TITLE: From Microsoft AI Scientist to Immigration Tech Pioneer: How Casium is Digitizing High-Stakes Visa Processing
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The Immigration Maze Meets Artificial Intelligence
Priyanka Kulkarni, a former Microsoft machine learning scientist who spent nine years navigating the complex U.S. visa system herself, is now leading a technological revolution in employment-based immigration. Her startup Casium, which secured $5 million in seed funding led by Maverick Ventures, is replacing the traditional spreadsheet-and-law-firm approach with an AI-powered platform that promises to transform how companies handle work visas for international talent.
Transforming Immigration Through Technology
Casium offers employers a comprehensive portal to manage visa cases from start to finish, leveraging what Kulkarni describes as a swarm of “agents” – autonomous software that scours public data including scholarly journals and patents to build candidate profiles. Within minutes, the system generates detailed dossiers and recommends the most suitable visa types, with H-1B, O-1, and EB-1A among its most commonly issued employment-based visas.
The platform then routes these reports to a network of independent, licensed lawyers and paralegals who work with Casium on contract. Kulkarni claims the technology reduces paperwork preparation time from the traditional three to six months to under 10 business days while improving accuracy. “Everything I’ve done,” Kulkarni reflected, “has culminated to this point.”
Addressing a Rapidly Changing Landscape
The timing for such innovation appears critical. Recent immigration policy shifts, including the Trump administration’s executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B application, have created uncertainty and urgency among employers. While some companies welcomed the changes, the moves have sparked lawsuits from business groups and sent employers scrambling for more efficient solutions.
Casium’s approach comes amid broader industry developments in automation and AI implementation across various sectors. The company says it has already assisted hundreds of candidates through assessments, compliance reviews, and actual filings, achieving what it describes as an “exceptionally high approval rate.” In several cases, founders using Casium have moved candidates from intake to on-the-job start in under a month.
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Funding and Competitive Landscape
The recent $5 million seed round, which included participation from Ai2 Incubator, GTMfund, Success Venture Partners, and angel investor Jake Heller, signals strong investor confidence in tech-driven immigration solutions. The company declined to share its valuation but appears positioned in a growing market segment that includes competitors like Manifest Law, Plymouth, and Boundless – the latter having raised over $50 million to date.
This funding surge reflects broader market trends toward digitizing complex legal and administrative processes. Similar technological transformations are occurring across sectors, including financial services workflow automation and security-conscious fintech platforms addressing credential management challenges.
The Human Element in Automated Immigration
Kulkarni’s personal experience with the H-1B visa system – which she describes as “exhausting, confusing, and at times career-limiting” – informs Casium’s development. The H-1B visa is awarded by lottery and tied to specific employers, creating anxiety about job changes and layoffs among foreign workers. Her own transition from Microsoft entrepreneur required three months of paperwork wrangling with a law firm before she could secure an EB-1 “Einstein visa” for foreign nationals with extraordinary abilities.
While the pitch for automation is compelling, risks remain tangible. Employers must weigh a traditional lawyer’s track record against a startup’s automated system, particularly for high-stakes immigration cases. However, as Kulkarni notes, startups already manage significant portions of the human resources stack, from recruiting to benefits administration. In this context, she positions immigration as “the last, high-stakes workflow to be digitized.”
Broader Implications and Future Directions
Casium’s emergence coincides with related innovations across technology sectors that are redefining traditional processes. The company offers initial assessments for free and charges flat fees for filings based on visa type and complexity, while developing a subscription model for ongoing employer support.
The AI-powered platform represents a significant shift in how companies approach global talent acquisition and retention. As immigration policies continue to evolve and technology advances, solutions like Casium could redefine international hiring practices, bringing unprecedented speed and transparency to a system long characterized by delays and confusion.
For companies navigating the complexities of global talent management and the professionals seeking opportunities abroad, the digitization of immigration processes marks a potential turning point – one that could make international career paths more accessible and predictable in an increasingly connected world.
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