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jb12
Hi Peter! You did my E3 visa a while back. When I was standing in line at the US consulate in Sydney, the person in front of me was really nervous, visibly shaking. I saw that their papers had your letterhead, so I was able to calm them down a bit by showing them my papers, which also had your letterhead.
Thanks for all your hard work!
moralestapia
Hi Peter,
Could you shed some light about what kind of profile could apply for (and get) an O1 visa? Specifically, if I have a tech company set up in the US that's pulling some decent revenue, is it worth applying for an O1? What other circumstances come into play against/in favor of this?
I've seen a lot of advisors and "influencers" all over the web saying that it's "easy". I don't think that's the case because nothing in US immigration is easy, unless your net worth is like 9 figures, maybe; but if it's not that far-fetched I may consider applying for one.
Alternatively, could one sponsor its own H1B visa? I guess the actual underlying question is: if I'm an entrepreneur with a real, solid company based in the US (but I'm not in the US and not a US citizen), what is the best way for me to move there and keep working at my company?
proberts
I wouldn't characterize an O-1 as easy but it's often within reach of talented professionals, particularly founders. At the end of the day, the issue is less about the quality of the evidence - although that matters - and more about the existence of evidence that checks at least 3 boxes/criteria. And now, with the recent public announcements from the Administration, O-1 petitions with an AI component have an even greater chance of approval.
marymkearney
Hi. I'm a colleague of Peter's who specializes in O-1 / EB-1A cases. I have a special interest in tech and engineering. Peter's nailed it here as usual. The key to "extraordinary ability" is to collect and present high-quality evidence, tailored to fit within the 8 rigid, archaic categories that qualify you for O-1 / EB-1A. That's much more important than being a "genius."
This sounds painful (and it can be), but it's also liberating. Knowing that USCIS is looking for exacting compliance with the checklist, means that you can give them lots of what they want: Exacting compliance with the checklist!
Based on the information you've given here, it sounds like you could be quite close to qualifying for an O-1. It's become a fairly standard route for non-US founders. It's a great option, much better than H-1B for almost all use cases.
abra0
Bonus question on O-1: what do you think are the easiest boxes to check for a talented professionals in AI? High salary and critical capacity for established organizations are a given, but what else?
marymkearney
Hi, yes those two, for sure. And certainly add "original contributions of major significance." AI specialties are generating "original contributions" thick and fast right now for engineers and data specialists.
"Original contributions" is the foundational category for a tech or engineering case anyway. And trending specialties like AI are well-placed to develop solid evidence in this category.
I'd also add the publications and judging categories. These are easy-win categories that are evaluated with a more lenient standard than the other 6. They're also a great way to attract "sustained acclaim" by building a reputation as a thought leader in your field.
Note that the "field of endeavor" for these 2 categories in private-industry cases is industry publications, presentations, podcasts, broadcasts, and events, NOT academic publications or citation counts. (All these industry activities "count" as publications.)
moralestapia
Thank you, I'll definitely give it a shot.
Swizec
I have gotten two O1's and then the greencard version (EB2). It isn't easy in the "not a lot of work" sense, it's easy in the "not random" sense. If you put in the work (that also helps your career), tick off the required boxes, and present the evidence correctly, you will get the visa.
But yes an O1 takes a shitload of work.
marymkearney
Hi, huge Swizec fan here. I've been following your extraordinary-ability story since 2016. It's an amazing, inspirational, funny saga about the work and perseverance required to get this done. Hope it's OK to share these here:
https://swizec.com/blog/how-i-got-a-visa-normally-reserved-f...
https://swizec.com/blog/sponsored-genius-visa/swizec/8612
https://swizec.com/blog/how-i-used-indie-hacking-to-sponsor-...
Congratulations to you, sir. This is how you do it. Thanks for sharing your epic journey! I'm glad it paid off.
upupupandaway
Exactly the same situation here. Agree 100%.
dilyevsky
I think gc equivalent for o-1 would be eb1. I got eb2 with just a masters degree
mingyeow
How about a blockchain founder?
marymkearney
Yes, certainly. Same requirements as other industries and occupations. And the same challenges: Fitting your 2023 accomplishments into the rigid required elements of the 1991 USCIS categories.
One especially helpful force multiplier here, would be to practice writing out a simple one-page description of your industry and your job. Like a little elevator pitch, that's easily grasped in a minute or two, by a time-pressed layperson USCIS examiner. You're basically explaining blockchain at a 9th-grade reading level.
This is hard! It can take a lot of iterations and analogies. But it adds a ton of value, when the examiner can grasp right up front what you do and why you're special.
marymkearney
Addendum: This "1-page elevator speech," specifically voiced for your USCIS examiner, can pay handsome dividends for any complex specialty, in the form of a quick O-1 / EB-1A approval. Not just blockchain, but crypto, all AI and ML specialties, platform integration, big databases, programming languages, data science, anything that requires effort to explain to a layperson audience.
Explain it to: Your dad. Your 14-year-old-kid. Your non-tech investor. Your CEO. Your spouse. Your best friend.
We're seeking that "AHA moment" where they go: "Oh! THAT's what you do? That's really cool!"
If you've lined up all your evidence correctly, that AHA moment, is the moment you win your case.
CrunchyJams
For anyone considering working with Peter, our firm has been a client for 10 years, have sponsored 5-10 green cards and 20+ visas. Peter has been amazing to work with and we've gotten emphatic thank you notes from people we recommended to him.
lemiant
Worked with peter for 8 years from 3 founders to 300 employees. They are great
r-johnv
Do you know the best way to contact Peter or his firm? Looking them up online I find broken links to the firm website.
I've been looking for an immigration attorney who specializes in EB1A for an early engineer in the startup founding team with a small number of publication (<30) but significant patent commercialization (2 granted patents >$2 million value). NIW is unfortunately not a good option due to the country backlog.
marymkearney
Peter's at a new firm: https://ogletree.com/people/peter-d-roberts/
Media announcement: https://ogletree.com/media-center/press-releases/2023-07-17/...
I'm a colleague of Peter's. I've sent him referrals. 100% agree he's awesome. He's now even awesomer with big-firm infrastructure backing him up.
r-johnv
Thank you so much! I'm going to be reaching out, and your comments give me added confidence!
araes
Do the links to/at: [ http://www.robertsimmigration.com/contact.html ] not work?
Appears to list phone / fax / email for two offices, Connecticut and California.
thewinnie
Hi Peter,
I'm a solo founder of software development company in USA. I've been doing everything on B1/B2 visa until goverment told me I spending too much time in USA and they cancelled my visa with recommendations to look for other options.
I tried to apply for E2 during covid and it took them almost 6 months to process my case but they declined it with a general reason that they don't see enough evidance to issue E2 for me at this moment but I can re-apply anytime if my situation change. (I applied by myself without any lawyer at all)
After consultations with different attorney I've been told that E2 is more for people who wants to invest but since I'm already established working business it might not be a good fit for me. And yeah they do recommend me to look on O1
1. Is it something interesting for you? Can I get paid consultation from you and maybe you'll help me?
2. Is it true that for existing established business with solo-founders E2 might be not a good fit?
Thank you in advance!
cromka
Wait, you created a company in the USA while on B1/B2 visa and they voided your visa because you spent too much time, not because you opened and worked for your own company, something that is typically only possible with a permanent residency?
As someone who was very religious about his H1B in the past and had given up on a couple of simple passive income ideas only because I couldn’t incorporate, I feel a bit… naive.
marymkearney
Hi, if you have enough business track record to assemble an E2 package, then it's likely you'd be a good candidate for O-1 also.
proberts
1. I'd be happy to speak with you and go through your options. 2. That's not the most important factor; we do E-2s for existing businesses and solo founders all the time.
elevenoh4
What are the top items a solo software founder (of a treaty country) seeking e-2 might not have in their application/background or want in the outcome of an e-2?
proberts
E-2s for founders are generally easy as long as there's the qualifying investment and a good business plan. Sometimes founders of very new backgrounds with limited experience run into issues but even this is rare.
efitz
I have a lot of friends at work that have H1B visas. They try to get green cards but the process drags out often for more than a decade. Why is it so hard for people who want to be here, and who have well paying jobs, to get green cards?
8ytecoder
There’s a limit on number of green cards per year. Then there’s a hard limit of 7% of that per country. There’s also a priority system with Family coming first. The combination of three results in a really long wait time for Indians without family (who are citizens) in the US moving on H1B. The current priority date is 2012 if I’m not wrong. It did progress faster during the pandemic but got quickly rolled back. Remember that those who come on H1B are already capped per year.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v...
csomar
It’s country based. I have family and it took them less than 6 months. For Indian and Chinese, they can forget about it.
toyg
Surely you should ask that to your Congressman, not a lawyer...
fallingknife
But if you are here on an H1B you don't actually have a congressman. The US citizens you are competing against do. And this is why the system works the way it does.
bubblethink
You have a congressman. That is, you have representation but not suffrage rights. Congresspeople will assist with making congressional inquiries. Their political incentives are a separate matter, but even advocacy ultimately has to get to the legislature. The failures of the system aren't a result of the H1Bs v/s US Citizens dynamic. In reality, there are several different groups with their own incentives. Kind of like how failures of US healthcare isn't a patients v/s doctors dynamic.
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kaashif
If I have a green card I can donate to political candidates though. I don't know how many dollars is equivalent to one vote, that probably varies by candidate.
So H1Bs are also competing against green card holders with more political power than them, not just citizens.
canucker2016
I recall hearing that the wait time for green card approval depends on the home country of the applicant. There were a lot of applicants from India when I talked with people who were getting a green card. So the wait for an Indian applicant was much longer than, say, an applicant from Canada.
Not sure what the wait times are now, but I doubt the USA has caught up on the Indian wait list, esp. during/after the pandemic.
hinoki
It’s by country of birth. So that applicant with the long wait could be from Canada if they were born in India.
canucker2016
Looks like there's a small backlog for Mexico/Philippines, large backlog for China and even larger for India-born employment-based applicants.
see https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v... and click on the latest bulletin. You'll probably want to look at the employment-based green card waiting list.
fallingknife
Because people with high paying jobs have political power as a class and it is in our interest to make importing foreign competition difficult.
People with low paying jobs do not have political power and are unable to set up legal protection for themselves.
maxFlow
Hi Peter. Thanks for your AMAs, always a source of great value.
A couple of questions from me:
1. Which would you say are the top spececializations within tech that employers are most willing to sponsor visas for nowadays?
2. Would you say the willingness to sponsor tech professionals has lessened somewhat as of late? Given the economic climate, opportunities to hire remote globally, etc.
3. Are there any impactful immigration reforms we should keep a watchful eye for, vis a vis the 2024 US presidential election?
Thanks & all the best.
proberts
1. From my narrow/limited perspective, AI/ML engineers and technical product managers. 2. Again from my narrow/limited perspective, no, even with remote employment (because oftentimes those remote workers need to spend significant time in the U.S. and require work authorization). 3. I don't see any likely major changes. The action will come from executive orders and changes in the application/interpretation of law.
bubbleRefuge
A company in California wants to push me out the door unfairly and I'm a remote employee in another state and want to fight it or get some just compensation, should I consult an attorney in California or my state. ? (edit: sorry just noticed this is regarding immigration law only )
Fin_Code
Employment agreements are at will. Its highly unlikely you can fight this. You need agreement with your employer to continue.
snotrockets
This isn't necessarily true: "at will" means a legitimate termination has no notice period. Employers are not allowed to fire employees for any reason, or to have an abusive employment environment.
OP: any employment lawyer could also advise you on jurisdiction.
paxys
Employers are absolutely allowed to fire employees for any or no reason as long as the reason isn't specifically illegal (e.g. on the basis of race or gender).
paxys
The laws of your state of residence will apply to you regardless of where the company is based.
wrp
When a USA citizen meets abroad and wants to marry a non-USA citizen, with the intention of the non-USA citizen pursuing permanent residence in the USA, does it have any effect on the process which country they get married in?
I've heard this and similar concerns from employees of multinationals who meet someone while at an overseas branch. They want to do what they can to avoid snags.
Firmwarrior
I was in this boat back in 2017, and a lawyer working with my FAANG company advised me off the record that our best bet was to visit the USA, and suddenly have a surge of loving feelings and spontaneously get married in a tiny impromptu ceremony. Then apply for a change of status while in the USA.
I probably should have listened to her.. I did it the "right" way since I wanted to quit that job anyway. Got married abroad and filed an I-130. It took like 18 months to get it, it was nuts. I'm a native-born US citizen and my wife is from Japan, no criminal records or anything, and I was making 3-5x the national median household income this whole time, so it's not like there was anything tricky about our case.
I'd recommend you just talk to a lawyer. I hired a lawyer for our case, and it was about $3k total. It would've been entirely doable without the lawyer's help, but it was easier that way and I helped fund her charity work where she helps refugees and domestic abuse victims.
dxf
No you did it the right way. I lived in Canada for 10 years, my partner is Canadian, and we debated what to do when we moved down from Canada to the US. We got an attorney to help advise us.
It is very much a problem if your partner is deemed to have entered the US under false pretenses. That is, if they enter the US on a tourist visa and then you get married and they apply for a change of status, immigration can look askance at your spouse -- "The original tourist visa was a lie, you always intended to get married and change status, they are now barred from the US for 10 years." It might be faster, but you don't want to run that risk, even if the probability of that happening is low.
BobaFloutist
Yeah what you were recommended lets you kind of "jump the line" (for fiance visas, which take forever), and as long as you consult a lawyer and approach it sensibly it's pretty much risk free.
justinram11
Same thing in our case -- we didn't want to move to the US right away (wanted to spend ~6-9 more months in Taiwan anyway). It ended up being a 2 year slog through covid, was brutal.
Wish we would have had an overwhelming urge to get married when we were visiting my family in the states instead.
proberts
It doesn't matter where they get married as long as the marriage is valid where it occurs and under U.S. law. The location of the process abroad is based on the non-U.S.-citizens's country of citizenship or country of residence. Regarding the specific process, whether in the U.S. through USCIS or abroad through the State Department/U.S. Consulate, definitely consult an immigration attorney to understand the timing, requirements, and risks.
zie
A K-1, "Fiance Visa" I'm pretty sure requires the marriage to happen inside the US. At least that's how the immigration people explained it to us, and their website, while not saying it outright at least implies it:
> With your visa, you can apply for a single admission at a U.S. port-of-entry within the validity of the visa, which will be a maximum of 6 months from the date of issuance. You must marry your U.S. citizen fiancé(e) within 90 days of your entry into the United States.
Source: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...
zie
Only if they pursue a Fiance Visa, which is(last I checked) usually the best way for the non-USA citizen to get their green card. A Fiance visa requires the marriage happen in the USA(after receiving the VISA).
biggc
Recently, the K1 fiancé visa has been taking longer to process than an I-130 spouse sponsorship. I don’t have any hard numbers though.
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csomar
Hey. I’m from Tunisia so I can relate a bit.
1. Build travel history. If you can get a Schengen, go get it and have a short trip to Europe.
2. Get the B1/B2 visa. It’s relatively easy for north africans. If you can enter the US with it, go for it, though flights can be expensive.
3. Apply for the canadian visa. 95% you’ll be approved for it.
proberts
Good advice. Thank you. I simply would add that you should speak with an immigration attorney to prepare you for your visa application appointment/interview since the interview is the key event in the B-1/B-2 visa application process.
nojvek
Tourist/business visas for short period is relatively easy.
Have to prove you have enough funds while you’re there and will definitely come back - show you have house/apartment/family and return ticket.
jkaplowitz
Disclaimer up front: I am neither Peter nor a lawyer. Listen to Peter if he disagrees with what I write here about the US option. If you do hire a lawyer for help on any Canadian immigration matter, make sure they are licensed in Canada, which Peter may or may nor be. Certain other authorized representatives like a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) can help you as well, but anyone who is taking your money for help on this may be breaking Canadian law if they aren't in one of these authorized categories:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...
All of the links in this comment are to official Government of Canada webpages.
Doing it legally in the US is difficult, since you'd probably be breaking the law by working remotely in the US, even for a Canadian company, whether or not you're legally an employee or a contractor, without a work authorization that's infeasible to get in this context. If your activities stay within the allowed boundaries of US business visitors then it might be okay on a B-1 or B-1/B-2 visa. For example, meeting with colleagues at a company event, but not if your activities while present go beyond the definition of meetings into the US immigration law definition of work. If they do consider it as unauthorized work, you'll get refused entry (or refused the visa) and have lots of annoying consequences for future visa or travel plans.
But it is probably possible to do this in Canada with full legitimacy.
The first step of analyzing this is to decide whether these activities meet the Canadian immigration law definition of work:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/co...
If you are paid directly by the Canadian company, it's very possible that your activities during the trip would indeed be considered work. If you need an expert to apply the law to your specific facts, you or your employer should hire a lawyer or other authorized representative (as above).
If your activities do count as work under Canadian immigration law, the next step is to see if you would be exempt from needing a work permit for this work. Here is the info on those exemptions:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/co...
If I am interpreting things correctly, you probably don't qualify for the business visitor exemption if you are paid directly by the Canadian company, but you might if you are paid by a foreign company, even if they are a subsidiary or parent company of the Canadian company.
But most likely you would qualify for the short-term high-skilled work public policy, linked near the bottom of that page. You'll have to make sure that your job duties qualify, but as a web developer they probably do. And you'll also need to limit your trip to within the required 15- or 30-day period - probably a maximum of 30 days if you've never done this in the last year.
Assuming you are exempt from a work permit, step one is to make sure you have a passport from Morocco. Then, most likely you need to apply for a Canadian visitor visa:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/se...
There is a exception which allows Moroccans to use the easier eTA pre-approval process in narrow circumstances, but if you have never had a visa from Canada and don't currently have a visa from the US, that exception doesn't apply.
If your visitor visa is denied, unfortunately you'll have to pick somewhere else to meet. Being young and unmarried and with skills relevant to the Canadian tech industry and merely renting rather than owning a property back in Morocco is somewhat of a risk in the eyes of the visa officials, since they know it would be easy for you to overstay illegally if you were so inclined. However, they also want Canadian companies to be able to meet with their staff, of course, and nothing you're proposing is illegal. They make a judgment about what they think is likely to happen, and they could say yes.
If you do finally get a Canadian visitor visa in your Moroccan passport, plan your flights to Canada. There are no direct flights from Morocco to Canada, so you will have to connect through one or more other countries.
Some countries will require that you get either a visitor visa or a transit visa for that country in order to connect through that country, even if you don't plan to leave the airport there. Notably, the US has a requirement like this, so don't connect through the US unless you first get a US visitor or transit visa (harder than for Canada).
Happily, although the Schengen Area of Europe normally requires a Schengen visa for Moroccans to enter, they don't require a visa for Moroccans who are just flying into a Schengen airport and then flying to a non-Schengen destination like Canada without crossing the Schengen passport control boundary. Even for nationalities where they do require a visa for that case, they allow an exception if you have a Canadian visa.
So, your best bet in terms of flight routing is to have two international flights in each direction, one between Morocco and almost any European country and a second flight between that same European airport and Canada. If you need further flights within Canada, those can be booked together with the two international flights.
That's most of it. Then lodging, currency, etc but this comment is long enough already.
Good luck!
ksoped
Hi Peter, what are my employment options as a programmer who (long story short qualifies for DACA) is completely undocumented. Not a citizen, not a resident but living in the US. I'm working with a local company and doing work as a 1099 Contractor, but this along with freelance can be limiting. I would much rather work with a big(ger) company, but unfortunately I don't have work authorization. Am I right in assuming there's no way for me to get hired at a real company? Or are there workarounds I'm not aware about?
lucasfcosta
Quick testimonial from a YC startup that had Peter's assistance for us to go to the batch earlier this year: Peter is great. He gave us great advice and helped us out with how to fill out an urgent application for a visa for my co-founder. Would highly recommend him.
boplicity
Maybe this is too far outside your area. I'm an American living in Canada, and am leery about the best legal structure for my business. Cross border accounting is a nightmare. Any advice?
proberts
Unfortunately, that is outside my area. I just always refer these questions to accountants.
wxnx
I really want to know this, too.
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