YC-affiliated immigration attorney Peter Roberts answers startup and tech worker questions on H-1B, PERM, EB-5, and green card sponsorship in a live AMA.
Key Takeaways
The $100K H-1B fee applies when the beneficiary is outside the U.S. or ineligible for change of status; most companies are not pursuing those petitions.
H-1B status can be extended beyond the 6-year cap if the beneficiary is actively in the green card process.
PERM requires good-faith recruitment; if a qualified U.S. worker applies and the employer refuses to hire, the PERM must be terminated and cannot restart for at least 6 months.
B-1/B-2 travel risk remains low if the trip purpose is permissible and return intent is clear, but frequent travelers should consult an attorney first.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters flagged that the $100K H-1B fee is real and economically prohibitive for most for-profit startups, creating a hard split between companies that can absorb it and those that simply stop sponsoring.
The PERM process drew criticism as structurally broken: job postings are nominally open but budgets often cannot absorb a real hire, forcing employers into a legal fiction that benefits no one.
Current administration policy changes to PERM requirements are causing larger tech companies to pause green card sponsorship entirely, leaving H-1B workers in extended limbo with no clear path forward.
Notable Comments
@jjmarr: Asked how AI affects immigration legal work and what attorneys actually want from legal AI startups, noting hallucination risk as the dominant concern from practitioners.
