Jeff Goldman practices exclusively in the area of business immigration law. He has 30+ years of extensive experience representing technology, life science, and entrepreneurial businesses regarding all visa matters, as well as permanent residency applications. After managing the immigration law sections at two nationally recognized law firms for 11 years, Jeff opened his own practice in 2011 and currently employs 31 professionals working on immigration matters.
A significant part of Jeff’s practice is working with scientists and entrepreneurs seeking Extraordinary Ability, National Interest Waiver, and Outstanding Researcher permanent residence classifications. As a mentor to MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and Brown students, as well as Y Combinator, TechStars, and Mass Challenge founders, Jeff has helped entrepreneurial founders and investors understand and implement effective immigration strategies.
Jeff is a Lawyer in Residence at Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, and a frequent speaker on business immigration law at national conferences and at many universities across the United States, including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Brown, and Vanderbilt. He is a past recipient of the "Pro Bono Attorney of the Year" award from the Political Asylum/Immigrant Representation Project in Boston, due to his extensive work with refugees. In 2010 Jeff was honored for his work mentoring other attorneys to assist the Haitian community with applications for Temporary Protected Status following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
In 2014, Jeff conceived of the idea and drafted a working outline for a program known as the Massachusetts Global Entrepreneur in Residence Program, which two different Governors of Massachusetts have adopted as part of their plans to assist the best and brightest foreign nationals who come to Massachusetts universities to remain in our state and thrive as entrepreneurs who create jobs. Jeff is now a mentor to several other states who want to implement a similar program. He is founder of Open Avenues Foundation, a non-profit organization that also assists individuals and companies with securing cap-exempt H-1B status.
As part of this work, in 2016 Jeff was invited to the White House with other leading immigration advocates to brainstorm effective ways to integrate professional immigrants into the workplace.
Jeff has the highest rating offered by Martindale.com, “AV Preeminent 5.0 out of 5”, and has been named by Boston Magazine as a “SuperLawyer” for fourteen consecutive years. Jeff is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and is a past Chair of the New England chapter. He received his B.A. from Brown University (1983), and his J.D. from Boston University School of Law (1986).
