If an EU founder of an SV-based startup could do a brief write-up of the process they went through (and how much it cost) that would be absolutely fantastic. Anonymous if necessary.

I know some travel to the Bay Area for less than 3 months at a time on the visa waiver programme. I'm also curious about the gotchas to watch out for with that approach and the practicalities of getting by for such short times (e.g. finding a place to stay, etc.).

We'd love for you to start the section. :)

I searched about that a year ago, didn't find too much but I will try to get some free time to start this section.

dear lord: please someone make a resource for immigration. it is baffling.

I usually look up immigration questions at http://www.murthy.com, in particular the H1B FAQ: http://www.murthy.com/h1bfaqs.html

They are one of the best immigration lawyer teams that I have dealt with. They are the only firm where every member of the team seems to understand all the fine nuances of immigration law and how it can be used to your benefit. Having a bad or just an OK lawyer is expensive in the long run when it comes to immigration.

I second this. A section for each country & scenario would be great! If someone could start with unemployeed, broke programmer with no college or university degree, hoping to move from Canada to SF, that would be great.

Second this, otherwise you're cutting out a big pool of talent, it's what made America isn't it?