Sophie Alcorn Podcast

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I will talk about the immigration outlook for 2022. There has been a 25-year stagnation in the immigration field in terms of new legislation to support immigrants. We would love to see immigration reform to mitigate the significant shortage of talent in the United States and how the number of international students attending U.S. universities has dropped.

However, this field is constantly evolving. In this episode, I'm giving a forecast of the changes in the regulatory arena – not only for 2022 but also for the remainder of the Biden administration. Cheers to 2021 almost being over and to everything ahead in 2022! 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• The timing of things in immigration law
• Moving Silicon Valley into the Cloud
• Visiting the United States
• Hope for H-1B candidates 
• An increase in the number of H-1B registrations
• Preserving and fortifying DACA
• Changes in filing fees and requirements
•  

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 16: E-2 Visa for Founders and Employees

• Episode 19: Australian Visas Including E-3

• Episode 20: TN Visas and Status for Canadian and Mexican Citizens

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, we’re celebrating our 100th episode. Joining me are the rest of the Alcorn Immigration Law team. We have had 19 guests on the podcast, and we’re sharing our favorite episodes and the top 10 Immigration Law for Tech Startup episodes.

Our goal in this podcast is to educate and become a reliable resource, delivering information in a way that's practical and easy to understand. We take pride in what we've built together over these last several years. Our law firm also recently celebrated its sixth anniversary, and we've helped people in over 2,000 separate immigration matters. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Our favorite episodes and stories
• Changes with the Trump administration
• How the pandemic affected immigration
• Biden administration updates
• An overview of the International Entrepreneur Parole

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

The Top 10 ILT Episodes:

1. Episode 46: Get Ready for H-1B FY2022 Lottery
2. Episode 15: Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp
3. Episode 73: International Entrepreneur Parole is Back!
4. Episode 43: What a Biden Victory Means for Immigration
5. Episode 69: How to Have 2 Jobs When You’re on an H-1B
6. Episode 09: What Makes a Strong H-1B Petition
7. Episode 34: J-1 Two-Year Foreign Residency Requirement
8. Episode 28: All About Priority Dates
9. Episode 49: Never Do This in Immigration – Family
10. Episode 44: 7 of the Most Startup-Friendly Visas Explained

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’ll discuss everything you need to know to start getting ready for the upcoming H-1B lottery in March 2022, which is just around the corner. Whether you are running your company’s immigration program, or an employee seeking an H-1B, or you’re in another country looking to get your first H-1B to move to the U.S., now is the time to start preparing.

The lottery has shifted and it is now a year-round process. If you need an immigration attorney and you're thinking about engaging with my practice, we would be delighted to support you. We are already underway with many H-1Bs for next year's lottery. We would love to support all of our current clients and anybody new before the rush comes in Q1. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• The H-1B visa lottery: what it is and why there is a lottery?
• How the lottery process works
• The odds of getting selected
• New updates since COVID 
• Government litigation settlements and immigration bills affecting the H-1B process
• Latest updates in the Biden Administration
• Planning tips to help you get ready

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 09: What Makes a Strong H-1B Petition

• Episode 55: H-1B Lottery Planning Part 1

• Episode 60: H-1B Lottery Planning Part 2

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined by my law partner Anita Koumriqian as we do a very special Thanksgiving edition on gratitude and appreciation. We want to recognize how we've maintained a lot of positivity throughout the pandemic. It's definitely been a blessing to be able to continue to help people realize their dreams of coming to the U.S., living in the U.S., working in the U.S., and reuniting with family.

Here’s a fun fact: Did you know that Thanksgiving is an immigration holiday at its core? Just to give you a piece of U.S. History 101, the pilgrims were looking for refuge from their religious persecution in the United Kingdom so they came to the New World as asylum-seekers. The Native Americans then shared a Thanksgiving feast with them.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Immigration-related stuff we’re grateful for
• Mastering the art of resilience
• Updates on DACA and International Entrepreneur Parole
• Ease of travel restrictions
• Great things happening in H-1B land
• The introduction of the LIKE Act

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 68: Update on DACA

• Episode 95: Recent Immigration Updates 2021

• Episode 89: Advocating for International Startup Founders with Jeff Farrah of National Venture Capital Association

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook

Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined not just by Erin Teter, SVP of Human Resources, and Lydia Buurma, HR Operations Manager, of LINQ, a K12 tech company that provides states districts and schools with cloud-based solutions for administration, finance, and nutrition. 

It's valuable for early-stage startups to have some examples of how startups can build an immigration program, that's why I invited them to share their HR expertise with us today. They share some things to consider when developing immigration strategies and policies for your company, some HR common mistakes and best practices, as well as the importance of building a culture that creates a safe space for employees in terms of immigration considerations.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• How they're building a distributed remote decentralized team
• How they decide who deserves sponsorship
• How to create an environment where people feel safe with the immigration considerations
• Setting performance requirements
• Process for figuring out status quo
• Most common mistakes and best HR practices startups make

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

LINQ

https://www.linq.com/ 

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 16: E-2 Visa for Founders and Employees

• Episode 95: Recent Immigration Updates 2021

• Episode 70: Talent Acquisition for Startups with Katie Lampert

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined by my law partner Anita Koumriqian as we discuss DACA and DREAMers, what is going on, and why this matters, not just for the recipients and their families, but also within the tech community. 

The point of DACA, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is to allow peace of mind, comfort, and most importantly, the ability to go to school for undocumented children brought to the United States by their parents from another country. And so, it gives undocumented people the ability to work, if they qualify.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• The history of DACA 
• DACA updates under the Biden administration
• DACA qualification and requirements
• Grounds for disqualification
• What permanent injunction means
• Other bills passed in addition to DACA
• What companies could do to assist existing DACA employees
• Guidelines around Advance Parole

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 13: Show the Love: Family-based Alternatives for Technology Professionals

• Episode 49: Never Do This in Immigration – Family

• Episode 68: Update on DACA

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’ll share with you a summary of some of the recent immigration updates and changes that we've experienced in 2021. There have been so many immigration law changes over the last year, perhaps not as many as in 2020 with the advent of the pandemic, the Trump administration, and the election. 

What we've seen over 2020 with the advent of the Biden administration has been the recommitment to the regulatory process as the agencies are trying to build up their capacity after a mass exodus of highly trained personnel who left during the Trump administration. They’re still getting through the backlogs and continuing to deal with COVID and the lack of staffing at the U.S. embassies and consulates abroad so people can start getting their visas processed again. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Updates on the National Interest Exceptions (qualifications, processing, travel requirements, student visas)
• Immigration reform updates (DACA, International Entrepreneur Parole
• Changes related to the green card processing and adjustment of status
• Changes in the H-1B world
• The LIKE Act of 2021 (start-up visa)
• Countries under Temporary Protected Status

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

National Interest Exceptions

https://at.usembassy.gov/nie/

Chats with Charlie Oppenheim

https://www.youtube.com/user/TravelGov/playlists  

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 68: Update on DACA

• Episode 73: International Entrepreneur Parole is Back!

• • Episode 85: Removal of Conditional Status for Green Card Holders
• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, we’re celebrating National Immigrants Day here in the United States. I have so much respect and admiration for our country’s immigrants who have shown grit, determination, vision, and perseverance that these global legal processes can demand from them.

This country's history is all about immigration. No matter how we look at it, we can't get away from the fact that this is a nation of immigrants. And so today, I wanted to take some time to look at the contributions of immigrants in Silicon Valley and celebrate those individuals who live, learn, work, build families, start companies, and build their dreams in the United States, making such a significant contribution to the fabric of this nation – culturally and economically.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• Why people are attracted to immigration
• The historical background of National Immigrants Day
• The value of immigrants to society
• The contribution of immigrants in Silicon Valley
• A fun list of startups that are public and with at least one immigrant founder

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

New American Economy's 2020 Report

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 63: Immigration, Global Mobility, Working from Home, and the Future of Work

• Episode 77: Immigration for Children and Dependentsand Mexican Citizens

• Episode 89: Advocating for International Startup Founders with Jeff Farrah of National Venture Capital Association

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m speaking with Beth Scheer, who has an illustrious background in recruiting and HR with her time at Salesforce and Google. For the last six and a half years, she has been at Homebrew, an amazing VC that focuses on mission-driven founders solving large and urgent problems at the seed stage. They have over 70 companies in their portfolio, including some in Canada and Brazil. 

Beth's role is to teach her founders how to fish. She provides counsel and advises their portfolio companies on everything under the talent umbrella. Today, Beth shares some of her insights on how she educates founders on strategies related to recruiting and compensation, sourcing, the interview process, and diversity and inclusion. 

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• What attracts people to early-stage startups
• Some challenges startups try to overcome in the recruiting process
• Investing in a sourcing tool and an applicant tracking system
• Best practices for attracting and retaining talent
• Diversity & inclusion and international hiring trends
• Tips to avoid recruiting missteps

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

www.homebrew.co

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 73: International Entrepreneur Parole is Back!

• Episode 81: The Engineers I’m Recruiting Want H-1B Transfers and Green Cards… What Do I Do?

• Episode 87: All the Ways to Get a Work Permit

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.

In this week’s Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast, I’m joined by my law partner, ​​Anita Koumriqian, as we discuss how to get a green card when you marry a U.S. citizen. The biggest aspect of family-based immigration is marriage to a U.S. citizen because it's a classic case type of couples who are in love and who just want to be together. 

If you're trying to figure out how to be physically together with someone somewhere in the world and you're thinking of going through the process as a married couple, just remember things are changing every single day. So if you are toying around with the option of either a fiance visa or a marriage-based green card, be sure to reach out to an attorney to help guide you through this process.

Please share this episode with companies, HR and recruiting professionals, startup founders, international talent, or anyone who can benefit from it. Sign up for the Alcorn monthly newsletter to receive the latest immigration news and issues. Reach out to us if we can help you determine the best immigration options for yourself, your company, your employees or prospective employees, or your family whether in the U.S. or abroad.

• How marriage to a U.S. citizen opens another opportunity to stay in the U.S.
• If you want to separate your legal wedding from the ceremonial wedding
• How people get married in the United States during COVID times
• How the interviews work for international spouses outside of the U.S.
• Questions and documents to establish a legitimate marriage
• What happens when fraud is suspected
• Doing the process inside the U.S. vs. outside of the U.S.

Don’t miss my upcoming conversations with top Silicon Valley venture capitalists, startup founders, professors, futurists, and thought leaders on Immigration Law for Tech Startups. Subscribe to this podcast here or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or whatever your favorite platform is. As always, we welcome your rating and review of this podcast. We appreciate your feedback!

The Kingdom by Paul Selig

Alcorn Immigration Law:

• Subscribe to the monthly Alcorn newsletter

• Immigration Law for Tech Startups podcast:

• Episode 13: Show the Love: Family-Based Alternatives for Technology Professionals

• Episode 49: Never Do This in Immigration – Family

• Episode 58: Engaged, Now What?

• Episode 64: Immigration, Prenups & Divorce with Lydia Hsu and Kara Foster

• Immigration Options for Talent, Investors, and Founders
• Immigration Law for Tech Startups eBook
• Extraordinary Ability Bootcamp course for best practices for securing the O-1A visa, EB-1A green card, or the EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) green card—the top options for startup founders. Use promotion code ILTS for 20% off the enrollment fee.