Starting a business in the United States can open doors for massive opportunity and success. Along the way, however, businesses will encounter a number of legal and regulatory hurdles.

This “Guide to Starting Business in the U.S.” reflects the incalculable number of personal, legislative, health and safety and business changes that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. While many of the fundamental components of starting a business in the United States have not changed (e.g., choice of entity, entity formation and registering IP), a multitude of policies, protocols and legislative changes have impacted various practical, financial and risk considerations international businesses must consider when starting a business in the U.S. (e.g., immigration, tax, employment, privacy and security and economic incentives for certain industries).

While COVID-19 has resulted in a significant number of changes to doing business in the U.S. and disruption in everyone’s business and personal lives, as of this writing in May 2021, we are seeing what we hope is a substantial recovery and significant opportunity in Q3/Q4 of 2021 and in 2022.

To help guide you along this journey, lawyers from across Womble Bond Dickinson’s multidisciplinary global business team have developed this comprehensive guide.