US Visa as founder

[eileenwithfaith]

Hey guys,

How can you go to the US as a British citizen and cofounder of a startup?

I own less than 50% of the company and the other shareholders are not British. So I don’t qualify for an E2 visa.

I don’t qualify for an O-1 visa either because apparently they don’t care what I’ve done as a student before. I’m a fresh grad and I’ve only worked on my current startup. My attorneys said YC won’t be enough either.

Then there is the L2 (or was it L1?). But that will require us to continue employing people in the UK. But we don’t want to. We want to move everything over to the US.

Pllzzzz help me. What visa could I apply for? And do you know any good immigration attorneys.

 

[romane91]

@eileenwithfaith Sounds like you need different attorneys

O1s for YC are pretty common

Also try unshackled ventures

I know lots of founders from Techstars and YC get O1s, takes a few months and some creativity

 

[eileenwithfaith]

@romane91 Is that fresh uni graduates who have become YC founders? I think the issue is that I don’t have a “track record” outside of university.

I’ll look into unshackled too! Thanks very much!

 

[613jono]

@eileenwithfaith Get some PR firm to write some articles about you (name included) - e.g. getting accepted to YC. Good lawyers could essentially almost fabricate enough O1 materials for you, but it would be expensive. I remember doing the quote couple years back and expect $10K+

 

[fred5508]

@613jono How do you get PR firm write stuff on you if you’re nobody?

 

[613jono]

@fred5508 Assuming OP got into YC.

OP built a product (even it's not built yet, no one has an ability to check that, everyone is fake it till you make it at this stage), won an award of most innovative product (you can buy awards as well), got recognized by prestigious YC. This will revolutionize industry X.

Hyping yourself as an industry leader in your marketing is something you should be doing anyway. You can use that in O1.

 

[fred5508]

@613jono I see, I guess I forgot to ask what is a PR firm?

Do they help you position yourself in the market and hype up? But question is do they power to actually post this articles in tech news? Or they just help you prep stuff and you need cold outreach to writers.

 

[613jono]

@fred5508 https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html - from yc founder himself.

The biggest value you buy from PR firm is connections to news outlets so you can get things posted in locations such as techcrunch, Forbes, etc. At least in my experience you or your marketing team provide most of the content, they polish it and pitch to the media.

 

[fred5508]

@613jono I love pg essays, exactly what I need, thanks ton mate!

 

[prinzleczy]

@romane91 Unshackled do not provide any value - they just market themselves as immigrant helpers- their terms are not good. You can spend $10k- $15k and get a good lawyer who will do the stuff for you.

You need to have 3-4 of the all possible O1 criteria + legit company (with 2-3 years of paying money in bank)

 

[romane91]

@prinzleczy What are their terms ? I havent shared a cap table with them yet

 

[onlycurious]

@prinzleczy I know YC founders from India with O-1s who are starting a completely new company.

Your company does not need 2-3 years.

 

[prinzleczy]

@onlycurious Yeah, depending on how much risk lawyer is taking. Its like if you don’t have certain things you can get RFE. So it’s good to have not really necessary.

 

[savedsinner777]

@eileenwithfaith To play devil's advocate and explore alternate routes: have you thought about focusing on building your business to a point that you can attract large(r) investments or demonstrate great traction with customers? Either metric will enable you to easily qualify for E- or O-classification. Getting into YC will qualify you for O-1. The U.S. is expensive compared to Europe and the hustle of getting everything in order while getting off the ground (usually) doesn't yield the ROI that Hollywood proliferates on screen.

In summary, I'd build a great product that people want, thanks to the interwebs there isn't really a use case to be in any given geolocation anymore, and once you have PMF and substantial MRR, I'd hire Ogletree or a smaller immigration outfit and come to the U.S. from a position of strength, not desperation.

 

[eileenwithfaith]

@savedsinner777 Hmm that looks like my only option rn

 

[sophiab]

@eileenwithfaith Try EB2-NIW? But that will take 2 years to get. Another options is fall in love really quick. That's about it.

 

[eileenwithfaith]

@sophiab Oh rip. Need something quick. Within the next few months

 

[sophiab]

@eileenwithfaith Also consult another lawyer as well. Many people from YC get O1, so it should be possible. Get some media coverage, get funding, and play a critical role.

 

[amandabecker]

@eileenwithfaith Is it not obvious that you can just walk into the USA at this point and no one will stop you?

 

[srm2888]

@eileenwithfaith You should qualify just with getting into YC. Highly recommend visiting another law firm