[OoTheNigerian]

Great first steps.

Any plans to have one in a "no visa required" location for people from other parts?

The struggle and stress attending YC interviews puts on Nigerian founders is - to put it mildly, very unfair.

Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya are 2 countries with visa on arrival for everyone and a great air network.[1]

[1] https://www.passportindex.org/byWelcomingRank.php

[jedberg]

I'm curious, what's the next step after the interview? If they do an interview in a no visa location and you get in, wouldn't you still need to get a visa to join the program?

Or are you saying that once you get in then getting the visa is worth the time, but it isn't worth it just for the interview?

[OoTheNigerian]

There is a shorter period to prepare for a YC interview than to get into the program after passing the YC interview.

Once you get into YC, you can take your time and it is easier to make a case at the embassy.

First of all, the US visa spaces are fully booked. The next open interview slots are somewhere in April so instead of founders trying to prepare for their YC interview, they are spending an enormous amount of time trying to get an earlier slot for a US visa interview.

After managing to get a slot it is another many days of preparing and hoping not to be rejected.

It costs at least $200 per interview in a country where the minimum wage is hoping to be increased to $80/month later this year.

All this is happening as their contemporaries from US and Europe only have to book a flight in 5 mins and return back to preparing for their YC interview and building their startup.

The world is flat indeed!

[jedberg]

Ah, I didn't realize the process was quite that bad. I can see how that makes it more worthwhile to do only if you get in.

Thanks for the explanation!

[Swizec]

Generally speaking getting a visa after you are accepted is pretty easy. Your visit has structure, a clear deadline, and nay number of student/internship/etc visas may apply.

Visas for “I just wanna go to USA for a meeting” are harder if you aren’t from a visa waiver country.

(funnilly if you are from visa waiver land, getting visa after acceptance is more work than for the interview because you actually need one)

[krn]

It might be much more difficult to a get visa for an interview than for the program in some parts of the world, because people are much likely to stay illegally if they are rejected.

[OoTheNigerian]

FWIW, not one of over >30 people interviewed and rejected from Nigeria stayed back in the US illegally. That includes myself and my co founder who were the first Nigeria based founders to get an interview in 2014.

After all, there is a business to be built back home.

[krn]

I didn't mean Nigerians or YC program in particular, but the general idea, that visa applications from different countries might be treated differently. Therefore, the idea of interviews in a "no visa required location" makes a perfect sense to me.

[srsimon]

This is something we've been searching for solutions to, and was part of our thinking in trying this out. We'll be releasing new locations as we finalize them - stay tuned.

[rdl]

I'd recommend Qatar. Qatari government would probably be willing to cover costs/admin and potentially deep discounts on QR flights. You might even be able to do it all airside at Doha Airport, otherwise they'd do hotel + meeting rooms.

[mav3rick]

I don't think the Optics of dealing with the Qatari govt. are good for YC.

[rdl]

They are probably better than a lot of their neighbors. It is a consideration though.

[jmknoll]

That’s an excellent point (and a pretty cool website). Looks like there are direct (and cheap!) flights to Addis Ababa from London, Shanghai, and Mumbai. And visa-free or visa-on-arrival for almost everyone. It’s not super-accessible from North America, but I don’t think that’s the issue here.

If YC is serious about finding the next wave of Unicorns, they should really be doing a lot more to accommodate Indian and African founders.

[rdl]

If Switzerland (Zurich) would work, I'd be happy to provide meeting space and potentially housing for YC/interviewees.