La Casa

Resources

We are some Harvard + international students that dealt with Visa (founders, O1's, early engineers), etc and we want to help.

Get Connected

How We Can Help

If you are a highly ambitious (tech, non-tech all ok) international student now affected, we want to help offering the following:

  1. 1.Direct access to companies, funds, and programs looking for talent and will sponsor your visa (especially useful for '25)
  2. 2.Direct access to lawyers and law startups we worked with in the past that can give full support
  3. 3.People who dealt with visa + information of alternative pathways (O1 visa, etc)

If you are interested in any of the above, please FILL OUT THIS FORM.

Access the form here →

Companies, funds, and programs

(Gap year/full-time opportunities)

Below are companies and funds offering visa-sponsored gap year and full-time opportunities.

Neo

Neo is a startup accelerator, recruiting platform, and a mentorship community - their portfolio include rising startups such as Cursor, Cognition, Ramp, and Kalshi.

• Check out Neo's portfolio companies• Check out Neo's Accelerator, Scholar Program, and fund

A16z backed startups

A16z is a VC firm - their portfolio include companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, Databricks, Lyft and more, with more recent investments in AI such as ElevenLabs, Cursor, Hedra, Hebbia, Thinking Machines Lab, and more.

• Check out a16z full portfolio (seed to growth)• Check out a16z's speedrun accelerator• Check out a16z's portfolio per fund (American Dynamism, Apps, Bio+Health, Crypto, Games, Growth, and Infrastructure)

General Catalyst backed startups

GC is a VC firm - their portfolio includes companies like Stripe, Airbnb, Snap, Grammarly, Mistral AI, and more, with more recent investments in AI such as Together AI, Portia AI, Sapien, and more.

• Check out GC full portfolio• Check out GC applied AI initiatives

Khosla Ventures backed startups

Khosla Ventures is a VC firm - their portfolio includes companies like OpenAI, Square, DoorDash, Instacart, and Impossible Food, with more recent investments in AI such as DevRev, Rogo, Waabi and more.

• Check out Khosla Ventures full portfolio

8VC backed startups

8VC is a technology- and life-sciences investment firm that both builds and backs ambitious companies across logistics, defense, healthcare, IT infrastructure, AI, and more—its portfolio features Anduril, Palantir, Ramp, Addepar, Epirus, Saronic, and many others.

• Explore 8VC's portfolio companies• Learn about the 8VC Build Program• Apply to the 8VC Engineering Fellowship

Alternatively, if there are companies you want to reach out to, we're happy to see if we have any connections there.

Additional resources:

• List of startups that raised from top tier-funds recently• Another list of recent raises
And more… list continuesLast update May 26th

(For founders)

If you are ready to build something on your own, below are some accelerators that help in the process:

  • - Neo Accelerator
  • - Y Combinator
  • - A16Z Speedrun
  • - Sequoia Capital Arc
  • - PearX
  • - HF0 Residency

Lawyers

We are happy to put you in touch with lawyers we worked with previously, such as:

Alternative Visas and pathways

O1 Visa

Tl;dr - aka "Extraordinary Ability" visa, often for founders, early startup employees, artists, researchers, etc

What is an O1 and who is it for?

Definition: "The O1 visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability in fields like science, business, education, arts, or athletics. You must meet at least 3 out of 8 USCIS criteria (e.g. major awards, critical roles, press, original contributions). It's common among founders, early startup employees, artists, and researchers."

It's a common first step for founders and early employees. You can get an O1 visa as long as you 1- have a sponsor (self-sponsor is possible) 2- meet at least 3 out of the 8 criteria.

Examples

  • • Gabriel (Sweden): No formal degrees, early engineer at Midjourney, now at OpenAI
  • • Ernesto (Paraguay): Dropped out of Stanford, joined 11x.ai as one of the first 15 engineers
  • • Marko (Germany): Startup founder, self-petitioned
  • • Well-known entrepreneurs: Guillermo Rauch (Vercel)
  • • Many YC founders and early startup employees hold O1s

Who is eligible?

You need to meet at least 3 of 8 criteria listed by the USCIS and be employed full-time at a company:

  • 1. Major awards
  • 2. Critical roles
  • 3. Press coverage
  • 4. Original contributions
  • 5. High salary
  • 6. Membership in associations
  • 7. Judging work of others
  • 8. Scholarly articles

Official guide from Harvard

What does the application look like?

  1. 1. Gather evidence for the criteria (by yourself, usually the time-consuming part)
  2. 2. Get legal help from law firms/startups such as Plymouth, Extraordinary.com, the Chris Wright Law firm, etc
  3. 3. Submitting an application with premium-processing takes ~15 days

Who would this be good for?

People who want to start their own companies ASAP or join an early stage company

How is the H1B visa different from the O1?

O1 VisaH1B Visa
No lotteryAnnual lottery system
Can self-petition (in some cases)Employer must sponsor
Flexible timelineFixed application windows
For extraordinary abilityFor specialty occupations
3 year initial, unlimited renewals3+3 years, then green card needed

Alternative Visa 2

More alternative visa pathways coming soon...