Y Combinator acceptance places international founders in elite company and simultaneously starts a visa clock. According to the National Foundation for American Policy's 2022 analysis, approximately 55% of U.S. billion-dollar startups (319 of 582 surveyed) had at least one immigrant founder. YC, which accepts approximately 1% of applicants, has produced many of America's most valuable companies, and the founders behind them have often navigated America's most complex immigration system. Understanding the visa landscape is a critical step for international founders entering any accelerator. Alma's startup immigration services help YC founders build the legal foundation their companies need.
International founders accepted to YC face a timing challenge: the 3-month in-person program requires immediate U.S. presence, but most visa processes take months to complete.
Tier 1 (0 to 3 months): Use a B-1 business visitor visa or ESTA for program attendance. These permit investor meetings, contract negotiations, and demo day participation. Under INA § 101(a)(15)(B), B-1 status prohibits productive labor (such as coding, marketing execution, or product development) and the receipt of U.S.-source salary.
Tier 2 (2 to 7 years): Transition to O-1A extraordinary ability or E-2 treaty investor status for active company building with full work authorization.
Tier 3 (permanent): Pursue EB-1A or EB-2 NIW green cards for long-term residency without employer sponsorship requirements.
YC's official position states: "We'll help you get visas and incorporate" if accepted. In practice, YC connects founders with immigration attorneys rather than filing petitions directly. Peter Roberts, an immigration attorney who handles work for YC and startup companies (formerly of Roberts Immigration Law Group, now at Ogletree Deakins), has noted in Hacker News AMAs that most foreign founders admitted to YC initially enter the United States as business visitors on B-1 status rather than on a work visa.
The O-1A visa has emerged as a leading long-term pathway for YC founders. Unlike the H-1B lottery system, O-1A has no annual cap and offers more predictable outcomes for qualified applicants.
Accelerator acceptance can serve as supporting evidence in an O-1A petition. However, it is important to note that the "membership in associations requiring outstanding achievement" criterion under 8 CFR 214.2(o)(3)(iii)(B)(2) requires that the association have explicit bylaws demanding outstanding achievements of its members, as judged by recognized experts. While YC's highly selective admissions process may support this or other evidentiary criteria (such as "employment in a critical or essential capacity for organizations with a distinguished reputation"), no USCIS policy memorandum has confirmed that accelerator acceptance alone satisfies any single criterion. Practitioners often use accelerator acceptance as one piece of a broader evidence package.
Under the regulations, an O-1A petitioner must demonstrate at least 3 of 8 evidentiary criteria:
Standard processing for O-1 petitions (Form I-129) takes approximately 2.5 to 7.5 months based on USCIS published processing times. Premium processing for O-1 petitions (Form I-907) provides a 15-business-day adjudication window. (Note: the 45-business-day premium processing tier applies only to certain Form I-140 immigrant petitions, such as EB-1 multinational managers and EB-2 NIW, not to O-1 nonimmigrant petitions.) The premium processing fee increases to $2,965 effective March 1, 2026.
Alma offers O-1A services at $8,000 with a stated 2-week document preparation turnaround, which can be important for founders coordinating with batch start dates.
On January 8, 2025, USCIS updated its Policy Manual (Volume 2, Part M) to clarify that a separate legal entity owned by the O-1 beneficiary may serve as the petitioner, provided a genuine employer-employee relationship exists. This is not true "self-sponsorship" in the traditional sense: the petitioning entity must maintain proper corporate structure with a board of directors or equivalent body that has genuine oversight authority, including the ability to hire, pay, fire, supervise, or otherwise control the beneficiary's work. This update appears to remain in effect as of February 2026, though no formal notice of revocation has been published.
The H-1B visa remains the most widely known U.S. work visa, but its lottery system creates significant uncertainty for founders.
The H-1B has an annual cap of 85,000 visas (65,000 regular cap plus 20,000 for beneficiaries with U.S. master's degrees or higher), with selection determined by random lottery. According to USCIS data analyzed by Pew Research Center, Indian nationals received roughly 73% of H-1B approvals in fiscal 2023, reflecting intense competition within certain nationality pools.
Key H-1B characteristics for founders to be aware of:
H-1B status may be relevant for founders who already hold H-1B status and wish to transfer it to their own startup, who have not yet accumulated enough evidence for O-1A criteria, or who are employed by cap-exempt organizations (universities, nonprofit research institutions).
Alma provides H-1B lottery registration at $500 and cap or cap-exempt petitions at $3,500, with extensions and amendments at $3,000.
The L-1A visa serves founders who already operate established businesses outside the U.S. and seek to expand to America through YC.
To qualify for L-1A, the beneficiary must have worked for a qualifying foreign entity for at least 1 continuous year within the 3 years preceding the petition, served in a managerial or executive capacity, and there must be a qualifying relationship between the U.S. and foreign entities (parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate).
L-1A provides a pathway to EB-1C green cards without PERM labor certification, which can be a significant advantage for founders seeking permanent residency.
Alma handles L-1 initial and new office filings at $6,000, with extensions at $3,000 and initial company blanket petitions at $8,000.
E-2 treaty investor visas offer another pathway for founders from qualifying countries who are making substantial investments in their U.S. ventures.
The E-2 visa requires citizenship in a treaty country (the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, and 80+ others are included; India, China, and Brazil currently do not have E-2 treaties with the United States), a "substantial" investment at risk in a bona fide enterprise, 50%+ ownership by treaty country nationals, and intent to develop and direct the enterprise.
E-2 status creates a potential tension with VC fundraising. Equity dilution from funding rounds can push treaty country ownership below the 50% threshold, which could jeopardize E-2 eligibility. Founders holding E-2 status need to carefully structure fundraising transactions to preserve visa eligibility. Some immigration-aware investors specifically structure deals to protect founder visa status, making this a negotiable term in fundraising.
Long-term U.S. presence requires permanent residency. Two employment-based green card categories permit founders to self-petition without a traditional employer sponsor.
The EB-1A green card shares evidentiary criteria with the O-1A visa but requires a showing of "sustained national or international acclaim." Founders with previously approved O-1A petitions often have a strong evidentiary foundation for EB-1A cases.
The EB-2 NIW permits self-petitioning where the beneficiary's work is deemed to be in the U.S. national interest. Tech founders whose companies create jobs, advance technology, or improve economic competitiveness may meet the standard set forth in Matter of Dhanasar, 26 I&N Dec. 884 (AAO 2016).
Alma offers EB-1A/B/C and EB-2 NIW services at $10,000, or $7,000 for founders with a previously approved O-1A petition, recognizing that much of the evidence overlaps.
IEP, codified at 8 CFR 212.19, provides up to 2.5 years of initial parole (renewable for a total of 5 years) for qualifying entrepreneurs. As of the most recent DHS triennial adjustment (effective October 1, 2024), the investment threshold is $311,071 in qualified U.S. investment, or $124,429 in qualifying government grants. (Note: the previously published thresholds of $264,147 and $105,659 applied to the FY2022 to FY2024 period and are no longer current.)
IEP processing times are not officially published by USCIS, and practitioners have described adjudication as lengthy and variable. Premium processing is not available for IEP applications (Form I-941). IEP grants parole status rather than formal visa status and does not directly lead to a green card pathway.
Important note on program status (February 2026): While the IEP regulation remains codified and USCIS continues to list the Form I-941 filing page, the current administration has demonstrated a broader posture of limiting parole-based immigration programs. Because IEP is a discretionary parole grant, its practical availability may be subject to change without formal rulemaking. Founders considering IEP as a primary strategy may wish to consult with an immigration attorney about the program's current adjudication climate.
As immigration attorney Sophie Alcorn noted in her TechCrunch column, the O-1A extraordinary ability visa is worth exploring as an alternative to IEP for founders with timing sensitivity.
Government fees for an O-1A petition with premium processing include multiple components. The base Form I-129 filing fee is $1,055 (for petitions with 1 to 25 named beneficiaries, per 8 CFR 106.2). The premium processing fee (Form I-907) is $2,805 for filings before March 1, 2026, and $2,965 for filings on or after that date.
In addition, the April 2024 USCIS fee rule introduced a mandatory Asylum Program Fee for most employer-petitioners filing Form I-129. This fee is $600 for employers with 26 or more full-time employees, $300 for small employers, and $0 for qualifying nonprofit organizations. Many YC-backed startups with small teams may qualify for the $300 rate, but the applicable amount depends on company size at the time of filing.
Accordingly, total government filing costs for an O-1A with premium processing (effective March 1, 2026) are approximately $4,320 to $4,620, depending on employer size: $1,055 (I-129 base) + $2,965 (premium processing) + $300 or $600 (Asylum Program Fee). Legal fees from private firms typically range from $7,000 to $15,000 depending on case complexity. Alma's O-1A legal service fee is $8,000.
Alma combines attorney expertise with technology to deliver immigration services built for startup speed.
Alma's visa packages cover:
For YC founders specifically, Alma understands accelerator-specific evidence—how to translate demo day press, investor attribution letters, and batch completion into USCIS-acceptable documentation.
As YC companies grow and hire international employees, immigration compliance becomes an operational requirement. Alma's business immigration platform scales from 5 to 5,000+ cases.
This is a legally sensitive area. B-1 status permits "negotiating contracts" and "meeting investors" but prohibits productive labor under INA § 101(a)(15)(B). Activities such as coding, marketing execution, product development, or receiving U.S.-source salary fall outside the scope of B-1 authorization. Immigration attorneys caution that even routine founder activities during YC could raise compliance concerns. Many founders in this situation file for O-1A change of status while on B-1 to obtain proper work authorization.
USCIS provides a maximum of 84 days (87 including mailing time) for RFE responses, per USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 1, Part E, Chapter 6. The total timeline impact may be longer, as USCIS re-adjudication time follows the response period. Well-prepared petitions from experienced immigration attorneys tend to have lower RFE rates. Alma includes RFE response preparation in all visa packages at no additional cost.
This depends on the visa category of the primary holder. O-1 dependents (O-3 visa holders) are not authorized for employment. L-1 dependents who are spouses (L-2S designation on I-94) are employment-authorized incident to status since the 2021 Shergill v. Mayorkas settlement and no longer need to file a separate I-765/EAD application; however, L-2 children are not work-authorized. E-2 dependent spouses may apply for work authorization. IEP also provides for spousal work authorization. Multiple dependent visa categories offer some form of spousal employment pathway, so this factor is worth considering as part of an overall visa strategy.
The 3-month program offers several opportunities for evidence accumulation. Press coverage from launch announcements or publications such as TechCrunch or VentureBeat may support the "published material" criterion. Serving as a judge at pitch competitions at universities or industry events may support the "judging" criterion. Closing a seed round with attribution letters from recognized VCs may support evidentiary criteria related to original contributions or high remuneration. Post-batch, an O-1A petition filed with premium processing provides a 15-business-day adjudication window.
O-1A provides formal nonimmigrant visa status (as opposed to IEP's discretionary parole), a clearer pathway to EB-1A or EB-2 NIW green cards, the ability to work for multiple entities, and access to premium processing. IEP, while codified at 8 CFR 212.19, carries uncertainty regarding its practical availability under the current administration's approach to parole-based immigration programs. IEP also does not provide a direct green card pathway. IEP may still be relevant for entrepreneurs who are unable to meet any O-1A evidentiary criteria despite substantial funding success, but consultation with an immigration attorney regarding the program's current status is advisable.
Government fees for filings on or after March 1, 2026 include the I-129 base fee of $1,055, the I-907 premium processing fee of $2,965, and the Asylum Program Fee of $300 (small employers) or $600 (employers with 26+ full-time employees). This brings the total government cost to approximately $4,320 to $4,620, depending on employer size. Legal fees from private firms typically range from $7,000 to $15,000. Alma's O-1A legal fee is $8,000, bringing the estimated total cost (legal fees plus government fees with premium processing) into the range of approximately $12,320 to $12,620 for qualifying small employers.
