Diane Holcombe-Geddens

Diane serves as Senior Counsel based in BAL’s Tysons office. She has decades of experience at the intersection of immigration, consular affairs and the U.S. government.

Prior to joining BAL, Diane was a senior managing attorney of consular affairs at a global immigration law firm and held various positions in the U.S. government for nearly 24 years. In her previous role, Diane led the law firm’s travel team in preparing visa packages for client employees, as well as advising clients on travel-related questions, such as administrative processing, waivers and automatic revalidation.

Diane retired from the U.S. government in 2023. During her 17 years at the Department of State, Diane’s overseas consular tours included Bogota, London, Matamoros, Berlin and Islamabad, and she served as consular section chief in Matamoros, Berlin and Islamabad. She also served as a watch officer and senior watch officer in the Secretary of State’s Operations Center and as an assignments officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

Before joining the Department of State, Diane worked as a legislative attorney with the Department of the Army, served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and worked as a senior legislative assistant on Capitol Hill.

Diane received her Juris Doctor with honors from the University of Montana School of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Montana Law Review. Diane is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She currently serves on the AILA – Department of State Liaison Committee and the AILA Rome District Chapter Europe, Middle East and Africa (RDC-EMEA)’s Consular Committee. A routine speaker at Federal Bar Association and AILA events, Diane enjoys helping others better understand and navigate the sometimes-opaque consular process.