleasant experience I just wondered if it becomes any more challenging from having held an i…

> A 100k GBP London salary can be as efficient as a $170k Salary in SF

The marginal tax on a £100-125k London salary is 62%. Also, VAT there is much higher than sales tax in CA. The savings from your ISA accounts will be negligible until your portfolio grows significantly. Just move to TX/FL/etc before realizing any gains and you'll end up paying just 15% long-term federal CGT.

> Stock options for employees are often very tax efficient too

I don't know about options, but an acquaintance of mine had to pay ~75% marginal tax on AMZN RSUs (£100-125k bracket; income tax + employee NI + employer's NI + personal allowance tapering).

If you want to optimize your net worth, move to Switzerland or the US (CA, CO, TX, WA), not the UK.

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

#462

Post by digianarchist »

ameen wrote: post #447
digianarchist wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The RAISE act doesn’t touch country quotas for employment based Green Cards. In fact on my reading it implements a cap for spouses and children for family based immigration.

Thank you. My question was in response to this development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk7iQtad2Qo Didn't know it referred to the RAISE act.

Nobody knows what this is but it’s likely RAISE plus some amendment for DACA.

It has to go through Congress though so take it with a pinch of salt.

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

#463

Post by jokethrowaway »

bitL wrote: post #295
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not a lawyer but AFAIK: - if you've a foreign shareholder you need a C-corp (to be honest, you'd want a C-corp anyway, you can't reinvest profits in a LLC) - you need to account federal taxes @21% - you don't incorporate an S-corp, you need to have an LLC of a C-corp and then you file to become an S-corp, which basically gives you tax free dividends at the expense of not being able to reinvest profits

There are much better tax deals to be had outside the states if you're trying to elude (the legal one, not evade) your country's high taxation.

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

#465

Post by Fazel94 »

brummm wrote: post #39
dkochmex wrote: post #7

Hey Peter, Thank you so much for doing this! Im a German citizen living in Mexico. Since I have been to Iran I no longer qualify for ESTA and had to apply for a visa at the embassy here in Mexico City to visit the USA. My visa has been in processing for 2y now and I have not received any response other than "still in processing, we will be in touch". What do you recommend? Is there anything I can do to accelerate thi…

Never heard about not being eligible for ESTA after having travelled to Iran. WTF? What kind of weird rule is that?

It is called Muslim Ban

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

#466

Post by shecky »

IWantOut_ wrote: post #53

I have a job offer from Microsoft in Vancouver and might move there after the pandemic ends. I am Indian citizen residing in India. The main challenge however is that I am disabled (quadriplegic) and I would be needing a caregiver to travel with me to Canada. I understand that there used to be a caregiver visa, for Canada, which was discontinued back in 2019. So my question really is, is there a way in which I can br…

There is a significant Indian population in Vancouver - both immigrant and several generations of post-immigration (White Rock, etc.) so if ultimately you must find a caregiver there I wouldn't expect language to prove problematic. Good luck.

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

#467

Post by komali2 »

Nesco wrote: post #452
komali2 wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 nat…

You have a pretty interesting take on that matter however I have to disagree with you. Firstly you can’t compare nations of the past where the horse or the boat where the fastest means of transportations and where the vast majority people were often bounds to some lands. There are few examples of peaceful long term human migration between established states at the scale of what is happening right now in the US. Secon…

> Unfortunately I consider one’s opinion meaningful only if one has skin in the game related to it.

When it comes to a woman's right to bodily autonomy (right to abort a pregnancy), I'm pro-women's right to choose.

Considering I'm a man it's impossible for me to have skin in the game. So, my support is meaningless? My calls and letters to my representatives, invalid?

Very curious viewpoint. I would imagine the angle you're going for is "you can't be a communist software engineer working for FAANG" or something? "If you really believe that, why don't you give away all your things?" I hope that's not what you mean as that'd be very bad faith.

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

#468

Post by on_h1b1 »

proberts wrote: post #382
on_h1b1 wrote: post #254

What do you think are the effects on the H1B1, especially new H1B1 applications? What should I do in response to the effects? What should I fill in if there is a form that asks about visa? What should I say when recruiters or companies ask about visa during our call? Thanks for doing this AMA Peter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1b1

The H-1B1 is not subject to the latest proclamation/ban so the only issue (if you are outside the U.S.) is getting an H-1B1 visa since the Consulates are still closed but that's not an issue if you are in the U.S. - you can change your status to H-1B1 in the U.S. or change your H-1B1 employer. For recruiters, tell them it's cheap and quick to get H-1B1 work authorization.

How cheap and quick is it to get a new H1B1?

Which reputable links or documents do you send or show when you tell them that it is cheap and quick to get the H1B1?

What did you use to find out that the H1B1 is not subject to the latest proclamation/ban?

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

#469

Post by Nesco »

komali2 wrote: post #467
Nesco wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a pretty interesting take on that matter however I have to disagree with you. Firstly you can’t compare nations of the past where the horse or the boat where the fastest means of transportations and where the vast majority people were often bounds to some lands. There are few examples of peaceful long term human migration between established states at the scale of what is happening right now in the US. Secon…

> Unfortunately I consider one’s opinion meaningful only if one has skin in the game related to it. When it comes to a woman's right to bodily autonomy (right to abort a pregnancy), I'm pro-women's right to choose. Considering I'm a man it's impossible for me to have skin in the game. So, my support is meaningless? My calls and letters to my representatives, invalid? Very curious viewpoint. I would imagine the angle…

That’s not what I meant. What I meant is that if you want to convince others of opening borders and if you want to engage in political activities to promote policies that fit your moral compass but in which your fellow citizens will also share the consequences you should first live by them.

I had my share of colleagues in STEMS who are cynically pro-open borders and pro-immigration only because they are wealthy white dudes with valuable degrees and thus suffer little from the consequences but benefits from it on the sexual market (usually when going after asian or indian girls in the EU, add also hispanic girls in the US) and help them to work abroad in exotic destinations (Singapour, Taipei, Tokyo, ...).

And yes I generally consider that about abortion a woman’s opinion is more valuable than a man’s on that topic for obvious reasons and I am personally in favour of abortion in most cases.

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

#470

Post by kotxig »

enronmusk wrote: post #461
kotxig wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My tax concerns are essentially being unable to leverage the tax efficiency vehicles while working in the UK. i.e. having to pay tax in the US on income that attracts zero tax in the UK. My actual concern is about going through the immigration system in future if I choose to rescind my green card. I understand that it isn't a pleasant experience I just wondered if it becomes any more challenging from having held an i…

> A 100k GBP London salary can be as efficient as a $170k Salary in SF The marginal tax on a £100-125k London salary is 62%. Also, VAT there is much higher than sales tax in CA. The savings from your ISA accounts will be negligible until your portfolio grows significantly. Just move to TX/FL/etc before realizing any gains and you'll end up paying just 15% long-term federal CGT. > Stock options for employees are often…

> The marginal tax on a £100-125k London salary is 62%

This is why you should reduce a 100 - 125k salary by 40k through salary sacrifice, paying into a self directed pension. Taxable income is reduced to £60 - 85k.

> Also, VAT there is much higher than sales tax in CA.

Yes but there are no property taxes in the UK, which I'm sure far outweighs the difference in sales tax on a yearly basis. Also VAT isn't applied to everything, it is reduced to 5% for fuel and 0% for food. I'm making the assumption I can cash purchase a home I actually want to live in in the UK. Purchasing a house isn't really optimizing net worth either, but it is a stability factor I would rather have. I'm looking at $1.8m-2m minimum in SF for a property I would actually want to purchase and live in. I'm sure there are plenty of massive homes in the middle of nowhere I could purchase but am I going to have a job I want and live near interesting like-minded people? Probably not.

> an acquaintance of mine had to pay ~75% marginal tax on AMZN RSUs

RSUs are not a qualifying option in the UK. Most startups in the UK are offering EMI share options, which are more tax efficient than any offering in the US unless you look at early exercising with an 83b election, which is obviously significantly riskier.

> The savings from your ISA accounts will be negligible until your portfolio grows

Yes that's the point, if you grow an ISA to 1mil in value over 25 years, drawing down that ISA at a 3% rate is a significant tax-free lump sum contribution to your yearly income.

I won't go into the full detail but I reckon that with the combination of an ISA, pension allowances, and dividend/capital gains allowances on private investments, you can draw nearly 97.5k in income and pay only 3750 in tax, and there is no AMT in the UK.

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