Chase Your American Dream : A 101 on Immigration Law
By Hung-Chun Wong
America is a place which accepts talent from around the world, especially Silicon Valley who welcomes top professions no matter where you’re from. Draper University invited Sophie Alcorn, the founder of Alcorn Immigration Law, an award-winning entrepreneur immigration law firm to teach us about foreigners who want to work in America and how companies can hire them.
Sophie’s law firm is one of the top-rated on yelp. She works with YC and has assisted over 50 tech companies and 1,000s of individuals, maintaining an almost 100% success rate. Last week she was profiled on TechCrunch as the top immigration lawyer in Silicon Valley.
The speech covers visa, green card, and citizenship with a focus on employment and self- sponsorship as ways to get the identity. Here are the different visas / green card options people used to stay in America for work.
1. Temporary options : VISA
E-2 : For people who bring their own money to America. Some countries are not qualified like India and China.
L-1A : For the manager or executive who come to the US to establish a subsidiary.
O-1A : For people who already have a very successful business. Fit at least 3 of 10 of the criteria like prizes, authorship, judging, leadership, contribution, articles… etc.
H-1Bs : For people who are working in a related field of study. Very difficult to get because it is a random lottery.
J-1 : For trainees or internship. Duration is much shorter than H-1B. 2. Permanent options : Green Card
EB-5 : Minimum investment is $500K to create 10 jobs in America. But is difficult to do it in Silicon Valley because the salaries are very high here.
EB-1C : For the manager or executive who had been working abroad and is transferring to the US. The company has been doing business here for at least a year.
EB-1A : For people who are top in their field in their country or world. They can apply for a green cardthemselves, no company necessary, no employment involved.
EB-2 / EB-3 : The company has to prove you are more advanced than local people and only you can fit the job. May have a minimum wage.
EB-2 NIW : Waive the national impact for the applicant.
3. The cost
How much will cost to become an immigrant? Despite many governments and lawyer fees, the process of all the paperwork takes a lot of energy, time is the biggest investment.
Although there is no immigrant law directly designed for startups, we still can find our own fit in the existing law. As an immigrant entrepreneur, it was very useful to have a speech to give us a quick look at different options before choosing the right route. Immigration is a long process, having the right start helps a lot.
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