Immigration attorney Elizabeth Jamae explains visa and green card challenges for startup founders. The H-1B process is costly and lottery-based, while USCIS favors larger companies over startups. She covers work permits, compliance, and common scenarios founders face.
Chapters
So I'm going to try— I lost my voice yesterday, actually. I've got it back, but it's not as strong as it usually is. I'm usually super, super loud. But if you can't hear me, just raise your hand and say, hey. Just yell at me. I answer to pretty much anything. So who are we? So you can find us at Jumay Law. And as she said, we have a global startup focus. It's kind of unusual in the sense that most immigration firms are very corporate-focused. So, we— our key clients are pretty much founders, companies with 1 or 2 people up to about 500, 600 people. So, we kind of keep in that sweet spot. Our team is kind of spread out over the country so we can get the best and the brightest. We have technical writers. We have a great team of lawyers that are really experienced. And that kind of really helps us push the boundaries of immigration because that's what we have to do in the U.S. these days. We have to really push U.S. immigration to really think differently about bringing people in. One of the things I'm really happy about is our network. We have really worked hard to establish relationships with investors and other accelerators around the world to create a holistic approach to the problem of helping people with their immigration issues. So what that means is we have networks with tax advisors, international IP attorneys that can help really solidify a case when we're faced with the challenges that you guys are faced with at the startup stage in your career. And then our offices. We're primarily based in San Francisco. We have an office in London now. And that kind of helps with the European scene. And then we're close to opening an office in Melbourne. To focus on the APAC side of the world. So that's kind of where we are today. And slow me down and feel free to raise your hand and ask any questions during this time because I'm just going to basically do a really brief overview of the entire immigration system that affects you. And then we're going to do some scenarios that affect— that I see on an everyday basis. The questions that I'm asked. So what do we do at Jimé Law? We basically help startups and individuals with their work permits, helping them get green cards. We help you with compliance issues. We help you maintain your status, which is very important. And we help you keep up to date with the laws. That's kind of what we do. Thank you. And I just made it go away. There we go. There you go. Like I said, today we're going to do a general overview of immigration and how it affects startups. And then I'm going to go through some everyday scenarios. So let's talk a little bit about the issues that are facing you today. One of the biggest problems for you guys is just the basic legislative inaction in the US. So, we're about to go into an election year. So, that's— we're at least 2 years away from any significant changes in our immigration system, if there are any. So, we can't really look to Congress to help you guys out right now. That's one big issue. Another big issue you guys might know about is the H-1B issue. It's probably the most common visa that everybody seems to know about. How many of you have heard of an H-1B? I have. Okay. Last year when we— when people applied, they only had a 33% chance of getting into the lottery. You know, it's capped at a certain number. And on top of that, it's very costly to file. So, for a startup, you really have to think twice about filing an H-1B. And it's really not something that I advise at an early stage in your company because it's so costly. We'll talk about that in a second. And then restrictive attitudes within the USCIS. That's our US Immigration Service. I've listed here size, money, and location. What that means is immigration officers, when they're adjudicating your cases, they like to see big companies that are generating tons of revenue that have a traditional office space, you know, 3,000 square feet, and you have all these desks, and they want to see that you have workers in those offices. And that your size of your staff is rather large. But that's— let's face it, that's not what you're going to have when you start out, right? The reality is you have maybe 4 people. They're probably not going to be getting paid top dollar. You're all working for equity. You're working out of somebody's bedroom with a laptop. And so that's not the ideal case. And so we really have to work hard to— with those restrictive attitudes. And then the lack of collaboration between investors and entrepreneurs. What I mean by this is— I don't know if you— how many of you have talked to investors. But if you do and the topic of immigration comes up, they're a little hesitant to move forward with investing because they don't know the visa situation. And so if we had more collaboration between investors and entrepreneurs, we could work to strategize solutions so that that wouldn't be a barrier to investment. So I think that that's an extremely important thing to look at when you're looking at an investor. Thank you.
