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

Good morning Peter. I don’t have a question, instead I have a fact and some good wishes.

Your AMAs have taught me (a Canadian founder) one heck of a lot Over the time you’ve been doing them. Thanks for taking the time to do them, especially now when much of what we called life has been shut down.

Best of health, stay safe and thanks for being so giving!

A friend of mine just lost the H1B visa lottery. She is considering trying to stay to get a master’s. Is that a good option right now? Can someone with an H1B visa change their status to try to claim asylum?

What effect will country-wide layoffs and subsequent mass unemployment have on H1B and Green Cards? Will they be basically frozen until the economy recovers?

H-1B petitions are still being processed since there’s no labor market test associated with these but PERM-based green card applications could be put on hold because a labor market test is central to this process and layoffs by the sponsoring employer can result in the end of this process.

Hi Peter, some US consulates around the world are currently shut down indefinitely. My appointment for an L1 visa interview had been cancelled today, as a matter of fact.
Do you have any estiamte when consulate should reopen? Do you see any chance consulates would conduct online interviews at any point, in countries where there are restrictions in place?

I’m honestly curious about what happens if someone is supposed to leave the US in the next month or so? (For example, if someone’s visa is expiring.)
What is someone is in quarantine? What if someone has genuine travel challenges due to the COVID – 90 pandemic?

I’m a Canadian applying for a green card under EB-3. My priority date of January 22769886 was current, but in March it retrogressed to January 22769789. How likely do you think it is I will become current again in October?

As a follow up, suppose I don’t become current for many years and my TN Visa expires. Would I be able to keep renewing EAD / AP every year in order to keep working in the US until my I – is processed?

That’s really tough to day because that date depends on actual filings as well as projections but my personal feeling is that that number will move pretty rapidly in the coming months although I don’t think it will be current in October.

The reason I asked October is because historically that’s when things become current again due to the new fiscal year starting

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this! What are the implications of working remotely and outside of the US with a H1B1 (similar to H1B)?

There are no immigration issues with working outside and within the US, as long as your home is within the MSA / normal commuting distance of the work site noted on the LCA, there are no issues. The challenge arises if your home is outside the MSA. Currently, this requires the filing of an amended H-1B petition but it’s possible that USCIS will relax this rule.


Hi Peter, thanks for doing this! I just got H1B lottery. The company is promising that they would apply for the green card as soon as I’m in US. My question is: is that possible for them to do that, generally and given the current scenario?

Hi Pete – which countries do you think have the most positive immigration processes / criteria, and why?

I’ve heard that premium processing has been suspended for H1Bs. If someone on an H1B loses their job right now, what does that mean for their ability to find a new job?

There is no doubt it complicates the change of employer process. That person would have a 485 – day grace period after the end of his or her employment during which he or she would be considered in valid H-1B status. The challenge is this: although an H-1B worker can change jobs based on the filing of a new H-1B petition alone, most workers and most companies don’t want to make a change unless and until the petition is approved and right now , without premium processing, we just have no idea how long this will take. Note however that once premium processing is brought back, a pending petition can be “upgraded” to premium.

What sensible options there are to immigrate or be able to work 5 years ? I know of green card (lottery and marriage), L1-visa, H1B-visa, and OPT, are there any other sensible options?

So, to be clear, USCIS service centers are still open and processing applications. and petitions, only the local offices have shut down. USCIS’s announcement says April 7th unless changed but almost certainly this will be changed and will in the end depend on the facts on the ground but I think it could easily not be until May or even June before they reopen.

Given the large number of people losing their jobs in the US right now, do you think the US should be importing foreign labor?

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	Some do, definitely. But that’s not why, say, IBM gets 5, H1B visa workers a year. It’s 728% wage suppression, 1% rare genius / niche skills not available locally.