Resources

Katya Stelmakh Joins Legalpad As Network Attorney

Legalpad is excited to welcome Katya Stelmakh to our attorney network! An immigrant herself, Katya first moved to the United States from Belarus on a student visa, after winning the…

The Black Community Stood For Me And It’s Time To Return The Favor

These past few weeks’ events are a poignant reminder of a sad truth in America today: that we still live in a country where many are judged not by the…

USCIS To Ease Back Into Premium Processing, At Least For Now

With much of America reopening in stages, the USCIS will resume many of its normal operations through the months of June and July. Starting tomorrow, June 4th, the USCIS will…

Announcing Legalpad’s Official Partnership With Techstars

We are incredibly proud and excited to announce Legalpad’s official global partnership with Techstars!  To us, Techstars is more than just an amazing tech accelerator where great companies are born…

RFE Rates Remain High For Employment-Based Non-Immigration Visas

O-1 initial approval rate declined from 90.8% in 2019, to 89% in the second quarter of 2020. The O-1 RFE rate increased from 26.4% in 2019, to 30.1% in the…

How to Read and Understand the Visa Bulletin

For anyone going through the green card process, you’re probably familiar or at least heard of the visa bulletin. The visa bulletin can be difficult to read and navigate. Here…

Furloughing H-1B workers

As a result of economic conditions caused by COVID-19, many startups and employers are having to make the difficult decision of whether they need to furlough H-1B workers. The US…

A Breakdown of President Trump’s Executive Order

On Monday, President Trump announced his plan to sign an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic. To anyone going through the immigration…

Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID)

Notices of Intent to Deny (NOID) A Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) is USCIS’ way of letting you know that they don’t expect your application to be approved. However,…

FAQ: Visas during COVID

COVID-19 FAQ We’ve gotten a lot of questions from our office hours about COVID’s impact to USCIS and travel.   Q: Is USCIS working right now? Are they currently processing…

USCIS suspends premium processing

USCIS has temporarily stopped taking requests for premium processing. Premium processing allows applicants to fast-track the visa application processing time to 15 days–for an additional fee of $1,440. Without premium…

Founder Spotlight: Vicki Guan

Authored by Annie Blay I recently got to spend some time talking with Vicki Guan, co-founder of Evri. She’s one of our innovative and inspiring customers who has drawn on…

COVID-19 updates from Legalpad

While there isn’t an exact playbook to follow, sometimes it helps to know your options. Legalpad is committed to keeping you informed on developing news and updated policy changes. Providing…

3 Ways to Apply for a Work Visa

When the perfect candidate for your growing startup is a foreign national, getting their work visa should be simple and affordable. Figuring out how to compile a visa application should…

B-1 Documents Checklist

Founder Spotlight: Sujay Suresh Kumar

How this electrical engineer’s passion for technology carries forward his mission to support women Today we catch up with Sujay Suresh Kumar, cofounder and CTO of Lilu, the first hands-free…

Founder Spotlight: Stu Murless

An Interview With Feastfox Co-Founder, Stu Murless Stu Murless, co-founder of Feastfox, is building a mobile app that gives restaurant-goers recommendations tailored precisely to their preferences. Feastfox first launched in…

Global Talent: How to Hire International Employees

As of December 2018, there were 7 million open jobs and only 6.3 million Americans actively seeking work.[1] There are simply more jobs than there are qualified candidates. And if…

5 Visa Options for Startups

Finding the right candidate takes time. Especially for a startup, where teams are often small and personal chemistry is just as important as professional know-how. When you’ve finally found the…

How to Prepare the Strongest Visa Application for Startups

Hiring the right employees, particularly STEM employees, can be critical to a startup’s success. And when that perfect candidate is a foreign national, you get the benefit of someone who…

Is Your Startup Growing? What You Need to Know About Today’s Immigration Climate

Immigration is a complicated topic. It touches everything from politics to economics and can make for heated debates at family dinners. So it’s always important to know the facts. This…

US Work Visas for Canadian Startups

There is no shortage of US work visa categories, and it can feel overwhelming to try to understand all the options.  Each visa category has its own set of terms…

Documents Checklist for H-1B Sponsors

Did you know that startups are eligible for H-1B visa sponsorship? You don’t need to be a large, established corporation to hire talent on an H-1B visa. To hire a…

Everything You Need to Know About Work Visa Requests for Evidence (RFEs)

With the Request for Evidence (RFE) rates on the rise, it’s more important than ever to understand RFEs and how to address them. RFEs can leave you feeling uneasy, but…

Common Work Visa Misconceptions

COO and Co-founder of Legalpad, Sara Itucas, weighs in on some of the most common work visa misconceptions. You can read this post and other answers on our recent Quora…

Hiring Foreign Talent is Advantageous to Your Startup’s Success and Culture

Hiring is hard, especially for startups. The good news is that you can broaden your search beyond US borders, and you may find your next superstar employee in the process….

Post-Accelerator To-Do List for International Founders

Congratulations on graduating from an accelerator program! That’s a huge accomplishment. If you’re an international founder, and you’re interested in staying in the US after the program ends, you’re probably…

O-1A Criteria for Startup Founders

You’ll remember from our O-1A FAQs post, that there are eight criteria for the O-1A visa. The good news is you only have to meet a minimum of three criteria…

Ace the B-1 Visa Interview

One of the requirements for the B-1 Temporary Business Visitor visa is an interview with a consular officer at the US embassy or consulate of your residence country. This interview…

Visa Waiver Program FAQs

The Visa Waiver Program and ESTA takes far less planning than applying for a visa, but is it the right fit for you? Let’s dive into the details to find out!

O-1A FAQs

The O-1A, or the ‘Extraordinary Ability’ visa is a fancy way to say you have received major recognition in your field. There are eight criteria to demonstrate extraordinary ability, which we’ll cover in this post!

H-1B FAQs for Startups

You’re an insanely busy startup founder, not a work visa master. If you’re struggling to understand your work visa options, don’t spend another second worrying about it—we have you covered!…

B-1 FAQs

The B-1 is ideal for startup founders because it gives you enough flexibility and time to explore your options without the risk of having to leave at a critical time of company growth.