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

226 points proberts | 3 comments | 05 Dec 25 16:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.42s | source

As usual, there are countless immigration 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 do the same in my answers!

Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.

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garbawarb ◴[05 Dec 25 17:15 UTC] No.46164210[source]▶
A question about TN status for a Canadian living in the US. There are some income-generating things I'd like to do outside of my work visa (play a music gig, upload music to Spotify, act in a movie). My understanding is that I can't do these things in the US. Am I able to do these things if I do them outside of the country, or is there any way to make them work? For example, if I went to Canada, recorded an album, uploaded it, then came back to the US.
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1. fencepost ◴[05 Dec 25 18:36 UTC] No.46165339[source]▶
I think a related but separate question would be "Can I do these things if the proceeds are going directly to charity instead of to me?"

I suspect it would be important that any funds never reached you, so you couldn't simply receive money then donate that amount. Playing a charity gig where the receipts go directly to the charity would likely be fine, streaming/Spotify revenue I don't know, acting in a movie might be out of the question if it's being professionally shot because the producer might have insurance or other requirements that only paid performers and crew can be on set, etc.

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2. KK7NIL ◴[05 Dec 25 18:43 UTC] No.46165426[source]▶
IIRC from the time I was waiting for employment authorization, I wasn't allowed to do any charity work that could otherwise be a paid position, so be very careful with this charity idea.
3. throwaway219450 ◴[06 Dec 25 10:11 UTC] No.46172122[source]▶
Some visas that are employment-limited specifically mention volunteering and charitable work as problematic. You do not need to personally gain financially. A crude way to tell is "is this an activity which someone could be paid for, even if I'm doing it for free?"

However the practical answer is ask. Some visas like the J1 allow this - even consulting, provided it meets a bunch of criteria and relevant people sign off. It's not a trivial process, but it's not outright forbidden.