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7 years ago

The author should exercise caution in disclosing how he "gamed" the green card. If the authorities think that he did all this for the sole purpose of getting the green card, they can take legal action against him.

julianshapiro 7 years ago | |

The intended takeaway of this article was that there was never any "gaming" being done. The major open source contributions and the related accomplishments are legitimate and noteworthy in their field — as indicated by the projects' broad adoption across the web and the organic press coverage. The post is intended as a walkthrough on how to efficiently think about qualification. And how important the Internet is to that.

derblitzmann 7 years ago | |

As it should be. Those taking advantage of a system are harming those who are trying to work within such a system according to it's rules.

copperx 7 years ago | |

Exactly. It is in the author's best interest to take down that post and post it again once he gains citizenship.

Someone1234 7 years ago |

This is a fantastic article.

I have a Green Card, so have read and know more about US Immigration policy than anyone should ever wish to, and I had no idea that the EB-1 was this attainable, and I've actually sat down and read USCIS's EB-1 page and parts of the policy manual.

I genuinely believe there's going to be someone out there that reads this having previously dismissed the EB-1 (just like I myself did) and gives it a shot. The visa is definitely set up to seem out-of-reach for non-celebrities/field specific rock stars.

Another example of this working, Melania Trump (then Melania Knauss) earned an EB-1 while being a mid-tier model with no huge acclaim. Although she was assisted by her agency and similar, so they may have a marketing budget to get her name/acclaim out there.

derblitzmann 7 years ago | |

I know my father has been questioned why he hasn't turned his green card into citizen ship over the years. Note, this was pre Trump too.

anontn 7 years ago |

As a Canadian, I'm surprised the author didn't mention a 3rd way - work for a US company on a TN visa that will sponsor you for a green card. This is doable (albeit a little riskier) despite the common conception that it is not.

A few articles/forum posts on the topic for those interested:

- https://www.prizant-law.com/tn-visa-professionals-and-applic...

- https://forums.immigration.com/threads/i-am-no-longer-curiou...

- https://forums.immigration.com/threads/gc-from-tn-visa-throu...

ssttoo 7 years ago | |

I think the path is TN -> H1B -> GC. At least it was for me. TN is non-immigration status and needs to be renewed every year. A little risky since GC may take a bit of time.

acchow 7 years ago | | |

If you get a 3-year TN, you only need to renew once every 3 years. Which gives you ample time to apply for a green card.

Someone1234 7 years ago | |

They did, it is a major theme in "What are the pathways to permanent residency?"

copperx 7 years ago | |

The TN is a non-immigration visa. He was looking for permanent residency.

sjtgraham 7 years ago |

Unfortunately not currently possible as EB1 priority dates are no longer current for any country. Will take a while longer than 6 months at the moment.

Someone1234 7 years ago | |

I believe due to the new "extreme vetting" (without enough additional funding) backing up the whole immigration system. Unfortunately there's no getting around that since all the vetting is done in the US and there's very few exceptions for faster processing.

The vetting has always been a major bottleneck in the US's immigration processing, it is just even worse now.

godelmachine 7 years ago |

>>Tell them you don't want to finish writing the post, but have done the heavy lifting for them.

I am not quite sure what he means by this. Would someone kindly explain?

lostmsu 7 years ago |

Frankly, that guy seems to deserve his EB-1 just for his popular JS framework (if it is really that popular). Not many good developers are that lucky.

mhjas 7 years ago | |

To some extent, but I also think people severely overestimate what it takes to be notable. We live in such an extreme consumer culture that even a small amount of effort added to what you are already doing will set you a part from a lot of people. That doesn't necessarily mean you get a visa or that it is possible in every snarky field. But if you can write, speak, organize things, help people out and have a good attitude about it, showing up counts for a lot.

bdz 7 years ago |

I was expecting something like applying for the green card lottery and winning. Which is roughly 6 months from the deadline till the winners are announced.

superasn 7 years ago |

Thanks for sharing this info. I've heard it discussed on HN before too that getting an EB-1 visa isn't what it sounds like in theory (i.e. you don't need to be a Nobel prize winner or something).

BTW great work on velocity. I've heard of it before too. Super useful library. Definitely a win win for you and the open source community.

amiralles 7 years ago |

You wrote an incredibly helpful article for software engineers and a random guy from the internet writes a two words review: Thank you!!!!

samontar 7 years ago |

Haha, he is a big deal, though. That’s a popular library.

writepub 7 years ago |

The process & execution detailed here is further evidence backing the EB-1 application of the author. Many engineers of popular open source projects neither monetize their work, nor do they work their way towards ancillary benefits, like the author. Fully deserved. Congrats!

garryterm 7 years ago |

You seem to be underestimating the value of your citizenship. I know of an Indian friend who had really good credentials but was refused. I guess a hidden criteria is "white and western"

narak 7 years ago | |

I'm brown and born in a brown country and got an EB-1 in a very similar way as described in this article.

aportnoy 7 years ago |

Thank you, this is incredibly useful (and motivating)!

ageitgey 7 years ago |

This is great advice. I did basically the same thing to get the UK version of this visa - the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa. I'll write about it sometime.

latchkey 7 years ago |

Forget the visa... this is how to get a high paying job in software engineering. If I saw an applicant put in this amount of effort into an open source project of their own creation, I'd hire them in a heartbeat.

7granddad 7 years ago | |

Whether their hireable isn't the problem. They legally can't be employed by you. You would have to employ then without tying their employment to their SSN.

sys_64738 7 years ago |

I had a Green Card within 14 months of moving to the USA. I came over on a H1B then filed adjusted status within 6 months. It helps to be married to an American though which isn't the case for everybody.