We have some very exciting news at our firm! Our managing attorney at McEntee Law Group, Fiona McEntee, just published an eBook called U.S. Immigration Options for Startups: Accelerate Your American Dream. It’s a comprehensive, easy to read guide to the immigration options startups might have in the Unites States. The book has been a long time coming, and we are so excited to share that it is now available to download on Amazon. We sat down with Fiona to ask her some questions about the book, so keep reading to find out what she had to say about the writing process and her hopes for the book.
Interviewer:
Hi Fiona. We are so excited about your eBook coming out. We wanted to ask you a couple questions about the book and the process, so people have a better idea of what this book is. So first of all, what made you decide to write this ebook?
Fiona McEntee:
So what made me decide to write the eBook? Well, I have been practicing as an immigration attorney for over 15 years, and during that time I have advised thousands of startup founders about their immigration options. I have been answering a lot of the same questions over and over again, and so it just hit me that a lot of people who are either have an idea for a startup in the U.S., or they’re here, or they’re abroad and want to bring their startup to the U.S., a lot of people have the same kind of questions. And I just thought it would be great if I could just put all the answers to these questions together in a comprehensive resource, and make it available for people. I felt like it would help me when I’m talking to them about their immigration options if they had some background on some of the concepts that we discussed during our consult. And so that was really the motivation, was to create an accessible guide, or just one centralized place where people could go to do some research about U.S. immigration options, for immigrant founders.
Interviewer:
Who is this eBook for? Who should read this book?
Fiona McEntee:
The eBook is really for anybody who either has a startup in the U.S. and is an immigrant already. So, if you have already created your startup and are thinking about your next immigration move, this eBook is for you. If you’re in the U.S. as an employee, or as a foreign student and are thinking about creating a startup, this eBook would also be for you. And then finally, if you’re a founder of a business and you’re based outside the U.S., and you’re thinking that you might want to expand into the U.S., this would also be a good book for you to read. So, I would say anybody who is an immigrant, and is thinking about either starting or growing their business in the U.S., this book is for them.
Interviewer:
We know that it’s about immigration options for startups, but what’s inside the book? What can we expect? What’s it about? What kind of questions do you answer?
Fiona McEntee:
In terms of how the book is structured, I guess I start with talking about the current U.S. immigration system, and why startup immigration is so important to the U.S. I talk about this a lot, and so I give some great stats to show why we really need immigration options for startup founders. So that’s how the book starts out.
Then I get into two separate sets of 10 questions. The first set is 10 questions that I commonly get asked from immigrant founders. So, everything from, what is considered work in the U.S., can my startup sponsor my H-1B visa, is the 0-1 visa hard to get? Those types of questions. And then the next set of 10 questions is 10 questions you should be asking about your immigration pathway.
And questions that I think are important, maybe how long is the process going to take? Are you able to premium process or expedite the process? How do I go about finding an immigration attorney? What questions should I ask my attorney? These are the types of things that I think people should be asking, so I had a list of those. And then I also listed some of the advocacy that I’ve been doing with so many stakeholders in this, that I feel like would be good resources for people, in terms of op-eds and testimony that I submitted for a congressional hearing. – those types of things. Just to give some background on my experience in this field, and give further, I guess, support, and explain further why I decided to write this book.
Interviewer:
What is something that you hope people will gain from this book?
Fiona McEntee:
What do I hope people will gain from the book? I mean, look, really the immigration system is daunting. It is complex, it is scary, and I really think that it doesn’t need to be that way. And so I am really hoping that I can empower people with information on this very complicated immigration system. I also want people to be proactive, and be their own advocates, in relation to their immigration future. The sooner you have this information, I think the earlier you’re going to be able to make some of these decisions about, is this work? Is what I’m doing work? And if so, should I get a work authorization as an international student? The sooner you are aware of where these parameters are drawn, then you can empower yourself and you can make some decisions proactively.
That’s what I really want this to be. I want this to be an accessible resource for people that they can go to one place, and get answers to some of these important questions, as opposed to having to scour the internet, and all different blogs, and lots of different fragmented resources. I want to make this as easy as possible for people. And I wanted to put essentially the knowledge that I have gained in my 15 plus years of practice. I wanted to put this in an easy to read, hopefully easy to consume guide, and just try to help as many immigrant founders as possible. Because we are better in the U.S. for having immigrant founders here, and I want to encourage and empower as many current and future immigrant founders as possible.
Interviewer:
You said that the immigration system is complex and sometimes daunting, so it’s probably true that people will have some misconceptions about startup immigration. What’s one misconception people have about startup immigration that you hope this book clarifies?
Fiona McEntee:
What a great question. So yes, I think there are a lot of misconceptions in relation to startup immigration. Some of them are maybe specific. I think that sometimes there’s a myth that startups cannot sponsor H-1B visas. I’m here to dispel that myth and say that that is a myth. It is possible for a startup to sponsor a H-1B visa, even for its founder. However, there are some additional considerations, and some additional hurdles to jump over. So that’s one myth.
I think maybe just educating people about the outdated immigration system and having that in mind when looking at the immigration system we have. And then I want to educate about a new immigration option that was introduced really by the Biden administration. It was originally brought in by Obama, was then put on pause by the Trump administration, and now it’s back on. This is the International Entrepreneur Parole program, and this could be a great option for people, and I just wanted to educate them about this as an option as well. So lots of hopefully great myth busting in there, and also just a lot of education.
Interviewer:
What was the hardest part about writing this book?
Fiona McEntee:
Oh my gosh. The hardest part about writing the book! Well, naively I thought this was going to be a white paper that I would whip up in a week or so, was my original plan. And I think the hardest part was really realizing that if I wanted to do this right… If I wanted to do this, I needed to do it right, and I needed to really dedicate some serious time and care to this book, because I want this to really be helpful for people. And in order for it to serve in that way, it really took time, and I think it just took a lot longer than I was originally anticipating. And then other types of hurdles, the design of an eBook, it’s not something any of us had ever done. So trying to navigate that was a little challenging, but we got there, and yes, we’re finally here. So there’s been a lot of challenges over the course of the writing, the editing, the design and styling, but it’s here, and it will all be worth it. If I can even help one person, all of that will be worth it.
Interviewer:
What was your favorite part about the writing process?
Fiona McEntee:
Oh my gosh. Favorite part about writing. I love writing anyway. As an immigration attorney, a lot of times we are writing pretty extensively throughout the day, and I think that getting to really sit down and share some of what I’ve learned, really, over the past 15 years, that’s been my favorite part. I think just sitting back and taking stock of all the things that we have done and all, just some proud moments in my career thus far. There are a lot more to come. Hopefully at some point we will be able to have a startup visa passed as a law. That will be just a massive achievement for the country that we will all celebrate if and when that happens.
I’m going to say when, because I’m very optimistic that that will happen, hopefully in the near future. But I think my favorite part was just thinking back over the past 15 years and all the people that I’ve been so fortunate to have worked with. And seeing their success firsthand, and really knowing that this guide is going to help so many more future founders. And just, I’m inspired by that, knowing that all the time that I’ve taken, that we’ve all taken to put this together is going to be really impactful. And so it’s finally here in the world, and I am just so excited to share it, and to get feedback as well from readers.
Interviewer:
Okay. A million-dollar question. You’ve written a children’s book, now you’ve written an immigration book. Do you think you’ll write another book? If so, what’s it going to be about?
Fiona McEntee:
Yes, I think I will write another book. Who knows what book number three is going to be about it. It is probably going to be something to do with immigrant founders, and maybe just the journey of an immigrant founder from the business side as well, from raising venture capital, and navigating that system, and just in addition to the immigration challenges as well. I don’t know, I just thought of this now, who knows if that will ever turn into something. But in the meantime, I know I’m going to be writing tons of more articles and op-eds. I just had two published! One was in Crain’s Chicago with some other immigration attorneys, one from the UK, and two immigration attorneys from Canada, talking about my favorite topic, which is startup immigration. The other was in The Well. So while we’re waiting for book number three, I’m sure we will be sharing some other pieces, articles, things like that, that I will write between now and then.
Interviewer:
Awesome. We can’t wait to read them. For now, can you let people know where to find your new eBook? Where can they get it?
Fiona McEntee:
Yes, definitely. At the moment, it is available exclusively on Amazon. It is, if you search for US Immigration Options for Startups: Accelerate Your American Dream, that’s the full title. I think though, if you just search US Immigration Options for Startups, it should come up. It is a digital book at the moment, but we’re hopefully in the future going to be turning it into an actual physical book as well. So stay tuned for that. We will have a bit more work to do to get the formatting done for the actual physical book, but that’s something that’s coming in the future. But for now, you can fully access it and read it online, and I just hope that you find it as rewarding as we did creating this book.
You can access the full interview video on YouTube HERE. We can’t wait for you to read the book and let us know what you think!
Questions or comments about the eBook can be directed to social@mcenteelaw.com.
