Meet Attorney Finlay Donesky

Finlay Donesky focuses his practice on business and family immigration. He started his own law firm in 2003 after completing his law degree at the University of Minnesota Law School in 2002.

When not working, his passions include watching his children play sports (at basketball, track and swimming tournaments), traveling with his family, attending theatre in the Twin Cities, and spending weekends at the cabin kayaking, canoeing and cross-country skiing.

Personal Experience = Professional Advantage

Finlay Donesky, Business and Individual Immigration AttorneyHis deep interest in both family and business immigration grew from his personal experience:

  • He was born in India to Canadian parents and grew up in Michigan in Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status which he gave up when he moved with his family to Toronto, Ontario.
  • He later returned to the United States in F-1 status to earn his Ph.D. degree in English literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
  • After completing his doctorate in 1988, he taught in J-1 status for a semester at the Hilberry graduate theater program at Wayne State University in Detroit.
  • After teaching in Canada for two years (at Trent University & University of Toronto), he returned to the United States in H-1B status to teach modern drama at the University of Kentucky in Lexington where he became an LPR again through the Department of Labor Permanent Labor Certification process.
  • In 1997, he moved to Minnesota with his wife Tracey. He became a citizen of the United States in 1998.

Finlay’s immigrant experience helps him understand his client’s concerns and questions. He knows what it feels like to petition the USCIS and then wait anxiously for a response. He distinctly remembers the first time he tried to understand the notion of “intent” that is relevant in F-1 and TN visa contexts (and also in some I-130 marriage and K-1 fiancé(e) contexts).

For his corporate clients (companies with 20-30 million to 500+ million annual revenues) he handles their full range of business immigration matters—H-1B and L-1B/L-1A petitions, Permanent Labor Certifications, I-140 Petitions for Alien Workers, I-485 Applications to Adjust Status (green card) petitions for employees and their family members, H-1B and I-140 portability petitions, and I-9 compliance.

Contact Information

Bar Admissions

  • Minnesota

Professional Associations

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

Education

University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, MN
J.D. (2002)

  • Note & Comment/Research Editor for the Minnesota Law Review

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Ph.D. (1988)
Master’s Degree (1982)

  • English literature with specialty in modern and contemporary British, American and European drama