About Finlay Donesky

I practice immigration law with the sensitivity and insight that comes from over twenty years of professional and personal experience.

My own immigrant experience helps me anticipate and respond to my client’s concerns and questions. I know what it feels like to petition the USCIS and then wait anxiously for a response. I remember the first time I tried to understand the notion of “intent” that is crucial to F-1 visa status (and other visa statuses & contexts).

I was born in India to Canadian parents and grew up in Michigan as a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) of the United States. I then gave up my LPR status after my family moved to Toronto, Ontario. Later, I returned to the United States in F-1 student status to earn my PhD degree in English literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After completing my doctorate, I taught in J-1 status for a semester at the graduate theater program at Wayne State University in Detroit. After teaching in Canada for two years (at Trent University and the University of Toronto), I returned to the United States in H-1B status to teach modern drama at the University of Kentucky (UK) in Lexington, Kentucky. While teaching at UK, I became an LPR again through the labor certification process. In 1997, I moved with my wife to Minnesota. I became a citizen of the United States in 1998.

I hold a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School. I served as Note & Comment/Research Editor for the Minnesota Law Review. I am admitted to practice law in the State of Minnesota. I am a member the American Immigration Lawyers Association.