[dang]

YC has always been open to startups from anywhere. They've funded hundreds of international startups, if not more than a thousand by now, and certainly well over a thousand international founders.

YC-funded startups have never been required to stay in the US after the batch, so it's easy to answer your question. (I've not got any inside information and just found out about this by reading HN like everybody else.)

[kijin]

That doesn't answer the parent's question. The requirement to come to the US even for a single hour, either before or during or after the batch, can be a huge hurdle for some founders. That's why the "fully remote" part is interesting. 99.9% remote is very different from 100% remote.

[dang]

I'm scratching my head trying to see how that doesn't answer the question. By definition, a remote batch means people wouldn't need to come to SF for a batch. There's never been any location requirement otherwise. What's left?

[kijin]

Well, the announcement hasn't been as clear as "By definition." They only said that "some or all of the batch may take place remotely over video."

If the coronavirus pandemic is under control in the U.S. by June, and YC decides to run some of the later parts of the batch (such as Demo Day) offline in SF, that could be a problem for foreign founders who might still be stuck in their own countries or can't get a visa on time. The deadline is drawing near. Without a firm assurance that there will be no location requirement whatsoever at any time, a lot of foreign founders might decide not to take the risk. But YC is not making themselves clear. As I said, there's a huge difference between 99.9% remote and 100% remote.

Anyway, I just saw your more recent comment about over-interpreting the word "may" and I fully agree with what you said there.

[dang]

Ah, I see now. That phrase is so obviously corporate boilerplate that there's no story here.

I was being a typical reader and reacting to the headline.