Build for the Border - Immigrant Hackathon NYC
NYC's First Immigrant Hackathon
The immigration system is broken. You already know this because you've lived it.
On May 9th, we're bringing 250+ immigrant founders, engineers, and builders in NYC for a one-day sprint to build the products that fix it along with a supercool fireside chat.
This is the biggest one-day hackathon for the immigrant builder community. Come with an idea, come without one - just come ready to ship something real.
🧩 Problem Statement
Every year, millions of brilliant people try to move to, build in, or stay in the US and get crushed by systems designed for no one. Lawyers are expensive, timelines are brutal, and "becoming American" is a full-time job nobody trained you for. We're bringing together the people most affected by this to build software that actually helps.
🎯 The Challenge - Two Tracks
Founder Immigration: visas (O-1, EB-1A, H-1B alternatives), company formation, cross-border ops, stay-in-the-US strategy tools.
Learning to be American: onboarding, cultural + system navigation (banking, credit, healthcare, housing, taxes), tools for the first 1,000 days.
📅 What to Expect
10:00 – 11:00 AM — Doors open: mixer + team formation. Meet your future co-founder.
11:00 – 11:45 AM — Fireside chat & panel with top immigrant founders who've been in the trenches.
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM — Partner intros, sponsor demos, and official hackathon kickoff (theme, rules, judging criteria)
12:00 – 5:00 PM — 5-hour build sprint (lunch provided)
5:00 – 6:00 PM — Live demos, judging, and prize ceremony
🏆 Prizes
SimpleApply credits
More to be announced...
👨⚖️ Judges
Our judges are a mix of YC-backed founders, immigrant builders, and investors.
Confirmed judges will be announced soon.
🙋 Who Should Attend
Immigrant founders and aspiring founders
Engineers (full stack, backend, AI/ML) who want to build with purpose
International Students
Anyone who has navigated a visa, a green card, or the US immigration system
Builders who care about making systems more human
You don't need a finished idea or a team. Just freakin show up.
Sponsors
Simpleapply.ai - Have AI Apply to hundreds of relevant positions in the time it takes to submit one manual application!
Hosts
Somya Gupta - The face of NYC startup ecosystem.
Pulse NYC AI - A community, incubator, and venture fund built for founders, researchers, and technologists shaping the future of AI in New York City.
CAST-GNY - cross-discipline nonprofit.
Bond AI - The trusted community for AI events, connecting 140K+ builders & ecosystem partners.