Startup Idea: Automated Case Generation for Immigration Law Firms

Startup idea to develop a software for the automation of H-1B case generation for immigration law firms. The system would assist in fact gathering, wage data analysis, Labor Condition Application stages, petition generation, and automated fee/billing generation. This would target the H-1B CAP season, reducing the need for temps and cutting expenses.

What industry do you work in? Immigration Law, including large (2000+ headcount) and small (10-20 headcount) firms that work exclusively in the field of immigration law, including industry leader Fragomen Worldwide.

What is a big pain point in your daily work that is not yet solved by software? The H-1B CAP season (similar to tax season) occurs in February-April, where all new H-1B petitions subject to the H-1B CAP must be submitted by the first week of April. This usually requires a small army of temps to compile petitions and complete compliance activities. The combination of untrained staff, high sudden volume, and delays on other case types during this period is a large pain for the industry. Current technology allows for some automation (form filling, e-mail template generation, etc.) but not for full automation (i.e. automatically generate an H-1B case for an attorney to review).

Would you pay for software to solve this? Yes, the USCIS received 236,000 petitions in 2016. Assuming (in the best case scenario) that a paralegal can compile 200 petitions, this would require approximately 1,180 full-time staff to complete. A company like Fragomen would pay millions for software that could eliminate the need for hiring of temps during this season and augment the capabilities of experienced paralegals already on staff.

If yes, please describe how software could solve your problem. A system for automated H-1B case generation would eliminate the need for temps for this task and drastically cut expenses during the H CAP season. Steps that can be automated:

1. Fact gathering (for employee background/documentation and the position the employee is filling)
2. Wage data analysis and Labor Condition Application stages / Public Access Folder generation
3. Petition generation (automatically filling forms and compiling supporting documentation with information from Step 1)
4. Attorney review (this step cannot be automated)
5. Automated fee/billing generation/approval systems. There are various database solutions available (Immigration Tracker, LawLogix, Lotus Notes, etc.) that assist in fact gathering through portals, database maintenance, and report generation. However, none of these solutions provide comprehensive automated case generation.