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

194 points proberts | 4 comments | 16 May 25 15:05 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

I'll be here for the next 5-6 hours. As usual, there are countless topics given the rapidly changing immigration landscape and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and I'll try to do the same in my answers.

Edit: I am taking a break now and will return later this afternoon/evening to respond to any comments and answer any questions. Thank you everyone for a great and engaged AMA so far.

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neom ◴[16 May 25 15:30 UTC] No.44006665[source]▶
There has been a bunch of chatter in Canadian founders whatsapp groups about people getting detained for long periods of time coming into the states either at SFO or pre-clear in Canada. Are you advising Canadians travel with any additional documentation these days?
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proberts ◴[16 May 25 16:29 UTC] No.44007317[source]▶
There's no question that it's tougher now to get into the U.S., whether from Canada or another country via pre-clearance or via a land crossing, and there can be significant differences among airports and land crossings. Canadians are unique because they are visa exempt and CBP feels particularly emboldened to reassess their admissibility every time they enter. The keys are to avoid bad pre-clearance offices and land crossings and even more importantly to carry the right paperwork, which varies depending on the specific status being sought. There is also a huge difference between seeking entry as a visitor versus seeking entry as a worker with a visa, with the former much more challenging now.
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1. neom ◴[16 May 25 16:48 UTC] No.44007515[source]▶
I was thinking just for folks going down regularly on a B1, do you think it's worth having a copy of your lease or rental agreement in Canada or something similar? It seems most of the stuff I was seeing is about Canadians establishing roots using a B1.
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2. proberts ◴[16 May 25 17:11 UTC] No.44007754[source]▶
The concerns on the part of CBP when someone is seeking admission as a B-1 business visitor are the appropriateness of the applicant's proposed activities and the applicant's ties to home/intent to return home (Canada). So you want to keep in your back pocket documents that address these concerns, such as a foreign lease agreement, foreign pay statement, and evidence of the purpose, such as a printout of the conference being attended or a letter of invitation. It's also really important to be prepared to provide specifics about your purpose, who, what, when, and where.
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3. neom ◴[16 May 25 17:13 UTC] No.44007776[source]▶
Thank you Peter - always appreciate you give time to HN.
4. sgallant ◴[16 May 25 17:14 UTC] No.44007789[source]▶
What if you're going to the US to participate in YC? Would a B-1 visa be valid?