Off to the Valley

Sophie Alcorn: The US is missing
out because there's so many

brilliant people who would

love to come to these shores, who are
already living American values, who have

big dreams but it's not just dreams, it's
also they're turning it into a reality.

They have the grit, the determination, the
ideas, the traction, the funding pathways.

And we could be a lot more advanced and
really accelerate if we were open to this.

So I hope that's the direction
this country can go in,

in the future.

Hello and welcome back to Off
To the Valley, the podcast that

uncovers the stories of remarkable
leaders who are shaping the future.

I'm your host, Prateek Panda, and today

we are joined by Sophie Alcorn, a
trail basing immigration attorney

and founder of Alcon Immigration Law.

Sophie is a certified
specialist in immigration law.

She writes a column on
TechCrunch and is also the host

of the Sophie Alcorn podcast.

Her work has empowered countless tech
entrepreneurs and startups to bring their

dreams to life in the United States.

Sophie, it's an honor
to have you on the show.

I, for one, understand and value
a lot, the work that you do.

Prateek Panda: So I'm definitely
excited to have you on the show

and let's see if we can make this
immigration less of a hustle than it

is running your own company, anyway.

Sophie Alcorn: Amazing.

Thank you so much, Prateek.

Thank you for that very kind introduction.

I'm honored and I'm so excited to be here
with you today and I'm really looking

forward to our conversation, so thank you.

Prateek Panda: Great.

So before we get into the weeds of things,
right, tell us a little bit about you.

Who was Sophie like growing up and how
has that influenced where you are today?

Sophie Alcorn: Oh my gosh.

Okay.

Well, I was very shy as a child.

I was a bookworm and I was
scared to talk to people.

So now I like host a podcast like you and
give speeches and all this stuff, and I

don't think I would've ever expected that
when I was a little kid, but here we are.

I grew up in Southern California.

My dad was an immigration lawyer,
my mom was his client from Germany.

So as I like to say, I have immigration
in my blood and I just, my dad was an

incredible man and really inspired me.

And when I was young, he had his
immigration law practice, and I think

two things really shaped me about that.

One was he would make me go with him
on Saturdays to send faxes to the

INS in the eighties and nineties.

And when I would dial the phone number
correctly and the pages would go through,

I would get a sugar cube as my rewards.

So I have this like Pavlovian
response to immigration.

So that's one.

And the other is,

he often had really amazing clients
from all around the world who

would come to our house for dinner
or invite us to their, you know,

exhibitions or conferences or trips.

And so I had this really, wonderful
exposure as a child to just being

like a citizen of the world.

And it was very inspiring to be able to
meet brilliant people from everywhere,

you know, making their dreams a reality.

And those things really shaped me a lot.

Prateek Panda: So it sounds like
you've basically extended all of that

experiences and you're continuing to
sort of experience that on your own now

Sophie Alcorn: Yeah.

Prateek Panda: Do you feel like this
is what you were always meant to do?

Sophie Alcorn: It's my calling and
I fought it for the longest time,

I, and my dad didn't even know
that this was what he was gonna do.

I would ask him like, why did you end
up becoming an immigration lawyer?

You're a a Midwestern farm boy
from Chicago, you know, the first

person in your family to go to
college and he's like, I don't know.

The universe led me to it.

I fell into it.

I didn't expect it, but I love it.

But,

I resisted it because I
didn't wanna copy him.

He encouraged me to, you know, the world's
your oyster, chart your own path, and

I didn't wanna just do it because
my dad did it, or because I could

get a job from him or something.

And so I really fought
against it for a long time.

I was like, no, I'm
gonna be an ambassador.

And then I found out those are
like political donor appointees

and I'm like, no, I'm gonna, you
know, maybe run for office one day.

I'm like, well, that's not like
a job you can do right out.

Like you have to do something first.

I'm like, well, I'll litigate for
immigrants rights and sue the government.

And I'm like, well, I would rather like
know what I'm doing and help people first

and understand how the system works.

So like each step nudged me closer.

But, I worked for him for about
two years as a young attorney

right out of law school.

And I burned out and it was so hard.

I ended up deciding to start the phase
of my life of having kids and I just quit

law for four years because it was so hard.

But after my dad passed away, I decided
that this is really what I wanna do.

I think it's the biggest way that I
can make a difference in the world.

And I decided to start my
own law firm 10 years ago.

Prateek Panda: That is amazing.

And I'll talk to you a little bit
more about the experience that you

said of taking a break for you know,
for your kids and to become a mother

and so many women go through that
and find it challenging to come back.

Right.

So, we'll talk about
that in a few minutes.

But coming back to immigration,
you've been helping founders of all

kinds really, you know, Y-Combinator
founders, Sequoia companies and so

on, what do you think in the current
times is the biggest challenge, right?

So much is changing in
the immigration landscape.

What do you think are the top
challenges for partners entrepreneurs

as far immigration is concerned.

Sophie Alcorn: Okay.

Well as of the time of this recording,
the one that's just kinda starting to

hit the news is that the whole glory
days of the Visa Dropbox stamping

situation is coming to an end.

So everybody's gonna be required
to go through interviews, so that's

going to create backlogs and restrict
international travel once again, just

as we were digging ourselves out of
the whole from the COVID backlogs.

So that's kind of gonna be a
challenge for international founders

who have multinational businesses
and teams and who need to go meet,

you know, vendors and suppliers
and investors and things like that.

I think the other main challenge
is the legal uncertainty.

We don't have a startup visa.

In addition to the temporary uncertainty
of international travel, the other really

basic challenge for startup founders in
the United States who are immigrants or

you know, aspiring immigrants, is just
the lack of Visa certainty and clarity.

10, 15 years after president Obama
had working group meetings all around

Silicon Valley asking, you know, how
do we improve the innovation landscape,

listening sessions, what do founders need?

We still don't have a clear immigration
pathway for the world's most brilliant

people to be able to create their
startups in the United States.

And sure, as a immigration attorney we can

try different pathways.

We can try to get O-1s, we
can, you know, utilize the L-1

pathway where it's possible.

We can figure out ways to use the
H-1B, but it would be so amazing if

we simply had a pathway that said, oh,
you're a founder, you have a startup.

You're doing AI or you have a product,
you have a patent, you have some investor.

You're gonna create jobs.

Like, yes, we want you to innovate here.

Like we really, really need this.

I got to help create one version
of the startup visa, which actually

passed the House of Representatives
in the America Competes Act.

It didn't make it through the
Senate and the Chips and Science

Act, but it was called the, like
Act and I got to work on it.

It was Representative
Zoe Lofgren's office.

It was really exciting.

But we really need,

I think we're going to need
pro-immigration, presidential leadership

to bring something like that through.

But until we have it, the US is missing
out because there's so many brilliant

people who would love to come to
these shores who are already living

American values, who have big dreams
but it's not just dreams, it's also

they're turning it into a reality.

They have the grit, the determination, the
ideas the traction the funding pathways.

And we could be a lot more advanced
as a country and, you know, help

lead the world and, and really
accelerate if we were open to this.

So I hope that's the direction
this country can go in,

in the future.

Prateek Panda: Absolutely.

And the lack of a startup visa or a
clear startup visa is definitely a gap.

So with that gap being there, today,
what are the top sort of pathways

for international startup founders,

that they should be considering if
they are thinking about US immigration.

Sophie Alcorn: The most popular visa for
a bootstrapping founder who maybe has

some researchy PhD type background or
maybe like a smaller prior startup mini

exit in their home country, is the O-1.

And we use that in a lot of ways for

CEOs, CTOs, you people with business
backgrounds, science, engineering

backgrounds, design backgrounds.

You can really leverage it creatively,
and it's great for a bootstrapping

founder, a solo founder, a pre-
fundraising founder, because the salary

requirements are very low, and it's
a very flexible option because if you

structure it properly, you can actually
have multiple streams of income.

So if you're bootstrapping your startup
and you need consulting income on the

side, and then eventually you wanna
maybe have two startups and maybe be

an advisor for equity and your friend
startups, and then you wanna be a

VC scout and get Carrie, and then
you wanna get paid to give a speech.

Like you could do all of
that on an O-1, even though.

It's not directly through one
employer, so the O-1's great.

Lately, we've also been doing a ton
of H-1B transfers for people leaving

big tech to start their own projects.

And this is a beautiful pathway for
somebody who's already been in the

US, who's been through the lottery,
who's just like stuck waiting for

their priority date to become current.

They don't wanna sit out the AI revolution
and they have savings or they have

already been offered angel investment.

It used to be that it was extremely
difficult for people to get

an H-1B at their own startup.

They had to worry about employer
employee relationship and get a random

American on their board and dilute their
equity, and it was all, it was awful.

So many people lost a lot of control
and money as a result of those prior

regulations, but the really great
news is that is no longer necessary.

We are currently routinely getting
H-1Bs approved for founders who are

bootstrapping their companies, they
have not gotten any investment yet.

They're solo founders.

They're going to be the CEO and
they currently own a hundred

percent of their business.

We can still transfer the H-1B to
their new startup, and that can be for

full-time work, for part-time work.

They can keep their day job,
they can quit their day jobs.

So that's a really
flexible, wonderful option.

So

those are kind of my
two favorite right now.

Prateek Panda: That's amazing actually.

I mean, H-1Bs are definitely one of the
most popular visas for international

immigrants to come to the US for work.

But what you are suggesting is that even
on an H-1B, a startup founder could still

potentially be working for another company
while working on their startup as well.

Right.

Sophie Alcorn: Yes.

Now, oh, and you reminded me before
I should have my lawyer disclaimer,

everything I'm talking about is
for educational purposes only.

This is not to be
construed as legal advice.

If you need legal advice, go talk
to an attorney where you can have

a private personal consultation.

And I'm happy to chat with
people offline, but, okay.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, the H-1B is
one of the most popular visas.

Right?

And one of the constraints, at
least what I was aware of before

is that you work full-time for the
company that sponsors your H-1B.

Sophie Alcorn: Oh, 2 jobs, that's
what you were asking about?

Okay.

So there are, so I'm an immigration lawyer
once again outside of my practice area.

This is an intellectual property
consideration, but I actually did

a podcast about it and I'll share
the link with you in case you

wanna share it with your listeners.

But if, here's the basic situation,

if you have a job in a company such
as a big tech company and they invent

a lot of things, and if you invent
something while you're working there,

they can argue that whatever you
invented is their intellectual property.

So you have to be really clear that
it was created outside of company time

and not with company materials like
your own personal laptop at night on

your home wifi, not in relation to
your job, but if you're still working

in that company, there's kind of a
risk to your IP for your startup.

So it's safer to be able to fully
quit and then start your new thing.

But if you're an immigrant, you can't
take like a six month sabbatical and then

have like a crazy insane coding session
one weekend, six months later and like

invent the next, you know, AGI thing.

'Cause like you can't be unemployed
that long in the US for six months.

So a lot of people use their
60 day grace period to transfer

out and start their own company.

But let's say you work for you know, a
whatever, an accounting firm, but you have

an idea for a dog SaaS pet care company.

There's probably no IP issues there.

And, so another, so that immigration
combination that we would do is,

yeah, you can keep your day job at
the accounting firm and we can get you

a five hour a week H-1B on the side
concurrently to work at your own business.

And then if you ever wanna increase
your hours later, we can do it.

And that's really great too, because
then you have layoff insurance.

So if the, if the main company
lays you off, you are actually not

in a 60 day grace period, you are
still maintaining status even with

a five hour a week each one B.

Prateek Panda: That is amazing and
it's really mind blowing to learn this.

Like I have hundreds of friends who
are on H-1Bs and one of the biggest

struggles is, you know, this part.

So just so that I'm also getting
this right, you could have a

concurrent H-1B along with another

H-1B.

Sophie Alcorn: Absolutely

Prateek Panda: Okay.

That's interesting.

Amazing.

So, one thing that we did not talk
about, which I feel like I've seen.

Some folks use this pathway, and I would
love to get your opinion is the L-1 path.

And so many founders start their
companies in their home countries.

You know I've got friends like I
myself, also started in India, then

moved my companies to Singapore
first before I moved to the us.

And you know, there is
enough operations in place.

You worked at your own company for a
fair bit and then you create a US parent

or subsidiary and L-1 is an option.

Do you see that as still a viable option?

What are some challenges in that process?

Sophie Alcorn: Absolutely viable.

It's great, but it only works if you
already have that company overseas.

So, and you have to go, you
have to work there for a year.

So if you, if you're already
in the US in a tech job.

In order to qualify for an L-1, you'd
have to create an overseas company,

hire a bunch of people, and leave
and go work there for a year and

then come back, which is doable.

I've definitely had some clients do it,
but there's like a lot of your life that

you're uprooting and or putting on hold
when you need to do that unfortunately.

So most of my clients who utilize the
L-1 pathway typically have not lived in

the United States for a long time yet.

Maybe they visited or they were here
as a student, but they've become a

startup founder in India or Germany
or wherever, and they get their

company to a certain size there.

And then as they're looking to scale,
they need to do their, you know, go-to

market in the States for, and figure
out US product, market channel fit,

and maybe they wanna do enterprise or
whatever, but it's a great place to

expand and maybe they wanna, you know,
raise series A or they're in AI and it's

like too regulated in other countries.

So that, those are the typical
reasons for my clients, why

I see O-1s being most useful.

Prateek Panda: Okay, great.

And you know, like I have this weird
interest of researching immigration

law for so many different countries.

totally

Sophie Alcorn: normal.

Prateek Panda: Why

Sophie Alcorn: wouldn't

Prateek Panda: you?

Yeah.

So I love researching about immigration
to different countries and the

US, Canada, Portugal, Singapore,
whatever, name it like I love it.

But one thing while I was researching
about our episode today, I only recently

found out about this thing called the
international Entrepreneur Rule, which

is not a visa, it's a parole program.

What is that?

Sophie Alcorn: It was my, I had so
many hopes about it, and I haven't

seen any statistics to contradict my
hypothesis that I remain the single

attorney in the United States who
has filed the most number of those,

which is not to say a lot because the
statistics that U-S-C-I-S released were

that like 50 people have ever applied
for that, but it's a beautiful dream.

But it wasn't set up properly.

It is a regulation, it's called parole.

It's like the other types of parole you
hear about, like Ukrainian parole or

stuff like temporary protected status.

This administration is
not into parole programs.

And it is the result of those
listening sessions that President

Obama did in Silicon Valley in 2010.

And it was released at the
very end of his administration.

At that time, they projected that
2,500 founders a year would qualify.

For today's numbers, the requirements
are something like raising $311,000 from

qualified US investors that have a track
record of investing in five companies

previously, or getting like, something
like a 100K of US grants from various

state, local, federal agencies, or
comparable evidence, similar evidence,

or you know, less than those numbers.

And it's beautiful because you
know, multiple founders from

the same company can get it.

Your spouses can work.

You can come here for two and
a half years, you can get a

two and a half year extension.

But the problem is it's not a real
visa, it's parole and the first

administration of President Trump
promptly tried to squash the program.

They canceled it.

The National Venture Capital
Association sued and won based on a

process issue that the administration
hadn't followed the rules properly

for how to cancel a program.

So it was left open and then the Biden
administration tried to resurrect it.

That's when I filed all those cases but
it doesn't allow for premium processing.

So many of my cases
lingered for three years.

All the founders had
to go get O-1s instead.

It wasn't useful.

Everybody abandoned their applications.

Only a handful of people
have gotten approved.

And if you get approved, there is
no clear visa stamping process.

It's very convoluted.

You

have to leave the US, get some weird
boarding foil in your passport and

re-enter, so it's very cumbersome.

So I would not recommend
anybody use it today, sadly.

But I was really into it for a while.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, the
moment I researched it, I was

like, this sounds so good.

But it's one of those things that's like
too good to be true and it got, it's

one of those projects that got to 90%
and nobody cared about the last 10%.

Sophie Alcorn: Yes, yes.

And then the other thing is the reason
the adjudications were taking so long.

Apparently, the people who are put
in charge of these cases within

U-S-C-I-S are not the O-1 people
who look at most founder issues.

It's the EB-5 people who are
really concerned about fraud,

about source and path of funds,
money laundering, all those things.

So they're looking at it with
this different high scrutiny lens.

So it's, yeah, it's just so sad.

Prateek Panda: Okay.

So, for every founder, especially all
early stage founders that are listening

to this, there are many folks who are
probably at the instance where, you know,

AI has made building things a lot easier.

There are a lot of other challenges
around it, obviously, but for all the

founders or potential founders listening
to this, they're early, haven't even

done fundraising, may or may not
have even registered a US entity yet.

What is, how would you tell them their
immigration plan and what should be

a realistic timeline to keep in mind?

Because I feel that one of the
biggest things that bother you

more is unreal expectations.

And then, like is there something that
they can start planning and preparing for?

And what does that route look like?

What does that timeline look like?

Sophie Alcorn: Okay.

So I think if you're inside the
US versus outside of the US,

it's a little bit different.

And it also depends on

are you qualified now or do you need
to do stuff to become qualified?

So

Prateek Panda: Hmm.

Sophie Alcorn: If somebody's in
the US and they're qualified now,

we can probably get them a new
status within three to four months.

If somebody's outside the US and
they're qualified now, we can probably

get them in within about six months.

If you're not qualified, then it
depends on what you have to do.

And if you're gonna become qualified
for an H-1B, it's a much quicker and

easier process, assuming you have capital
than it is to become qualified for an

O-1 if you're starting from scratch.

So I've seen people set up if
people have savings, I've seen

them set up companies and be ready
for an H-1B in like three weeks.

If somebody has to fundraise, you know,
that's uncertain how long it will take.

If somebody wants an O-1, the quickest
I've ever seen is a, I love her to death.

She's just completely crazy.

She was a product manager at a fang
and she went from not qualified to,

qualified for an EB-1A in six weeks.

And she had been product managing
something that a billion people use.

Now, most of

my clients like to take 6, 12 months to
become qualified for an O-1 or an EB-1.

So that's kind of the time range.

I hope that helps.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, I think that
resonates with my case as well.

And when I did my first O-1, obviously
I said I love researching about

immigration, so I did a fair amount of
research, but one thing that I would

tell all founders listening to this
is start early because get in touch

with an immigration attorney so you
know what is the viable path for you.

And if you think, for example, it is
the O-1, you might actually meet a lot

of requirements, but the first step
is being aware about the requirements

and then figuring out how are you
going to document all of it, right?

So for me, the biggest challenge was
finding time to work on a bunch of this

documentation while also running the
startup while managing day-to-day stuff.

You know, more often than not as a
founder, your personal stuff gets

pushed to the back burner as you're
trying to fight more important fires.

But like from my learning, I would
say like try to prioritize that.

Have a, like work with an immigration
attorney that could have almost like

a project manager of sorts working
with you, pushing you like the second

time when I did my O-1, that's what,

Sophie Alcorn: great.

Prateek Panda: that's the help I got.

I told them upfront, you know,
this is the part that I'm bad at.

So I want you to, I, yeah.

I, was like, I want you to
keep checking in with me.

Keep telling me, prateek, you
were supposed to send this,

whatever, three days ago.

Sophie Alcorn: It took me a while
to figure out that that's the best

way to practice, but we got it now.

And I actually created a new role
last year and restructured my law firm

completely to be able to deliver that.

We, I was like, wow, this paralegal
role isn't cutting it, the attorney

shouldn't be project managing.

How am I gonna do this?

And now we have client journey
coordinators who are paralegals,

project managers, and customer
service who are there to answer your

questions and keep your case on track.

And it's amazing what
a difference it makes.

So I think that's so wise.

And the other thing that, I just
commend you for that self-awareness.

I think the other really big piece of
this that people underestimate is the,

I don't know, like it's some sort of
cognitive load discomfort thing that

has to do with imposter syndrome, tall
poppy syndrome, cultural differences,

but for somebody who's lived a
quiet, humble life of achievement,

trying to please people
and do the right thing.

It's really hard to start
thinking about like bragging and

talking about how amazing I am.

So like just having people to like
talk you out when you wanna crawl,

you know, you wanna curl up and you're

under the table and like cry of
like, I don't know if I can do this.

But like having those friends and
cheerleaders and accountability

partners who can help you get
perspective, I think is so important.

Prateek Panda: That is absolutely true.

I've been through that
as well in my experience.

You often think like because in your
environment something is normal and

you think like, okay, there's no big
deal about this, and now you have to

make a big deal about it because in
general terms it is, or you have to

find a way to tell your story the best.

Sophie Alcorn: I've even seen it with like
top executives, you know, they're like

45, 50 years old, they've been in tech.

They have 2014 priority dates.

They're still waiting around.

They're like, I've signed all
these letters of recommendation

for my direct reports.

They all got O-1s and EB-1s
and I never got around to It.

And I, am I qualified?

And I'm like, yeah, you are.

It's fine.

You know, so it can be hard, but
I think over the last two years,

like the word about O-1 and
EB-1 has spread like wildfire.

It like literally

happened, it's like I have this visual of
like, I can see, you know, Thanksgiving

weekend, 2023, all these like expat
group chats on WhatsApp, like, and

watching the EB-1 thing like spread from
like dinner table to dinner table at

Thanksgiving 'cause like the, you know,
President Trump was starting to give

campaign speeches and like, that's when
people started talking about it and like,

everything just like exploded after that.

So an important note there is,
whatever you read about from message

boards from 2023 or 2024 online for
how to become qualified for an EB-1A

is probably not true today, in 2025.

It became much stricter, a much
more volatile adjudication standard.

So just, you know, make sure that
your evidence is really close to your

very narrow field of extraordinary
ability, very niche types of accolades.

And that's like if people are talking
about it on Reddit, it's probably not

a good type of evidence to pursue.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, that's a great point.

And maybe you can double click on that a
little bit because what does that really

mean for a regular person, for example?

Sophie Alcorn: Don't apply to judge
Globee or Stevie Awards anymore.

It's not going to work.

Being an IEEE senior member isn't enough.

Making $200,000 a

year won't cut it.

So like it's stuff like that.

Prateek Panda: Great.

So that's good.

But on that note, right,

mistakes.

What are some mistakes that you see more
often from founders that are trying to

apply for any of these visa
categories, whether they are

funded companies or bootstrapped?

What are some top issues that you see?

Sophie Alcorn: Well,

one thing is, not starting to
research the process soon enough.

Being like an ostrich, sticking your
head in the sand and then leaving it

until it's like almost too late and
then not budgeting enough time for

the process like you spoke about.

Another is,

I don't know if this is a mistake.

It's just,

it's just a challenge, but working
with so many founders we're like

hyper aware of it and I built the
firm around it, but many founders have

to be extremely focused and direct.

And they try to emulate what
they think Steve Jobs was

like which can, I don't know.

This is a, not a mistake.

I'm just.

Totally chiming in with something
completely random here, Prateek, but

founders can be very rude sometimes
and they don't appreciate how much

work, care, attention, immigration
providers have to give to them

to do a good job on their cases.

So understanding it's a
very complicated process.

You are going to have
to learn some things.

This will take some work on your end.

Even if you have a chief of staff,
you can't just like give everything

to them and expect them to do it.

This requires your personal involvement,
just like having those clear

expectations so that the team can
actually support you to do a good job.

Keeping the lines of communication open
and like not making assumptions and asking

if there's like, or like informing the
team if there's an important critical

deadline that's coming up in your life.

Like that sort of a thing is really
important to the easy flow of the case.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, I
think that's spot on.

And I remember when I'd got
my first O-1, it's 2019.

Not a lot of people had O-1s back then.

And I used to tell, like when people
asked, I would say like, I'm on this

O-1 Visa, and they would ask, okay,

what is this O-1?

And I'd be like, it's called
an Extraordinary Ability

Visa or Einstein Visa.

And they'd be like, oh,
wow, that sounds great.

I, and I would say.

This would be a running joke.

I would do that.

The only thing extraordinary about
that visa is the extraordinary

amount of paperwork you have to do

Sophie Alcorn: Oh

Prateek Panda: to get it.

to get it.

So, in line with what you are saying,
it is an extraordinary amount of work.

So it's important to sort of acknowledge
that and really look at, I think I was

very humbled by the process itself.

I remember my first
petition was 655 pages.

And I went to the office to sort of
print it out and it was this huge

stack of paperwork and it like it
had been what, maybe four or five

months of working together with my
immigration attorney at that point.

Sophie Alcorn: But I only, you know,
all of that just settled in when I went

to the printer to print it out and I
was like, oh my god, we've been working

on this for the last five months.

And it's a lot of work, a lot of patience.

On both sides.

Right?

And it's incredible the amount
of work that goes into this.

It's a ton.

And just recognizing that
can humble you a lot.

Prateek Panda: And that goes to like all
the work that folks like you do, right,

to make it happen for people like me.

Sophie Alcorn: I had a really funny
conversation like two weeks ago with

a founder in New York who's, you know,
very successful and I called and we

got his EB-1A approved, and I'm like,
and I just wanted to say, I'm so proud

of my team's work and we got this
done so quickly with no RFE and he is.

Oh yes, I acknowledge
because you're a founder.

So you think those things are cool?

Yes.

Yes.

I see, okay.

What about the adjustment of status?

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

Glad I could help.

Prateek Panda: Oh my God,

Sophie Alcorn: So it's fun.

It's okay.

I get to, I get to, meet really wonderful
people from all around the world.

Everybody's different.

It's amazing.

Prateek Panda: Yeah.

Great.

So as we come closer towards the end
of this, recording, I wanna ask you a

few more rapid fire style questions.

What's one Common myth about
immigration Visas that you

still sort of regularly debunk?

Sophie Alcorn: Oh my gosh.

The

employer employee relationship.

About H-1B and O-1, it's just this
vestige like 10 years ago, it was a

thing, I probably other immigration
lawyers who are telling people they still

need to be conscious of it, but like
I've done thousands of founder cases

and I work on this all the time, and so
I know how the landscape has shifted.

So just like if you're a founder, please
don't give away your company because

you think you have to for immigration.

Like please talk to an experienced
startup immigration attorney first.

Prateek Panda: Great.

What's the change you would like
to see in the US immigration

policy to better support founders?

I know you, I think we talked
about the startup Visa, but yeah.

Sophie Alcorn: Startup Visa for sure.

I mean, if this magical gold
card could come through, that

would be kind of exciting.

I don't know how or when they're gonna do
it, but hey, that would be another option.

You could raise more money and then
just get that right, so I could,

Prateek Panda: it's

Sophie Alcorn: I'm watching
That's interesting.

But like, we need immigration reform,

frankly, is what we need, so,

Prateek Panda: Yeah, it'll be
interesting to see pitch decks of the

future where you go to
raise money and there's a

line item on the gold card.

Sophie Alcorn: But I think

Prateek Panda: here's the half million

we.

Sophie Alcorn: be really
excited to de-risk the founder.

That's like,

Prateek Panda: Absolutely.

I think all, all top tier VCs that
are investing millions of dollars

into startups, the one thing that I
have seen consistently in the last

15 years of doing this is that they
always want the founder to be in a more

relaxed state about everything else.

Sophie Alcorn: Yeah, they are
like sell some secondaries.

Let's just sell some shares on the
secondary and let's get you a house now.

Like, we want you to be taken care of.

If your wife needs daycare, like,
let's put the nanny on the, you

couldn't bill it to the company.

It's okay.

Right.

So, yeah.

Prateek Panda: Yeah, good investors
have always been pro making life easy

for the founder and get them to focus
entirely on building on innovation.

Great.

If a founder could retain only one
piece of advice from this entire

conversation, what would you want
them to take away out of this?

Sophie Alcorn: Follow your heart,
where there's a will, there's a way.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

Great, Sophie, that's a great
way to sort of end the podcast.

Thank you so much for taking out time.

Thank you Prateek, it is so much

Sophie Alcorn: fun talking with you
and we covered so many things and

this was such a fun conversation.

Prateek Panda: Awesome.

Yeah.

I like I said, I enjoy talking
about immigration, so this was a

fun conversation for me as well.

I'm glad that we could make this happen.

I'll share your details out
because I know a lot of founders

continue to reach out to me.

Also to get, you know, contacts
of immigration attorneys

that have worked with.

Sophie Alcorn: That would be wonderful.

And I shared the IP related
podcast that I did with another

attorney to talk about that.

And also, I do have a complimentary
online class that anybody can take.

if if I can just mention
that for a second, Prateek

Great.

It's called Alcorn Academy.

It's 15 videos and over a
thousand people have taken it.

Many have gone on to get
O-1As, EB-1As, EB-2 and AWs.

It's free.

You just put in your email address,
you'll end up on my newsletter.

Then you'll get immigration updates.

And what people have told me who've gone
on to be successful with their visas and

stuff is what they appreciate is that I
actually like took the time to look at the

regulatory language for each requirement,
map it out to different types of career

paths, to imagine different types of
evidence, and then look at standard RFE

language to see what type of evidence
you might need to not get an RFE.

So that's available and you'll
have that link and I hope

that can benefit everybody.

Prateek Panda: That is amazing.

I was going to ask you about
some free resources that

people could learn from and.

Yeah.

Amazing.

You made it happen.

Great.

Thank you so much, Sophie.

I really appreciate the time that you've
taken out to have this conversation.

Thanks for all the
amazing work that you do.

This was a very fun conversation.

Sophie Alcorn: Thank you so much Prateek.

An honor to be here and thank
you so much, for having me.

Prateek Panda: And that
wraps up today's episode.

Before we sign off, I would like
to thank you for your support

and thanks for tuning in.

If you loved today's episode, then
don't forget to subscribe to this

podcast and never miss an episode.

Be kind, be happy, challenge the norm.

I'll see you folks again for the next one.