Lydia G.Tamez

Lydia G. Tamez directs all of Microsoft's global immigration programs. Certified in 1993 as a Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Tamez guides senior management in formulating U.S. and global immigration policies and practices for the company. She also operationalized Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ), a volunteer effort now in its fifth year which represents asylum seekers and other immigrants including unaccompanied children held in immigration detention facilities in the Seattle area. As part of her responsibilities, Tamez oversees Microsoft's pro bono participation in VAIJ.
Tamez is a member of the American Council for International Personnel, Compete America, the National Immigration Forum, and the Western Immigration Networking Group, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Law Foundation. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Washington State Bar, and the State Bar of Texas.
Before joining Microsoft in 1995, Tamez served as an Associate Attorney for nine years at Tindall & Foster, a prominent Houston firm, practicing a full range of family- and employment-based immigration law services for corporate and individual clients. She graduated from Yale University in 1981, where she was a recipient of the Patterson grant to study immigration reform. In 1985, Tamez graduated from Yale Law School, where she represented detained immigrants in the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization and authored her thesis on the constitutional right to interpretation for immigrants in removal proceedings.

Lydia G. Tamez directed all of Microsoft's global immigration programs until mid-2011. Certified in 1993 as a Specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, Tamez guides senior management in formulating U.S. and global immigration policies and practices for the company. She also operationalized Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ), a volunteer effort now in its fifth year which represents asylum seekers and other immigrants including unaccompanied children held in immigration detention facilities in the Seattle area. As part of her responsibilities, Tamez oversees Microsoft's pro bono participation in VAIJ.

Tamez is a member of the American Council for International Personnel, Compete America, the National Immigration Forum, and the Western Immigration Networking Group, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Law Foundation. She is also a member of the American Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Washington State Bar, and the State Bar of Texas.

Before joining Microsoft in 1995, Tamez served as an Associate Attorney for nine years at Tindall & Foster, a prominent Houston firm, practicing a full range of family- and employment-based immigration law services for corporate and individual clients. She graduated from Yale University in 1981, where she was a recipient of the Patterson grant to study immigration reform. In 1985, Tamez graduated from Yale Law School, where she represented detained immigrants in the Jerome Frank Legal Services Organization and authored her thesis on the constitutional right to interpretation for immigrants in removal proceedings.

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