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

183 points proberts | 1 comments | 17 Oct 24 16:01 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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.

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o1rfepeter ◴[17 Oct 24 20:20 UTC] No.41873357[source]▶
Hi Peter, thank you for doing this. I'm a YC Founder, Ex-FAANG who applied for an O1 visa but got a "kitchen sink" RFE (i.e disputing all of my claimed* O1 qualifications). Is withdrawing and re-applying my O1 petition a good idea? Are there any known downsides to doing this? Thanks again!

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.

replies(1): >>41874256 #
1. bubblethink ◴[17 Oct 24 22:00 UTC] No.41874256[source]▶
Not a laywer. Withdrawing and reapplying after changing the app, or responding to the RFE are both valid options. The only thing that is not useful is appealing a rejection. The appeals rarely work and are a waste of money and time. There was also an executive order about O1 which was supposed to lead to rulemaking that would make O1 and EB1 easier for AI (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-action...). I don't know if anything came of this, but look into whether any rulemaking is happening and apply after a final rule is published, assuming you are doing AI. (Everyone is doing AI, btw).