The U.S. immigration system is complex, difficult to navigate, and costly for immigrants. Startup JustiGuide claims it can help with that thanks to its AI-powered portal.
The idea is to help immigrants in the United States, and eventually other countries, understand the law and what visas they can get, connect with immigration lawyers, and make the whole process cheaper and faster.
“I think the more accessible we make technology, the more people can fill out forms themselves and understand their options, and the more they can use a lawyer just for the vetting process,” JustiGuide founder Bisi Obateru told TechCrunch.
Obateru, who is from Nigeria, recalled how she had to go through the U.S. immigration system after completing her studies in Nigeria. Since then, he has obtained an H1-B visa, a common visa for high-tech workers, as well as a green card for permanent residence.
That inspired him to start JustiGuide to help fellow immigrants. “Immigrants can come in and basically speak their native language and understand what the immigrant journey is like,” he said.
The company won Best Pitch in Policy + Protection at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference this year.
Obateru said JustiGuide’s customers include startup founders who need help hiring immigrants, individuals with H1-Bs looking for other options, international students looking to start a business, and lawyers and law firms. But he also hopes that someday government agencies may also want to license the technology.
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The platform consists of an AI Legal Research Assistant, a system that combines lawyers and immigration, and promises to speed up the form-filling process. The latter is accomplished by providing lawyers with services that help them edit documents and streamline processes, much like paralegals do, Obateru explained.
Obateru said the platform, which has 47,000 users, relies on an AI he calls Dolores, a “continuously refined domain-specific AI that understands immigration in the United States.” Dolores has also translated into 12 languages.
Obateru said Dolores was trained in more than 40,000 cases that JustiGuide procured from the Free Law Project, a nonprofit that provides free access to legal materials. The startup is also in the process of registering as a law firm so it can connect users and customers directly with its immigration lawyers, he said.
JustyGuide was initially programmed to have Dolores scour subreddits, Facebook groups, Instagram and LinkedIn posts based on keywords, looking for immigrants in need of help, and then message her with answers, Obatell said.
To protect immigrants’ privacy, JustiGuide’s platform is stored and encrypted on-premises, and information is only exchanged when an immigrant connects with an attorney. Obateru said some user information is also anonymized.
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