I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
I'll be here for the few hours and then again at around 1 pm PST for another few hours. 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. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll try to do the same in my answers. Thanks!Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.
165 points by proberts - 260 comments
We haven’t established a company in Germany yet, we want to be strategic and make what’s best to succeed.
From what I know we can do the batch with our current tourist visa, so I’d like to know more about the post batch options. Being US based or Germany based is an option for us.
Thanks in advance
There is also a post on hackernews about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31601638 And there is a Ask HN that could be helpful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31620700
https://dvlottery.me/win-chances-green-card-lottery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shWe5dNqUrc
Also, attend a few free AMCHAM webinars to get the details on foreign ownership rules.
Depending on how large your project becomes, some people may just use a brokerage service to localize the Merchant on Record (MoR) like withreach.com for online retailers. However, only US domestic corporations can mitigate liability on sold goods/services etc. Keep aware of the IRS grace thresholds on sales, as even if you owe $0 in federal and state taxes... it can still become a $8k fine for forgetting to file a return in the US.
Best of luck, =3
How has AI affected your work as a lawyer, if at all? Do you expect it to change your work or how you bill?
How are "false freelancer" laws, e.g. in Spain, affecting the market? Do you generally advise American early-stage startups startups to hire foreigners as contractors, or to immediately use a PEO?
If asked whether I need a visa in a US job application, would it be fine to say "no"?
How should I explain my situation, given that most people might assume that hiring non-US candidates would require participation in the H-1B lottery?
most impt thing to note is that while you do still need a visa sponsor, it is a LOT easier and cheaper for you and yes ive had a job where i paid for my own visa lawyer, and only needed simple docs from the company (which was ~10 people at the time if that helps). didnt turn out to be a GREAT job ofc but thats separate.
dont ask me how to get a job in the us from singapore tho. if ur applying thru the "front door" as u seem to be doing, yes its harder. lots more back door options but you'll have to network well to do it (i recommend https://swyx.io/LIP)
Do you have any thoughts on that? Is this one of those "why don't they just..." type of ideas that people with first hand knowledge know is majorly flawed?
That's a lot of what prioritizing slots by pay does: pay is higher for jobs with low supply relative to demand.
Also there are a lot of parties involved in gaming the complex system whose services wouldn't be needed if the solution was that simple. I think Upton Sinclair's quote applies here. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-ge...
The process is completely divorced from reality.
The questions and requirements are meaningless.
To my eye, there is zero rationality in the process.
As far as I can see, the and the only effect of the visa programme is that there is a limited number of visas, and so this acts to prevent businesses from hiring the people they want to hire, and that's not freedom; and in the process of doing so, causing untold disruption to lives and businesses and direct and indirect costs to businesses, individuals and economy as a whole.
I would also argue that prioritizing the highest paid jobs makes displacement of US workers less likely. It would raise the bar for everyone.
We saw similar things with previous "investor visas" where there was no intention to start a business and the USCIS had to stop issuing them for many years because of the pervasive fraud on both sides of the equation. I can guarantee that some creative lawyer out there was already thinking about how to game the US "startup visa" when that was proposed a few years back.
The only difficulty I see is that salary isn't necessarily proportional to a person's usefulness to the economy or the country. A person can start a company and pay himself a million dollars a year while the person and the company does nothing at all. Sure the IRS gets to collect a bunch, but at that point we might as well create a class of visas that are sold in an auction.
I’ve heard I can get a green card via significant US investment. How much does that requires? Can I stay in the US while the process is ongoing?
As I understand it, your employer can apply for the H1B lottery every year for you while still on the L1. Some companies will do this, eventually I did get the H1B I wanted back then. My colleagues on L1 all did the same thing too.
Conversely, what are the main pain points now that are likely to be intractable?
(If policy is outside the scope of AMA, sorry and please ignore...)
Thanks!
* Are your kids US citizens?
* In what country you do currently live?
> I was told that in order to get a spouse Visa, I need to start the process in Thailand. Is this true? Do i need to apply for everything in Thailand just because this is where we got married? Thank you
This is generally incorrect. For a spouse of a US citizen living abroad, you "start" by filing I-130 and then by completing the NVC paperwork, which can be done either online or through mail. The final stages are generally handled by the overseas consulate where the intending immigrant resides.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...
However, you may need documents from Thailand, such as your marriage certificate with English translation and police records for the immigrant.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Visa-Rec...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41871481
I was accepted into a postdoc program and have an H1-B that was approved by the USCIS with no issues, but it was put in administrative processing by the embassy.
It's been in administrative processing for almost a year with zero follow up communication, and the council of my employer doesn't know or is unwilling how to get an update on this process. Is there anything that can be done to move it along?
P.S. : I’m an EU Citizen
My understand is big tech usually tries to see if you're eligible for an O-1, and then they take their chances for H1-B, and then there's also a pathway for bringing in workers that have already worked from you from abroad (for one year).
Wondering if there's other types of Visa that are applicable, and where they slot in in the general algorithm of a US-based employer that wants to get a Visa for one of their workers.
I also recently learned about the EB1 Visa, though that one is not tied to an employer. I'm wondering how it compares to the O1 in ease of access / modalities.
You should have considered the immigration consequences before you got married. The only thing that can change your situation is if your marriage ends in death or divorce. Otherwise you must wait.
9 FAM 502.2-3(D)
> a. (U) Immediate Relative Converts to Third Preference: If the child of a U.S. citizen is the beneficiary of an IR petition, the petition automatically converts to a third preference petition if the child marries. The priority date of the third preference petition is the filing date of the immediate relative petition.
> b. (U) First Preference Converts to Third Preference: If the unmarried son or daughter of a U.S. citizen marries before the visa is issued, the beneficiary's first preference petition automatically converts to a family third preference petition. Any child(ren) of the beneficiary would then be entitled to derivative third preference status. The priority date remains the same.
> e. (U) Third Preference Converts to First Preference: (1) (U) A third preference petition approved for a married son or daughter of a U.S. citizen who has since become widowed or divorced automatically converts to accord first preference status (or IR status if the beneficiary is under the age of 21). If the petition converts to first preference, the accompanying or following-to-join child(ren) may be granted derivative first preference status. The priority date remains the same.
https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM050202.html
I may be wrong, but I think immigration consequences were not something any reasonable, normal person would have had any reason to think of. We are normal people, living normal lives. As I say, I may be wrong, but this feels like blaming the victim.
OP evidently made an incorrect assumption somewhere: perhaps they thought that they would stay in IR2/F1. Or perhaps they assumed that even if they change to F3, it would be as good as IR2/F1.
Any advice or anything you recommend reading? Also, how long it typically would take until I was able to legally have a job in the US, once I move?
I have a tourist visa and traveled to the States countless times. If I go there with the intent of getting married, do I need a special visa or not, considering I can already enter legally?
Thank you for your time.
You have to follow special rules for the fiance visa program, and most all the paperwork happens before you get married.
The big thing I remember(it's been decades now), there was a fee we had to pay at one of the consulates somewhere, and they gave us 2 receipts, a big fancy full page one and the tiny cash register receipt. Way afterwards they made us prove we paid the fee. They wanted the tiny cash register receipt, not the fancy full page one. Make sure you keep literally everything , you have no idea what might be important later on.
I'm not saying the fiance visa is right for you in your situation, just mentioning it in case you are not aware.
Yes, you absolutely need a visa (specifically the K1). Entering the US with the intent to get married without it is immigration fraud!
I've been through this process myself and I can tell you that it's quite the lengthy process and there's financial requirements and many checks along the way. For me it was about 18 months from start of K1 application to issuance (delayed due to COVID) and then about 6 month wait on employment authorization (and greencard about 6 months later).
These times could be much longer if you're not from a western country or mess up the paperwork along the way (easy to do, there's quite a lot of stuff both partners need to file).
Just letting you know so you can start the process early. There's several forums online for people going through such a process with a lot of resources, I'd suggest looking there for other's experiences.
While this is theoretically true, the reality is that thousands (tens of thousands?) of people do it every year successfully. And it's hardly surprising, especially under a pro-immigrant administration like Biden's. I doubt strictly enforcing previous non-immigrant intent in family-based green card applications is anyone's priority.
I'm not advocating people do it. I just think there's a strange dynamic in immigration conversations online where a lot of people talk as if theory and reality are exactly the same. They're not. The reality is that people are constantly engaging in various immigration violations that are overlooked/undeclared/ignored/etc.
You are correct, but if you do it on a tourist visa, you can expect to wait well over a year for employment authorization, which is very difficult on a relationship.
Not to mention you always risk getting rejected (particularly if you posted your intention online) and then being essentially banned from entering the US.
For two grown adults with careers, it makes no sense to risk it, just take one of many legal routes (K-1, work visa, getting married outside of the US and then applying for a greencard, etc).
You'd need a US entity to apply on your behalf. In my case they never asked about assets to pay the salary but that may be an issue.
https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary...
For context: hiring remotely you don't want to set up a corporate presence in every country, that would be mind-boggingly complex & expensive — so instead you hire people as contractors or use an employer of record (EOR) like Deel to hire people and then you contract Deel.
The one risk with hiring contractors that will basically only work for you (though for sure, the contract should not make this a condition) is that in some jurisdiction is allegedly pretty easy to take these contracts to court and requalify them as employment contracts, putting you on the hook for back taxes and possibly fines.
I'm just wondering how much that stuff happens in practice, and how much of an issue it is when it happens.
If your waiver is denied, there's of course the alternative of your spouse going back to her home country by herself.
On the other hand, if a remote worker is a virtual receptionist for a US business, or if the worker controls machinery remotely that operates in the states, they clearly compete with local labour, and bring cybersecurity issues.
As an attorney with power to interpret and shape case law, do you think there is any grounds to require visas for some types of private remote work, given the current laws? Or would this be a matter that needs to go through congress.
Few months ago I've applied for F2A visa for my spouse from Russia. Official sources state processing times in California at 4 years plus. I am 2 years away from obtaining a citizenship in US by which I then can do K1.
Would you advice to convert F2A to K1 visa in the future? How do I do that? Is there a way to speed up the process at all?
CR1/IR1 is generally superior from the perspective of the immigrant spouse. However, CR1/IR1 does not allow derivatives, unlike F2A. If you have any children or stepchildren that don't have US citizenship or a green card, you will need to file a separate I-130 for them if you become a US citizen.
From the perspective of a recent Green Card recipient not yet living in USA, is it possible/advisable to convert to a Commuter Green Card, work remotely (and paid as US-based employee with US contract, US mailing address, and US benefits), and commute to the US to work in person for a week or two every few months?
(Or does this stretch the definition of commuting outside of scope?)
Move to SF if you want the tendies.
I'm going for a CR-1 visa. I married the love of my life a month ago. We knew each other for a year when we married. I thought it'd be fine but I gave it some more thought and I'm a bit worried.
My worries:
* I had suicidal ideation and did visits to a psychiatry center once per week for a month until I was fine enough according to them. I have never physically hurted myself. I never planned it. My issue was that I felt a strong urge to plan it, and I didn't want to cave in which I didn't thanks to the psychiatry center. In retrospect, I realized I was in a really toxic relationship, once that was gone there was no suicidal ideation left.
* I do have an autism diagnosis that I got a few months ago at the age of 36.
* My employment history is checkered. My last employment was almost 2 years and then the tech layoffs hit, so outside of my control (second round of layoffs too).
Good things:
* My education is top notch with high marks, I even published a paper
* No criminal record
* 50000$ in the bank
* Coming from Sweden
* My wife has a stable job for 4 years, no criminal record, university educated, etc. (I don't think there are any issues there)
Will the suicidal ideation episode, autism diagnosis and checkered employment history be an issue for the CR-1 visa when I get my medical?
> employment agreement with the company
I believe this means that once the entity is founded and funding secured, all participants will need to transfer their H1B to this new entity in order to work for it, right?
If the company with which I applied for O1 goes bankrupt what happens to my visa status?
I think a lot of the response are presupposing that the commenters are in the tech industry. If a company is already setup to deal with visas it's probably not a big deal, assuming the economy is still going well and companies are hiring. In another field where companies don't or barely deal with visas at all, it's probably really difficult.
Disputed qualifications include:
1. YC funding is not an "internationally recognized award"
2. YC membership is not "an association that requires outstanding achievement from its members"
3. Beneficiary's role (CTO) doesn't prove their critical role to the organisation.
4. Previous high renumeration is not evidence of high salary in the field as a whole. Nor is equity in YC company.
> E-3 Specialty Occupation Workers may be admitted initially for a period not to exceed the validity period of the accompanying E-3 labor attestation (i.e., for a maximum of two years), and extensions of stay may be granted indefinitely in increments not to exceed the validity period of the accompanying E-3 labor attestation (i.e., for increments of up to two years each). As there is no limit on the total length of stay for an E-3 alien in the legislation, there is no specified number of extensions a qualify ing E-3 Specialty Occupation Worker may be granted. Under the current E regulation, 8 CFR 214.2(e)(5) , an alien classified under section 101(a)(15)(E) as an E-3 nonimmigrant shall maintain an intention to depart the United States upon the expiration of termination of E status. An application for initial admission, change of status or extension of stay in E-3 classification, however, may not be denied solely on the basis of an approved request for permanent labor certification or a filed or approved immigrant visa preference petition.
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-ma...
Assuming i hold a minority stake, and have an employment contract Can i transfer my h1b? Can the company also sponsor my green card in the future?
Thanks for doing this regularly!
I've heard rumors that quitting the job that was used to justify the permanent residence too soon can jeopardize either the green card or future naturalization applications. Is this true?
L1A or O1?
(Coming from South Africa, running SaaS company with holding co in DE)
Grandfather fought in Vietnam.
I am a dual US / Canada citizen and currently living & working in the US.
I am looking into moving to Canada, and was wondering what kind of issues I could run into if I wanted to continue working for the US company while living in Canada.
I am working for a small sized start-up, and I am pretty certain they have no experience in this kind of thing, so I wanted some more info before breaking the ice.
Thank you
If a minimally qualified US worker is found, are they under a requirement to hire the worker or can they just reapply for PERM later and conduct another labor market test?
Also, how are you anticipating the immigration landscape to change especially if President Donald Trump returns to the White House in January 2025? I'm asking this in the context of the 2017-2021 Trump administration's massive clampdown on Specialty Occupation visas through executive orders. [0]
[0] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/tr...
https://www.delawareinc.com/before-forming-your-company/dela...
For example, without undocumented immigrants, milk would be a lot more expensive (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/15/magazine/milk-industry-un...). The current election is showing us quite starkly how significant grocery staple prices are in shaping public perception of a nation's economic health.
This strikes me as a bit tone deaf. These people are paid slave wages to do this work. They have unsafe housing conditions. They pay cartel fees to get across the border. Their "employers" are breaking the law. The government looks the other way. Personally, I'd be willing to pay more for milk (or any grocery product) if Americans were doing the jobs and getting paid fair wages with good benefits.
It gives me Kelly Osbourne on The View vibes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8INEYLFWwc
I mean sure, but I don't think that judgement has any consequence unless anyone grabs a soapbox and starts chastising people for wanting cheaper food. I haven't seen any of the candidates do that yet.
Pros:
- can vote
- can get security clearance, potentially more income
- even long periods abroad do not bear the risk of loosing privilege
- can do jury duty
Cons:
- need to do jury duty
- need to declare income to IRS regardless of residency
- potentially be taxed by IRS
Any other cons I'm not aware of? I heard that getting rid of the US citizenship (e.g. for tax reasons) will make it hard to get a visa ever again.
Also a pro is that while traveling you have the services of the U.S embassy to you, which could be a life saver depending on what other citizenship you hold and the circumstances.
But even though I am not a criminal, it was also on my mind that if I were ever falsely convicted in some travesty of justice, I could also be deported, which would make it even worse.
Perhaps a bigger difference is that it's somewhat easier to abandon the green card than to renounce US citizenship.
If you haven’t been filing returns for the past 5 years, you should hire a CPA to get a professional opinion and possibly file late returns before applying for citizenship.
[1] https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/freq...
Depending on your home country, having US passport opens up a lot of other possibilities for travel too.
I've never been US-resident; the reason I know about this is talking to someone who relinquished theirs when I asked if they could keep it.
*from the U.S. Government's point of view.
This is commonly stated but is not true. US companies are required to pay the "Prevailing Wage" [0] to H-1Bs, so they cannot use foreigners to undercut US citizens.
However, foreigners whose presence in the US is dependent on their employment are certainly more likely to be abused by employers
0: https://flag.dol.gov/programs/prevailingwages
This is laughable. I do not know how the government calculates those wages, but as someone who got to US on H-1B visa this year I'm making more than 2x the "prevailing wage" listed on my LCA application.
Just to clarify: my job is a Software Architect, in one of East Coast states, and the prevailing wage listed in my application was $84k. So it is not that my salary is especially good, it's this government-mandated one that is a joke.
I'm lucky, because I came here to work for the same company I used to work in my home country so I got offered good terms (somehow H-1B was easier to get than L-1). If some company offered me a job for the "prevailing wage" I would laugh in their face, but I'm sure for some people that would seem like a lucrative offer.
I know from talking to my American colleagues that my total comp is around the same level as theirs, so at least at my company they don't undercut US citizens.
Your listed PW does seem quite low, and I don't know how they actually measure it. I certainly agree that companies will do whatever they can to lower wages for all worker, and not including stock or bonus in the prevailing wage is ripe for abuse. Perhaps some reform for this law is in order.
Why?
It's their money and their business.
What business do you or I have in forcing upon them what they can do? any more than they would have any business forcing themselves upon us?
AFAICT, the parent answered that with "This whole system...puts U.S. citizens out of work." (Whether that's actually true or not, I'm not entirely certain, but the argument could definitely be made, and, in all likelihood, convincingly.)
> What business do you or I have in forcing upon them what they can do? any more than they would have any business forcing themselves upon us?
Presumably, it's people's business because the US is basically a nation governed by the people who see it as their responsibility to help ensure their basic values (peace, prosperity, life, freedom, justice, pursuit of happiness, etc.). So, when there's regulation that affects the people, it actually is their business.
It's called regulation and we do it all the time.
Well, that's a woefully short-sighted and zero sum way of thinking.
"an impressive 44.8% of Fortune 500 companies in 2023, equating to 224 companies, were founded by immigrants or their children."
So, it is more accurate to say that the US is abusing and exploiting other countries by stealing their job-creators and thus, jobs.
Source:
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/new-report-r....
It would also help enormously if the immigration was not tied to a specific company, i.e., the worker could jump to a new company at will without having to convince Company-B to do the whole sponsorship process. As it is, (iirc) if they lose their job, they have only 90?180 days to find a new sponsor or go home. This would make it much less exploitative, and also lower incentives for companies to sponsor H1Bs instead of seeking US workers. Write your congress-reps & Senators.
(Source: tech co founder in some companies that did H1Bs, so not sponsoring but managing the workers brought under the process; also competed under a coach that my school took exceptional efforts to get here from Austria because of his world-class qualifications, they still had to really fine-tune the requirements)
It is a race to the bottom that Americans will never win.
Americans who want a normal wage and life are never going to be able to compete on price with someone in South America or Eastern Europe.
This is the kind of things that should result in massive tariffs and extremely onerous tax and paperwork for the companies that do it.
Otherwise, all of our expertise will just move outside of the world and to the desperate abroad. And for what benefit?
My family were the ones told 'no Irish need apply' and now you want me to tell someone else's family off and that they aren't wanted? My family fled eastern europe for their lives but you want me to tell someone else my fear of a threat to my income is more valuable than them? Nah bro, I'm good. Don't claim to be a defender of me/America/Americans. Your type didn't want my family here either back in the day but the USA thrived even with our/my existence. Being American isn't in your blood, it's in who you chose to be. Alway had been/always will be. And Americans don't choose fear over welcoming.
I'd give every new American a huge welcome hug if I could because they are us and are family. They are your parents/grandparents/great grandparents/etc. Sad that you have forgotten that or chosen to forget because you are scared too 'share'.
Everyone reading this, I'm glad you want to come be part of this great experiment. I hope you chose to stay, it's a pretty cool place with pretty cool people.
Isnt it the employers exploiting the system?
The parent's sentiment is valid. There's no reason the US needs to import startups - there's plenty here in the US that don't get funding/support/attention they already deserve.
Instead of helping immigrate potential founders - I'd rather see YC do outreach in these other countries to empower/support founders within their home nation.
But, that might slightly diminish YC's chances of funding the next Facebook or something... so here we are.
> openssl s_client -connect www.robertsimmigration.com:443 2>/dev/null
> ---
> SSL handshake has read 1859 bytes and written 427 bytes
> Verification error: self-signed certificate
> ---
Cheers
I don't plan to move to the US, but my startup operates in the US market, and it would be beneficial if I could meet customers and investors in person.
I plan to apply again next spring (a year after the denial), and if I’m unsuccessful, I’m considering applying for an O1 visa to be able to visit the US, although I have no intention of staying long-term. Do you think this is a good idea? I’m concerned that after the O1 visa expires, my only option to return might be to apply for another work visa or O1 visa.
From what I know, some people have received their visas after 12-16 months of processing. It will most likely be valid for only one year, though. Eight months is pretty early to expect anything at this point.
Here’s a Serbian-Russian expats visa Telegram group where there’s a US section. You can ask people there about their processing times: https://t.me/serbia_visas_chat
Again, I’d say you’ve had some luck!
As one presidential candidate will likely direct his ire at the program if he wins, can you explain why such a program is compelling or vital for our tech industry? My H1B1 colleagues seem happy to be in the US (and have indicated such) but nonetheless appear exploited. My naive economic analysis is that the visa program depresses wages to the benefit of corporations, but I’m sure the situation is far more nuanced.
(I’d like something to offer my conservative friends/family who increasingly think all immigration should be verboten.)
Not proberts, but observing left wing media in the States over the last 8-10 years I've seen a carpet bombing of the same concept: eliding the difference between immigration and illegal immigration. If you want to talk to your conservative friends and family I'd start by checking whether or not it's illegal immigration they're against. Even the Democrats seem to be noticing that people don't like open border policies and are scrambling to adjust campaign promises in light of this.
I understand you might not able to think in these terms when it comes to the hated enemy, but if you think of all people as people, even Republicans, then you might notice that they don't all think the same things. Or even that they don't hate illegal immigrants, but think that laws are a good idea and criminals should be punished, not rewarded. This is just understanding both sides 101, in case you do break out of this mindset.
The OP didn't accuse Republicans of being non-people. They specifically made a -- true, incidentally -- factual claim:
> > That's why they spread lies about refugees and other legal immigrants, right
It is notable, though, that it is the Republican candidate that has very directly been using dehumanizing language. And you are here asking people to get into a both-sides argument. The situation isn't symmetric: the arguments shouldn't have to be.
> I understand you might not able to think in these terms when it comes to the hated enemy
Also notable it is that one specific candidate is using the term "enemy within" to describe US residents. It's not the Democrat.
> Or even that they don't hate illegal immigrants, but think that laws are a good idea and criminals should be punished, not rewarded.
Again, your statement has nothing to do with what you're responding to.
But if you want to sample the kind of vitriol that somebody living with the precarity of a H-1B "employer controls your life" environment, here's a paragraph of it to chew on.
Though, I strongly believe that H1b problem is modern slavery. Especially for people from India and China. The law is carefully crafted to ensure a constant supply of captive labor who work hard, pay taxes and if they fail to be competetive then get sent back to their home country irrespective of how long they have lived here or their contribution to the economy/society here. Sometimes I wonder if the law would have been the same if it were to impact europeans the same way (Pls don't take this as racist. Nothing against European ppl. I'm just complaining about a racist law).
I know the counter-argument is always that "you can leave the job and go back if you feel it's slavery". That's true but like Europeans and like people from many other countries, we also want to live in this great country. This country has attracted immigrants over centuries. The problem is that the law is carefully crafted to ensure that not too many people of color become citizens here without having a clear race based restriction in the law.
And, people can help others and promote themselves at the same time. One can appreciate the former while holding their nose at the latter.
The problem is the idea of the nation-state with borders and all. As long as we think being born in one part of the world gives you more rights than someone who just moved from somewhere else, we'll continue to have this bureaucratic nonsense that (and I'm almost certain of it) has a negative impact on economic growth. But I don't think that will change in the next 100–200 years, so let's deal with the unfair cards we have and move on with our lives.
finding ways to move on despite the administrative hurdles is the only pragmatic path forward. and Peter Roberts is trying to help with that ??
One question I have is regarding skilled immigration from India and China specifically. Currently, people have to wait decades through no fault of their own. Big Tech companies, Chamber of Commerce, and many Republicans also support this.
However, a Democratic Senator, Dick Durbin has disingenuously blocked meaningful progress and reforms over and over and over again. He blocked the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 which had passed House with 365 votes and was sponsored by current Vice President Kamala Harris. He added on a poison pill that would not have gotten support knowing fully well that the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would have passed.
Similarly, Rep. Zoe Lofgren wrote to Speaker Pelosi expressing great dismay that her legislation (different bill, 2 years ago) which would have provided reforms was pulled from the floor and that it was important to force a vote.
It is certainly known that Republicans have blocked immigration reform (Grassley on CHIPs, etc) but Democrats have had multiple opportunities to remove the per-country visa cap and repeatedly refuse to do so in varying dishonest manners.
Why is Democratic leadership so against skilled immigrants coming from India and China? The closest we have come so far was under a Republican administration. Many populist Republicans support these reforms so it is perplexing to me that a party so committed to removing barriers that enforce systemic discrimination continue to let things play out as they are.
https://rollcall.com/2022/12/15/democrat-pushes-to-reverse-d...
(And, it frankly appears this account is owned or operated by a state actor.)
Stop helping people come to the US. We don't need the outside help.
We have tens of thousands of unemployed tech workers in this country who need work.
Cisco has been in a stead state of layoffs for years, recently laying off 4,000.
Amazon and Meta are laying off.
If it's true people are crossing our borders, claiming asylum, and being let go with work permits, why should anyone do wait to do it the legal way and wait or get denied?
What is the advantage to doing it the normal way?
*Except for Indians.
If you have the ability to immigrate on a visa, it's much safer and easier than relying on "coyotes" or having to cross multiple borders illegally just to take a shot at entering the US.
There's a reason you don't see Mexicans cross the border illegally anymore.