Kiwanis Club of Houston
February 17th Luncheon
Speaker: Charles Foster
Charles C. Foster is the Chairman of Foster LLP and is based in the Houston office. Recognized as a Best Lawyer in America, Chambers USA Senior Statespeople, Who’s Who Legal: Corporate Immigration Thought Leader, Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Corporate Employer Lawyer – Immigration, and Top 100 attorney in Houston, his practice focuses primarily on representing multinational companies and foreign investors regarding U.S. immigration law.
Charles received both his J.D. and undergraduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin. He lectures frequently before legal, academic, and professional organizations in Texas, throughout the United States and abroad and has published numerous articles on U.S. immigration law.
Charles has dedicated much of his career to the improvement of his community. He served as senior immigration policy advisor to President George W. Bush in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential campaigns and as an immigration policy advisor to Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign. He has testified before both U.S. Senate and House subcommittees on immigration matters. He is the founding Chairman of the Immigration & Nationality Law Section of the State Bar of Texas and has previously served as Chairman of the Governor’s Task Force on Immigration, the Greater Houston Partnership’s Economic Development Advisory Committee and World Trade Division, the American Bar Association’s Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law, and the State Bar of Texas Committee on Laws Relating to Immigration and Nationality and is past National President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Houston Forum and the Houston Club and Board member of Ripley / Baker.
He currently serves as Chairman of Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston Advisory Board, of U.S.-China Partnerships; and of Americans for Immigration Reform; and Vice Chairman of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S. China Relations; Director Emeritus of the Greater Houston Partnership; Member of the Board of Directors of the Asia Society Texas Center; American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Houston Ballet, the Hobby Center for Public Policy, KIND, and the Holocaust Museum Houston.
Charles also initiated and served as Co-Chairman of the George Bush Monument and the Lyndon B. Johnson Monument, as well Co-Chairman of the James Baker Monument and Robert Mosbacher Memorial Bridge advisory boards.
In addition to his involvement in the community, Charles is the Honorary Consul-General for the Kingdom of Thailand and the Vice Dean of Houston’s Consular Corps. He has received several high Royal Decorations conferred by His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej as well as numerous awards including 2020 Asia Society’s Roy M. Huffington Award for Contributions to International Understanding and Immigration Reform, 2016 Interfaith Ministries Tapestry Award, 1997 Houston International Service Award by the Houston Jaycees and Consular Corps, the 2000 Distinguished Friend of China Award, the 2013 Houston Bar Association Leon Jaworski Award for community service and 1998 American Immigration Law Foundation Honorary Fellow. He has been named the nation’s “20 Most Powerful Employment Attorneys” in immigration by Human Resource Executive. His role as an immigration lawyer was featured in the 2010 film Mao’s Last Dancer.
In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and as a past President, he has received AILA’S 1990 Pro Bono Award for establishing ProBar in South Texas and its 1992 Edith M. Lowenstein Award for Excellence in Advancing the practice of Immigration Law and its Texas Chapter Lifetime Achievement Award.
Charles is Board Certified in Immigration and Nationality Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and is licensed to practice in the State of Texas and New York and is fluent in Spanish.
