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I had an O-1 visa. Still my EB-1 was rejected - twice!

First time then gave me 2 criteria (contribution to field of work and contribution to companies). On Appeal, AAO gave me another criteria (high compensation) and took away 1 already given (contribution to field of work).

Second time, my application was much stronger - but they gave me just one criteria (press).

I didn't take them to court over it. Didn't want to deal with that.

I will try a different firm next time.

Thanks, for the wishes :)

Need to fix the final missing piece: Find a place to call home. Once that is done, will work for the next 20 years attacking terminal disease!

I would not recommend this.

Couple of issues:

1. You might want to visit your family in home country. How do you enter back.

2. CBP can put a border check point anywhere 100 miles from a border. Which covers most of California (land and sea border) including SF. If you get caught in one, your would be arrested and deported.

3. If you overstay for more than 6 months you are banned from US for 3 years. If you overstay for more than 1 year, you are banned from entering US for 10 years.

4. Government knows that you are overstaying. They can also easily find out about your bank accounts, health insurance, doctor visits, kids going to school. They could apprehend you if they want to. It could start by sending you a NTA (Notice to Appear). Once you get an NTA, you can't even leave the country on your own terms without triggering a re-entry bar.

5. Most good employers won't give you a job without a work authorization.

Sadly, what you had suggested has been the life story of all the undocumented workers in US. And it is really tough. I know H1-B has it bad, but it is nothing compared to what the undocumented workers have been going through. When you live in the shadows and under fear of law enforcement for a big part of your life, it can mess up with your mental health. I wish there is a good outcome for them.

Unfortunately the low skilled undocumented workers don't have much options in life. But I am not sure why someone who is educated and skilled, would subject themselves to such a life. Just go somewhere else!

My approach is usually as follows:

1. Identify a real person in whose position I would want to be 10 years from now.

2. Figure out the path from that person to my current situation. Usually this involves figuring out filling missing gaps along multiple dimensions: e.g. knowledge, connections, financial situation.

3. Create 5 year and 2 year checkpoints/goals on each of the dimensions.

4. Break 2 year plan into monthly goals.

5. Execute, learn, critically analyze every quarter. Brutally prioritize.

6. If there is a learning which requires major change in plan, start again from step 1.

I think the most important part was step 1. Rest is execution. It is also important to align your goal with something that you are passionate about. You would need passion to drive you towards your goal.

I put some of the thoughts on company building at [redacted] during sleepless nights with our baby. I will put more thoughts, especially around immigration sometime next year.

It’s not really insane. Many a times, there are skilled spouses who can’t get an H1 because of lottery or some other issue. My spouse had an illustrious career in India and did an MBA in US. She made a lot more than 350k per year and she was on H4 too.

One of my friend’s spouse is a Director in a company. Her company screwed up her Green Card. So she couldn’t extend her H1 beyond 6 years. She had to move to H4 too.

Hi, can you please clarify this. I didn't get the context. I am planning to move to Canada and would love to get multiple view points.

This was a good decision ref EB-5.

Currently, if there is any crazy possibility, USCIS will reject your petition. EB-5 will take 2-3 years and you don't know how things will be then or even if the program will be around then. USCIS will refund your fees, but you will be out lawyer fees and investment.

Move to Canada. You can start your own company in Canada. Salaries are lower and government gives back a good chunk of developer salaries to the company.

You will also get some stability in life. As you get older, it is more difficult to immigrate to other countries.

This is bad advice. It is really risky to do this and you can be barred from US forever.

Lawyers can give bad advice, and you need to triple-check non conventional advice. I used a lawyer who is really popular with YC companies. He gave me really bad advise, none of it worked eventually and I had to leave US eventually.

Be very conservative and careful when dealing with Immigration laws. Especially with the current environment.

I just moved out of US and in process of moving to Canada. Just for background: Worked in leadership roles for startups and Fortune 15 companies, sold a company, advise/invest in bunch of startups.

My life's goal is contribute to curing/diagnosing terminal disease using technology. Everything I did in the past 14 years has been towards meeting that goal. I figured, I would need knowledge, network, and financial stability. I moved to US in 2011 and over 14 years I achieved all of these. However, after moving to US I realized that I lost the most critical piece: ability to work on this goal without significant restrictions.

Visas like H1/O1 have lot of restrictions on what you can work. Recently it has become extremely difficult for early stage startups to get H1, especially if the applicant owns significant equity.

Once you get invested and comfortable in a place, you stay put. I worked really hard to break this ceiling. I tried for EB-1 Green Card twice and got rejected both times. You need 3 out of 10 criteria for Green Card. Over 2 petitions and an appeal - separate USCIS officials gave me 4 criteria. But none of them gave me 3, and their responses were very hostile.

I had to deal with H1/O1 petition every year while I pursued my entrepreneurship goals. However, I am finally done with this and can't do it anymore. I think I also have PTSD because of my experience dealing with immigration. I could not work to my potential, missed family events because I couldn't travel and stayed in limbo for too long.

However, finally I have moved out of US. I want to pursue my goal to attack terminal disease without any employment restrictions. At this point, Canada seems like the best place for this and that is where I am moving.

I am originally from India, and as mentioned in a few other posts, I do not want to live there because of quality of life challenges.

I will write more detailed posts sometime next year detailing my experience. However in summary my advise is:

If you are from India, come to US only if you internalize that you are in a temporary situation with a set goal: make more money/learn/build network. Don't get too invested, because you might need to leave at short notice. If you are an entrepreneur, you would be spending the best years of your life, without being able to perform to your potential due to immigration related bureaucracy. India, currently, has great opportunities for Entrepreneurs.

I was lucky to be able to found a company on H1, sell it and work at a few great companies. Still it wasn't enough to make it here.