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

As usual, there are countless possible topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won’t have access to all the facts. With all that's happened in the last year, it might make sense to discuss the changes, real and perceived, in immigration policy and practice now and in the future, such as, for example, an increase in site visits and a more restrictive approach to admissions and visa issuance. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll try to do the same in my answers! One thing I noticed, looking at some recent threads on HN, are some common misconceptions about the standards for extraordinary ability, in both the nonimmigrant (O-1) and green card context, so hopefully we can clear some of that up as well.

Most of my friends with Visa's tend to live in a constant state of fear when crossing the border into the US that a border office will just rip the visa out of their passport and deny them entry into the US.

Even the ones with high priced immigration attorney's.

Is there something the average Canadian can do to make crossing the border into the US less of a crap shoot, especially when doing so with a family?

Has the H-1B cap lowered? If it still gets booked up within a week, what options do people have?

It sounds like the cap is pushing people to other categories like the O-1 and the EB-1 (if they can afford it).