Michael Serotte

I spend most of my time working with immigrant entrepreneurs and startup founders (especially those building companies in the tech ecosystem). America was built by entrepreneurs; it’s partly why I love working with them so much.

A lot of the founders who come to me have unique challenges that don’t fit neatly into a templated checklist. Immigration questions rarely exist in isolation for entrepreneurs — they’re often tied to hiring plans, fundraising timelines, product roadmaps, and personal decisions about where to live and build. My role is to assess the full picture that founder presents and craft the best possible strategy to get them where they’re trying to go.

That way of working is what ultimately led me to found Serotte Immigration Partners.

Before becoming a lawyer, I worked in business and finance (including time as an accountant). That background still shapes how I think about immigration cases. I’m instinctively focused on tradeoffs, timing, and downstream effects (not just whether something is technically possible, but whether it makes sense for where a client is headed, and what’s the best approach to making that goal a reality). For founders especially, immigration decisions have long shadows. Part of my job is helping clients see those early so there are fewer surprises later.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with founder communities and accelerators that sit at the center of the startup ecosystem. I serve as Immigration Counsel for Stanford’s StartX and Stanford Graduate School of Business, Duke’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, and several private accelerators, including Unshackled, Alchemist, and Founder Institute. Those roles keep me close to the real, day-to-day questions founders are asking (often long before immigration becomes urgent).

In addition to entrepreneurs, I also advise employers across a wide range of industries, including technology, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and media, as well as individuals with complex business or investment-based immigration situations. I spend a fair amount of time working on cases that don’t fit templates, including cross-border issues and situations involving prior denials or complications at the U.S. border.

What I enjoy most about this work is problem-solving at the edge cases — the situations where the answer isn’t immediately clear, but where a viable path exists if you’re willing to think creatively and build the right narrative. A petition without a story is just paperwork. My focus has always been on understanding the story first, then deciding how to present it in a way that’s coherent, credible, and persuasive.

Serotte Immigration Partners works with clients across the U.S. and around the world. I regularly meet with clients by phone or video, and in person in San Francisco, New York City, Buffalo, and Toronto. No matter where a client is based, the goal is the same: bring clarity to a complicated situation and help them move forward with confidence.

On a personal note, my favorite part of the job is when a founder comes to me having been previously denied a visa, and we’re able to secure one using a different strategy. That, and the day the Buffalo Bills finally win a Super Bowl.