

How to attend YC when you are on H1B - machupai

I have searched YC and got following links<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=158969<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4408<p>But none of them has comments from actual people who has done it.<p>If any of you guys who has already attended YC please respond back<p>1. What visa do i need to get if my intention is only to be here for 3 month duration to attend the YC program<p>2. If i want to stay back after 3 months, Which Visa should i get<p>I know YC do not help with Visa. Wished they had collected the details from other founders (and how they did it), and posted it for the rest of the world.
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machupai
Ex YC, Please step up and help. I know so many people like me who need a light
in this direction. the number of upvotes i got (never got for so many for any
of my previous posts) proves this. Perhaps this could be the best help you
could ever do to a would be YC :)

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ig1
(I don't really have any expertise in this, this is mostly what I've heard on
the grapevine)

I don't believe you can attend YC while on an H1B.

Typically foreign YC participants use a B-1 or an equivalent visa waiver to
take part in YC.

For staying afterwards the typical approach seems to be to get your startup to
sponsor you for a H1B or an L-1 visa, but I believe this is only really a
feasible approach if your startup has raised a VC round and has multiple
founders.

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pclark
do from YC till fund raising under visa waiver program. Don't get a B-1
because you'll probably get rejected and this raises lots of suspicion
whenever you enter USA in the future as you have to declare it.

If more than 2 co-founders and you all have degrees, get H1Bs.

If less than 3 co-founders or no degrees, crush it some more and get O-1.

If you have not raised significant (eg: $1M+) capital by demo day you will not
be able to get a visa, go back home, iterate, come back under VWP when you can
raise capital, then get visa. It is a tremendous stress.

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ig1
If you're from a country which has a visa waiver program in place you don't
need a B1. The visa waiver is usable for tourist or business purposes with
business purposes being those defined under a B1 visa.

If you come from a country which doesn't have a visa waiver program in place
then the B1 is your only option I believe.

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pclark
the problem with vwp is you can only stay 90 days and you really need 180 days
for yc + fund raising

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ig1
Can you fly out the country and come back again for another 90 days ?

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pclark
In theory if you can prove you do not live in USA. It's a stress.

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pnhoang
yes please I am interested.

