Ask HN: Any startups focusing on US non-immigrants?

[saradhi]

With the recent layoffs (that hurt H-1B visa & GC status) and the long waiting for the US Visa interview appointments in the countries like India & Canada, it seems, there are barriers to entry into the US and maintaining the status. Are they any startups, especially from non-immigrants, that address these pain points?

[hideo]

Maybe I’m missing the point - all these issues are because of various governments’ policies. how could startups possibly address immigration policy problems? I can’t think of any way a startup could e.g. help someone waiting months for a visa appointment.

[nicbou]

I help people with this in Germany.

Good information goes a long way, and the government is terrible at it. I just tell people what they have to do, which pitfalls to avoid, and how the process usually goes. That makes the whole thing a lot less stressful.

I'm slowly adding more tech to the problem. For instance, I'd love to build a residence permit picker that tells you exactly what your immigration options are. Again, this information is very hard to gather from official sources.

It's not a startup, just a website. Does that still fit?

[saradhi]

Here are some websites that are helping US non-immigrants. h1bdata.info provides a list of companies that sponsor H-1B visas along with the job titles and salary

checkvisaslots.com informs about visa slot availability in India

visaholics.com a community that shares US visa experiences

boundless.com .. . ..

[yellow_lead]

There is a big service sector around helping people immigrate to various countries (Law area). A startup could productize this.

[culopatin]

Do you want a startup to give you some special privilege above everyone else trying to get in the country? What makes you think the people laid off the tech sector are the main group of people waiting for visas or even the main concern of the immigration office? If anything you were the most privileged and had an awesome opportunity.

[saradhi]

Why would you expect startup having special privileges. There are websites like

h1bdata.info which provides list of companies that sponsor H-1B visas along with the job titles and salary

checkvisaslots.com which informs about visa slot availability

visaholics.com a community that shares US visa experiences

boundless.com .. . ..

[ravagat]

The barriers to entry and constant status maintenance are well worth it and are set up exactly the way they are for good reason. I don't think there are any startups that explicitly address these pain points. It's likely impossible since they are largely policies in or around government.

In terms of waitlists and queues increasing, which is what has essentially been a lack of control and adoption to an ever growing number, I don't think a startup could feasibly rise as a business in order to address these pain points. If anything offering a system solution to a publicly unknown problem that could be adopted at scale is a great challenge and one that could and should be invested into. But the root problem isn't known publicly and/or is too complicated and entirely not software/tech solvable.

I think this is also why the rise of companies aimed at efficiency that are in some way related to these immigration pain points like Flexport(logistics), Rippling(HR), deel(HR/PEO), Stripe/Modern Treasury/Adyen(finance), Exec (coaching),Replit(edu/dev tool) and others I'm missing, continue to gain prominence, funding, and adoption.

[tacostakohashi]

> there are barriers to entry into the US and maintaining the status

Yes, that's the whole point!

[rhaway84773]

The point is to have to wait so long to stamp an approved visa in your passport that your visa approval will expire before you can get it stamped and will need to get it reapproved before?

So basically for years you cannot LEAVE the US because even though you have all the approvals, you cannot get an appointment?

So much on their site whining about H1Bs simply have no clue what they’re talking about. Which is especially ironic because commenters here simultaneously complain about how there are so many H1Bs that it should be easy enough to ask one of their colleagues.

[killingtime74]

Yes it's called a migration lawyer...

[908B64B197]

> Canada

Why does Canada have a long wait time? Population is smaller than California.

[tacostakohashi]

Because lots of people from more distant countries go there for their appointments instead?

[readonthegoapp]

layoffs hurt green card holders? like, in a visa status way??

[testTED]

Same reason as Japan?