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How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

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Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#51

Post by yardie »

prototype56 wrote: post #44
yardie wrote: post #17

Okay, first things first. Apply for a greencard. I know it's a long process, it's expensive, and it's very invasive but do this first. People assume they don't qualify and don't even bother asking. But the US still has the highest immigration of all countries, only the UK is a distant 2nd. So obviously, people are getting in everyday. Now, contact the US embassy in your country. Get all your paperwork together, set a…

US still favors family based immigration system . So "highest" doest count in this context when compared to points ( skill) based system in other countries like UK.

Depends on how you look at it. With "family" based immigration, someone has basically vouched for your character. In the US, family means you are financially responsible for this person being let in this country. If they can't fend for themself, you shelter, clothe, and feed them. They are really serious about it and it requires you meet income, savings, and property thresholds.

The UK sort of has both, family and skills can get you in. Recently, they have started to de-emphasize the family visas.

With points, you are at the mercy of the market of the host country. The UK has, recently, restricted the high-tech industry in some areas, but hairdressers are still in demand under the points system. So someone with a BSc may actually be less qualified than someone that went to beautician's school under this scheme.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#52

Post by raquo »

ojbyrne wrote: post #27
faikr wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you mean that I can just apply for a generic green card. As far as I know you have to be eligible for some certain types of green cards. I have tryed with the lottery but no luck there. I have browsed through the various ways to get a green card and as far as I can tell the only way I can get it is either through getting a job at some company in the US or winning the lottery.

Basically there are 3 routes. Marriage, Job, Investment.

Sadly, a startup is at least two of these and still doesn't qualify :/

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#53

Post by georgecmu »

vgurgov wrote: post #31
arnorhs wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone can register a company? But you still need a special VISA to work. That's remarkable.

This is tricky. Depends how you define work ;)

No, it depends on how USCIS and DoL define work.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#54

Post by sandGorgon »

ojbyrne wrote: post #26
yardie wrote: post #17

Okay, first things first. Apply for a greencard. I know it's a long process, it's expensive, and it's very invasive but do this first. People assume they don't qualify and don't even bother asking. But the US still has the highest immigration of all countries, only the UK is a distant 2nd. So obviously, people are getting in everyday. Now, contact the US embassy in your country. Get all your paperwork together, set a…

I guess when you're talking "highest immigration" you're talking in absolute terms. Both Canada and Australia have significantly higher _rates_ of immigration. I'm starting the green card process, and fwiw, the lawyer tells me it takes a minimum of 16 months, with 2 years being typical.

For a lot of countries, the green card backlog is > 7 years. YMMV

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#55

Post by yardie »

ojbyrne wrote: post #48
yardie wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I mean highest in absolute numbers. I don't even know what a rate you speak of since you need an X and Y to have a rate. Is that there are more people applying now than last year or do you mean more immigrants as a percentage of the population?

More immigrants as a percentage of the population.

You are comparing one country with 300 million people with one with 25 million. Of course the numbers are going to reflect better on Australia.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#56

Post by bluishgreen »

I am an Indian on H1B Visa, possibly the worst country to be from relative to the US Immigration System.

An immigration lawyer told me that I can register a company but I cannot work for it. But later when I find U.S investors who will own equity in my company I can ask them to sponsor the transfer of my H1B Visa to my own company.

This doesn't make me thrilled, but hey - it is something. Sitting on my hands is killing me, so I am moonlighting in the hopes that the lawyer is right, and that I can find investment using only my moonlighting efforts.

If anyone knows better please let me know.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#57

Post by jbarham »

yardie wrote: post #17

Okay, first things first. Apply for a greencard. I know it's a long process, it's expensive, and it's very invasive but do this first. People assume they don't qualify and don't even bother asking. But the US still has the highest immigration of all countries, only the UK is a distant 2nd. So obviously, people are getting in everyday. Now, contact the US embassy in your country. Get all your paperwork together, set a…

This is lousy advice. It's not as if just anyone can "apply for a green card". You need to have a sponsor who is either a relative and US citizen, or you are already employed by a US company on a work visa and they are willing to sponsor your green card application. (I am in the second category.)

Even if you have an employer willing to sponsor your green card application, the preliminary paperwork can take over a year before you're officially in the green card pipeline. How long you have to wait depends on your country of origin. Canadians can expect to wait at least two years, Indians and Chinese five years or more. But the kicker is that if you lose your job or change companies while you're in the pipeline, the whole process restarts! (Unless you're in the final stage, but that's comparatively short compared to the whole process.) That is, if you can find a new job. If you can't, you have to leave the US.

The US is unique among western countries in not have a way for skilled immigrants to get into the country unless they first have a sponsor. The US work visa program effectively creates a class of indentured laborers as their continued residency in the US is entirely dependent on their employers.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#58

Post by yardie »

ovi256 wrote: post #22
DirtyAndy wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually depending on where you are from you can also apply for the Greencard Lottery. Free way to get a Greencard. http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/

Applying to the Greencard lottery puts you on some kind of blacklist for US visas. Happened to a friend from Romania years ago. No idea if this is official policy or not, but he always got his visas refused afterwards, even after careful preparation. Hope things have changes.

The greencard system is a mess in this regards. I'm surprised your friend actually tried to travel to the US since one of the first things they tell you once you've started the application is not to travel to the US until you have your greencard.

It's some sort of twisted logic where ICE thinks that you'll try to jump the line if you travel to the US on a non-immigrant visa.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#59

Post by neilk »

jbarham wrote: post #57
yardie wrote: post #17

Okay, first things first. Apply for a greencard. I know it's a long process, it's expensive, and it's very invasive but do this first. People assume they don't qualify and don't even bother asking. But the US still has the highest immigration of all countries, only the UK is a distant 2nd. So obviously, people are getting in everyday. Now, contact the US embassy in your country. Get all your paperwork together, set a…

This is lousy advice. It's not as if just anyone can "apply for a green card". You need to have a sponsor who is either a relative and US citizen, or you are already employed by a US company on a work visa and they are willing to sponsor your green card application. (I am in the second category.) Even if you have an employer willing to sponsor your green card application, the preliminary paperwork can take over a yea…

Two years for Canadians? Citation?

The lawyers that I've talked to have told me the backlog is about six to seven years long and have not mentioned any special treatment for Canadians.

I've heard that you can get through faster if you have advanced degrees, but nothing about nationality.

Re: How did non US citizen founders funded by YC get allowed to work in the US?

#60

Post by imajes »

ojbyrne wrote: post #26
yardie wrote: post #17

Okay, first things first. Apply for a greencard. I know it's a long process, it's expensive, and it's very invasive but do this first. People assume they don't qualify and don't even bother asking. But the US still has the highest immigration of all countries, only the UK is a distant 2nd. So obviously, people are getting in everyday. Now, contact the US embassy in your country. Get all your paperwork together, set a…

I guess when you're talking "highest immigration" you're talking in absolute terms. Both Canada and Australia have significantly higher _rates_ of immigration. I'm starting the green card process, and fwiw, the lawyer tells me it takes a minimum of 16 months, with 2 years being typical.

Just to clarify, the period of time it takes for a green card application to process is a factor of:

a: which kind of green card you're getting (employment, family or lottery based are the main ones)

b: where you are applying from (some states will process stuff exponentially faster than others, some processing centers are slow right now due to office re-orgs, and finally anything overseas is going to take you x*4, where x is the time locally)

c: the quality of your lawyer.

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