An Immigrant’s Guide to Success
Being an immigrant in America is never easy. Everything is different from where we came from: the language, the culture, the traditions. We are anxious, frightened, unsure, but at the same time brave. It is courageous to take a leap of faith and dive into the unknown, alone or with our families and kids alongside. New start, new opportunities but also new responsibilities: learn the language, integrate, but keep true to your own traditions. So much to do, so much to strive for, but where to even begin?
Welcome to America, Welcome Home is a book that tries to answer these questions by relying on other people’s experiences. Advice from immigration and criminal lawyers, business owners, financial advisers, police officers, medical researchers, psychologists, language professors, charity workers, civil rights activists, it’s all in here.
At the same time, the human stories that we all can relate to: the refugees, work migrants, and even of the kids of immigrants are also here.
Watch the Book Trailer
What is it like to be an immigrant in America?
Listen to Irina explain her experience as an immigrant and learn more about Welcome America, Welcome Home in her interview with the Petite2Queen Podcast.
Order Welcome to America, Welcome Home Today!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Hands on the Wheel or Lost in Translation
How to overcome the language barriers and accept that language imperfections, accents and cultural differences are not a barrier but an asset.
Chapter 2: Small Business, Start Up, and the Art of Failure
What suits you best when you first arrive to America: your own Small Business, a Start Up or to get a traditional job?
Chapter 3: You Have Rights
Advice from Immigration and other lawyers how to navigate the American judicial system. Advice from asylum seekers how to survive detention centers.
Chapter 4: Burgers, Fries and a Bowl of Freedom
How to change the world around you by becoming an active citizen, get engaged in your community and lobby for your community’s rights.
Chapter 5: The Kids of Immigration
Stories of kids of immigration from incredible difficult beginnings to inspirational endings.
Chapter 6: From Weddings to Funerals and Everything in Between
How to keep your traditions alive from weddings to funeral traditions, food and holiday celebrations etc.
Chapter 7: Blessed in the Cheerful Giver
How to give back to your community and be an ally to immigrants everywhere.
From the Author…
Welcome to America, Welcome Home is not simply a title. To me, it is a welcome sign for everyone who has just arrived in America.
Endorsements for Irina
Toni Kief
Author and Director of the Writers Coop PNW
I’m an independent author and one of the founders of the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest. We meet in a small town, and share our challenges and lessons in the publishing world. I’ll never forget the first time Irina VanPatten showed up for a meeting. Initially she was quiet and withdrawn, but the more I got to know her the more I cherished her intelligence and good humor. Irina was there to learn.
I was truly excited when her book, Welcome to America, Welcome Home, was released. I rushed to read this original and enlightening book. I have met other immigrants, but no one like Irina. Strong in her own story, yet she reaches out to others. In this book Irina offers touching personal stories, insight to legal rights, and assistance. I wish that this book greeted every immigrant that crosses the border, as well as every citizen who thinks they understand.
As the time passed, I have watched Irina and her progress as an author. She stays true to all of her countries and her craft. I am proud to call her friend.
—Toni Kief
Natalia Ghilascu
Chief Editor of Hora in America
As a chief-editor of Hora in America magazine, where Irina VanPatten is a contributing writer, I have witnessed first hand her passion for writing. She has a unique style of handling difficult subjects with humor and you can hear her sarcastic voice throughout the text. Her story I Love You, Russian Style was a fun read for me personally. Nevertheless, she can switch to a serious mode and write with passion and conviction about issues like women’s rights, immigrants rights, equality.
She is a great interviewer, because she can listen to the people she talks to with the same passion that she writes about them. She is interested in what they do as professionals, and in their daily lives with their families. She had interviewed people from different professions and backgrounds: from truck drivers, doctors and science researches to movie directors and entertainers, but regardless of what they do, when she publishes an interview, she lets them shine.
—Natalia Ghilascu
An Endorsement from Toni Kief
Author and Director of the Writers Coop PNW
I’m an independent author and one of the founders of the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest. We meet in a small town, and share our challenges and lessons in the publishing world. I’ll never forget the first time Irina VanPatten showed up for a meeting. Initially she was quiet and withdrawn, but the more I got to know her the more I cherished her intelligence and good humor. Irina was there to learn.
I was truly excited when her book, Welcome to America, Welcome Home, was released. I rushed to read this original and enlightening book. I have met other immigrants, but no one like Irina. Strong in her own story, yet she reaches out to others. In this book Irina offers touching personal stories, insight to legal rights, and assistance. I wish that this book greeted every immigrant that crosses the border, as well as every citizen who thinks they understand.
As the time passed, I have watched Irina and her progress as an author. She stays true to all of her countries and her craft. I am proud to call her friend.
—Toni Kief
An Endorsement from Natalia Ghilascu
Chief Editor of Hora in America
As a chief-editor of Hora in America magazine, where Irina VanPatten is a contributing writer, I have witnessed first hand her passion for writing. She has a unique style of handling difficult subjects with humor and you can hear her sarcastic voice throughout the text. Her story I Love You, Russian Style was a fun read for me personally. Nevertheless, she can switch to a serious mode and write with passion and conviction about issues like women’s rights, immigrants rights, equality.
She is a great interviewer, because she can listen to the people she talks to with the same passion that she writes about them. She is interested in what they do as professionals, and in their daily lives with their families. She had interviewed people from different professions and backgrounds: from truck drivers, doctors and science researches to movie directors and entertainers, but regardless of what they do, when she publishes an interview, she lets them shine.
—Natalia Ghilascu
About Irina
Irina VanPatten is a Pacific Northwest writer from Moldova, a small Eastern European country neighboring Ukraine. Her writing style marries the best of these two worlds. She draws from the rich roots of her culture, but bakes her own American literary cake with a blended sense of humor: sharp, yet warm; edgy, yet tender.
About Irina
Irina VanPatten is American Pacific Northwest writer with Eastern European roots. Her writing style marries the best of these two worlds. She draws from the reach roots of her culture, but bakes her own American literary cake with a blended sense of humor: sharp, yet warm; edgy, yet tender.
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