I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA
Peter does a thread here every few months. So I want to share a cautionary tale about Immigration lawyers in general and Peter in particular.<p>I had extensive immigration experience in US, where I did many filings. Worked with many different immigration lawyers.<p>In that end with your immigration you are dealing less with the law aspects and more with the paperwork filling which is more clerical work.<p>Things that I realized:<p>There are three types of lawyers:<p>1. With big firms like Berry Appleman, Fragomen etc. Very conservative in their opinion. Will not be responsive. Have good portals to enter information to help with your application.<p>2. Single lawyer operation like Peter Roberts: Very aggressive. Will give advice not really inline with the law. Very disorganized so you will spend a lot of time filling documents. Will make many mistakes.<p>3. 4-5 lawyer firms: These are the best in my opinion. They will pay more attention, have more experience and have decent process.<p>Issues with immigration filings:<p>When things are clear and you keep getting approved - things are great.<p>However as soon as things get complicated and you get rejections - now it will have negative impact not only on your future filings in US but also other countries. Many countries ask in their immigration application if you ever get rejected in any Visa application. Five Eye countries share all the non immigration paperwork with each other.<p>Issues with Peter:<p>He was a mix of Snake oil salesman and Fly by night operator.<p>He would consistently give advice which was very hackish. That works when you are trying out ideas for your business, but can have major consequences when you are dealing with the government. His advice was not in the letter and spirit of the law. He completely messed up my otherwise stellar immigration situation. I later checked his advice with multiple immigration lawyers and every single one of them said that Peter was wrong!<p>But the worst thing was that as soon as my application was rejected, he stopped all communications with me. He wouldn&#x27;t reply to my email and stopped returning my calls. I had to find some other lawyer to clear the mess. It hurt a lot more, because I was in a very vulnerable situation in my personal life and Peter knew that!<p>I also know others who have bad experience with him. People probably don&#x27;t speak out due to fear and not wanting to rock the boat!<p>My advice to all founders: Be careful when you deal with immigration filings. Find someone competent and professional!