Minami Tamaki LLP Immigration Practice Associate Olivia S. Lee was recently named one of ten attorneys on the Legal Advisory Committee for the Global EIR Coalition (http://www.globaleir.org/advisors).
The Global EIR Coalition is a nonprofit that fixes the startup visa problem for founders. The organization is led and advised by some of the staunchest advocates at the intersection of startups and immigration, including Jeff Bussgang, Vivek Wadhwa, and Cyrus Mehta.
Global EIR allows universities and startups to work together to connect founders as mentors to students considering entrepreneurship, which gets the founders access to the visas they need to raise capital and build their businesses.
As the current immigration system is broken, especially when it comes to startups, Global EIR offers a bridge over visa risk. More and more cities around the country are looking to startups to create jobs and grow the local economy, and Global EIR is a useful tool to encouraging locally educated entrepreneurs to stay in the area and help build the startup community.
“I want to thank Craig Montuori, the Executive Director of Global EIR, for selecting me for the Legal Advisory Committee,” said Olivia. “Global EIR is going to help great startup founders achieve their American Dreams.”
Olivia’s expertise at Minami Tamaki LLP is on startups and emerging companies in a variety of non-immigrant and immigrant matters.
She advises clients on immigration matters related to all stages of the startup process, including pre-formation, seed funding, accelerator/incubator programs, early and late stage, acquisitions and mergers, and public offering. She has extensive experience providing guidance on E-3, H-1B, J-1, O-1, and TN non-immigrant issues, as well as EB-1 and AOS (green card) issues in relation to emerging companies.
Olivia has also been active in professional and civic affairs. Between 2009 to 2013, Olivia has served on the Advisory Council and Executive Board of the American Immigration Lawyers Association of Northern California (AILA NorCal). Olivia is currently the AILA NorCal Vice Chair and co-liaison to San Francisco USCIS.
She was recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2014 and again in 2015.
