News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA. Parent comment

Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by outworlder on Saturday June 25, 2016 @06:07PM (#11978227)
> [1] Working for free is illegal as well. If you do something that is normally paid, for free, you will get deported and banned. (As some foreign students who do this for experience sadly find out.)

Whoa, wait a second. What about open-source contributions? Are they banned as well? Open-source work can be, but is not "normally" paid though.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for... by winter_blue on Saturday June 25, 2016 @09:57PM (#11979074)
If the work is normally unpaid (like contributing to open-source projects), then it's fine.

Quoting from http://www.cilawgroup.com/news/2013/10/15/unpaid-volunteer-w... :

"As a general rule of thumb, one should look at whether Americans would perform the same job without pay and under similar circumstances and if the answer is “yes,” then a foreign national in an employment-restricted status can volunteer and work without pay."

[ Parent | on HN ]