U.S. immigration for startups still looks like an inbox nightmare: endless email chains, PDFs that refuse to behave, and processes designed around paper and manual checks. That friction is expensive for startups that need to hire fast and for talented people trying to join them. A new approach combines simple product design, vetted lawyers, and cautious use of AI to turn those messy emails into reliable workflows.
The problem: immigration stuck in the stone age
Immigration is largely a human service industry built on bespoke communication. Much of the work still happens over email, attachments, and manual edits. That leads to:
- Slow back-and-forths that delay petitions
- Poor data quality when forms are filled inconsistently
- Compliance risk when post‑filing requirements are missed
- High variability in outcomes depending on the lawyer or firm
For startups, the cost of that friction is more than money. Startups need certainty and speed. Many visas, like the H-1B, are lottery-based and non-deterministic. Others, like O-1 and EB-1, require carefully framed petitions and supporting documentation. When hiring is strategic your third or fourth engineer matters, uncertain visa timelines are untenable.
Product approach: structure the chaos with forms, workflows, and vetted lawyers
Fixing immigration is not about replacing lawyers. It is about removing the trivial and time-consuming parts of the job so lawyers can focus on judgment-heavy work. That means:
- Replacing freeform email threads with validated web forms to collect consistent, high-quality inputs.
- Coordinating employers, beneficiaries, and lawyers in a single platform so information flows are transparent and auditable.
- Vetting a panel of lawyers and making clear that they retain independent judgment while using the platform to collect information.
The result is faster turnaround, fewer clarifying questions, and a predictable process that reduces surprises for both the company and the beneficiary.
How AI helps (without replacing lawyers)
AI is viewed as an amplifier rather than a substitute. There are two practical ways AI is used:
- Draft acceleration: AI drafts initial versions of support letters, parts of petitions, and standard templates. Lawyers then review and edit these drafts, applying legal judgment and tailoring arguments.
- Knowledge augmentation: Searchable, sourced answers from internal knowledge bases help lawyers prep for client meetings, reduce repetitive research, and surface relevant precedents or prior petitions.
A crucial control is the human-in-the-loop. AI outputs are always reviewed by lawyers. Sourcing is emphasized to avoid hallucination. Systems that require citations and highlight original documents make it easier to trust AI-assisted drafts.
"Everything is scrutinized through lawyer review."
Compliance is not optional: LCA, public access files, and DOL site visits
Immigration compliance extends beyond filing petitions. For H-1B employers, there are concrete administrative obligations that can trigger audits:
- Labor Condition Application (LCA): Describes the role and requires specific postings at the worksite for a set period.
- Public Access File (PAF): Employers must retain copies of LCAs and supporting documentation at the company location to show the Department of Labor during a site visit.
- Ongoing record keeping and notifications when terms of employment change.
Automating reminders, checklists, and storage for these items reduces audit risk and operational headaches for fast-moving startups.
Business model: a curated marketplace with platform fees
The model is a two-sided, curated marketplace:
- On one side, vetted immigration lawyers who retain clients and exercise independent judgment.
- On the other side, founders and beneficiaries who need consistent, fast service.
Revenue comes from platform fees and negotiated discounts with partner lawyers. Pricing stays tied to market flat fees common in immigration practice with platform discounts for certain customers such as YC companies. Example price points seen in the market:
- O-1: commonly ranges from $8k to $20k; a mid-market price sits around $10k.
- H-1B: variable by volume; single-case pricing might be around $3k with sliding scales for batches.
Go-to-market and traction
Early traction often comes from tightly knit communities. For founders who went through accelerators or cohorts, referrals and community listings can be the first channel. For product-market fit, focusing on the specific visa verticals that matter to startups: O-1, EB-1, NIW, and early-stage H-1B handling creates a clear sales motion and repeatable process.
One important scaling challenge is inertia: companies do not frequently switch immigration providers. That means getting in early, demonstrating reliability, and becoming the trusted partner for a startup’s future hires.
Origin story: from PDF hell to a scalable idea
Frustration with brittle government forms was a common spark. In one market, legacy PDF formats (XFA) forced lawyers and applicants to rely on Adobe Reader workarounds or manual entry. Solving form automation and input validation highlighted how small product improvements can remove huge pain. The bigger realization: serving startups and building a full-stack immigration workflow has more scale potential than tooling for a fragmented consultant market.
AI pitfalls and best practices
Practical AI adoption follows a conservative path:
- Require sources for any factual claims. Tools that attach citations make audits and reviews easier.
- Limit agentic workflows until there is a clear safety net. Start with single-step assistants and step up as confidence grows.
- Use AI where it reduces grunt work: drafting boilerplate, summarizing client notes, and surfacing relevant prior petitions.
For QA and end-to-end testing, AI tools are emerging and can be helpful, but legal documents and compliance require human verification at every critical step.
Hiring and engineering in an AI-first stack
AI-assisted development changes what teams need. Early coding is easy with AI scaffolding. The hard work is avoiding technical debt and establishing solid patterns before AI accelerates new features again. For engineers:
- Prefer candidates who can set long-term patterns, refactor effectively, and integrate AI without creating brittle systems.
- Expect the UI and glue code to remain hands-on work. The orchestration between components and types is where experienced engineers add the most value.
Where this is headed
Immigration tech that combines human expertise, structured workflows, and careful AI augmentation solves a real operational problem for startups and talent. The biggest opportunities:
- Scaling compliance as a service so small startups can responsibly sponsor international hires.
- Creating data-driven petition templates and success-rate optimizations to improve outcomes.
- Integrating AI-assisted knowledge tools to reduce prep time for lawyers and improve client experience.
Legal tech will not replace lawyers, but it can remove the parts of their workflow that add cost and delay. For anyone hiring internationally or pursuing a U.S. visa, the future is a more predictable, auditable, and faster process if the right mix of forms, workflows, vetted counsel, and responsible AI is in place.
