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. 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 Small teams or solo builders welcome Real judges. Real feedback. Real prizes. 🏆 Prizes TBD 👨‍⚖️ Judges Our judges are a mix of technical and domain experts who understand what it actually takes to build in this space: 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. 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.